2 



Appendices to Fifteenth Annual Report 



River Irvine. There may be said to be practically no salmon fishings in the district 

 of the river Irvine. The pollutions poured into it and its tribu- 

 tary, the Garnock, from Kilmarnock, Dairy, and other towns through 

 which they flow, seem completely to have destroyed their salmon-pro- 

 ducing capabilities. There are now, so far as I was able to ascertain, no 

 fishing stations in the river, in the estuary, or on the sea coast within 6 

 miles of the mouth of the river. An occasional migratory fish is said to 

 ascend it during a flood, but to die as soon as the flood subsides and the 

 water resumes its ordinary condition. It appears, however, that the Ayr 

 County Council are taking steps to enforce the provisions of the Rivers 

 Pollution Prevention Act. Should their action ultimately result in the 

 waters being purified, there seems nothing to prevent these rivers again 

 producing salmon in the same abundance as in former years, and if such a 

 fortunate result were attained, the proprietors of the salmon fishings 

 would do well to adopt a scheme for the proper distribution and regula- 

 tion of the nets throughout the district while there were still no existing 

 fishing interests to be considered. 

 River Ayr. Mr Young, my predecessor, writing of the river Ayr in 1883, states 



that the following description given by Mr Buckland and himself in their 

 Report of 1871 was still true of this naturally fine stream : — ' The Ayr, as 

 ' a salmon river, is in a very bad state. No weekly close time is observed. 

 c There are no gratings to mill lades. Fry are killed by anglers, colliers 

 ' destroy the breeding fish at the top of the river, stake-nets destroy the 

 ' ascending fish at the bottom, and pollutions destroy them in the middle. 

 1 If it were the object to extirpate, instead of to preserve and increase, 

 1 that object could hardly be more effectually carried out than by the 

 1 system now adopted. If these evils could be remedied, and the 

 ' proprietors would co-operate in protecting the salmon interests, the Ayr 

 1 might, as in former years, produce tons of salmon annually, as the Ayr 

 * and Lugar still continue to possess good spawning grounds.' 



I regret to say that I did not find matters much improved at the time 

 of my visit. Hecks, or gratings, had been placed on some of the mill 

 lades, but they had in most cases been allowed to fall into disrepair. 

 No district board had been formed, nor was anything being done to en- 

 force the Salmon Fishery Acts, and relative bye-laws. It was complained 

 that the salmon were gaffed as they attempted to ascend the mill dams 

 in the town of Ayr ; that the smolts were destroyed as they came down 

 the river ; and that the parent salmon were not protected at spawning 

 time, nor the young of salmon after they were hatched. Under these 

 circumstances, it can hardly be a matter of surprise that the salmon fish- 

 ings are almost entirely destroyed. But, although I found this very 

 undesirable state of affairs existing at the time of my inspection, it is 

 satisfactory to state that, as a result of my visit, a Board has been formed, 

 and a clerk has been appointed. I have been in communication with this 

 gentleman, and understand from him that steps are being taken to en- 

 force the provisions of the Salmon Fishery Acts and relative bye-laws. 

 River Doon ^ ne r i ver Doon, if properly looked after, should be one of the best 

 salmon-fishing rivers in the south-west of Scotland. There is, however, 

 no district board, * the association of heritors which formerly existed has 

 been allowed to lapse, and there is at present no authority representing 

 the fishing interests to enforce the Salmon Fishery Acts, or to take 

 advantage of the exceptional capabilities which this stream possesses for 

 the production of fish. 



The salmon fishings have often suffered severely from poisonous dis- 

 charges from coal-pits and iron-works. My predecessor mentions that 



* Since writing the above a Board has been formed and a clerk appointed. 



