of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



157 



let the smolts down to the sea, and so induce them to return in the 

 latter part of the season to their native streams. 



I would beg to point out that the area of rivers and lochs that 

 would be opened up by putting a salmon-ladder on the Falls of 

 Tummel would be about one-fifth of the whole amount of water in 

 Scotland at present barred against the ascent of salmon by unpass- 

 able waterfalls. This, I estimate at between 500 and 600 miles. 

 It would be a grand, and, I have no doubt,* a successful experi- 

 ment, to inaugurate the opening up this vast extent of lake and 

 river by commencing with the Falls of Tummel, and I respect- 

 fully venture to express a hope that the Board will recommend 

 that it be carried out. How successful and remunerative such an 

 experiment may be, is shown in the case of the fishery at Balliso- 

 dare, county Sligo, Ireland. At the mouth of the river there are 

 three falls, altogether 50 feet in height, which were perfectly im- 

 passable to salmon, until Mr Cooper, the proprietor, took steps to 

 make them accessible. The salmon-ladders which he constructed 

 allowed the fish to find their way to the upper streams and lakes. 

 These ladders enabled them to pass, first, the perpendicular rock of 

 20 feet, over which the river falls into the tideway ; second, the 

 falls at Ballisodare mills ; and lastly, the falls at Colloonay. 

 Before the construction of these ladders, not a single salmon had 

 ever surmounted the falls ; but, after their construction, they 

 were able to ascend with the greatest ease. A valuable and 

 productive salmon fishery was, in fact, created, where none had 

 previously existed; and 11 years after the ladders were placed on 

 the falls, 10,000 salmon were caught in a single year in the 

 waters above them. What was done at Ballisodare might likewise 

 be done at the Falls of Tummel/f" 



I may mention that the 73rd clause of the Scotch Salmon Fishery 

 Bill of 1861, which was prepared and brought in by Lord Mon- 

 erieff, then Lord Advocate, and by the late Sir George Lewis, con- 

 tained the following stringent provisions with regard to placing 

 salmon-ladders on natural obstructions : — * If any natural obstruc- 

 ' tion shall exist in any river which prevents the free passage of 

 ' salmon, salmon-ladders shall be constructed, so as to permit and 

 ' allow such passage at all times over, across, or through the same ; 

 ' and if the owner of the soil, land, or fishery, in or upon which 

 ' such obstruction exists, shall refuse or neglect to allow such 

 salmon-ladder to be constructed, within 14 days of being there- 

 1 unto required in writing by the Central Board or their Secretary, 

 ' or by the District Board or their clerk, or by any surveyor or 

 * inspector, it shall be lawful for the Central Board, or for the Sheriff 

 ' within whose jurisdiction the obstruction or cause of interruption 



* Details with regard to the principal natural obstructions in our Scotch salmon 

 rivers, and the extent of water from which they shut out salmon, will be found in 

 my treatise on ' Salmon Fisheries ' in the volume of Stanford's series of ' British 

 Industries,' entitled Sea and Salmon Fisheries, pp. 236, 239. 



t A map, showing the extent of rivers and lochs that would be opened up to salmon 

 by placing an efficient fish-pass on the Falls of Tummel, forms Appendix III. to my 

 Keport of last year to the Fishery Board for Scotland on the Salmon Rivers on the 

 East Coast from Forth to the Kyle of Sutherland, both inclusive. 



