4 Appendices to Fifteenth Annual Report 



of 1 33 square miles, is noted for its large salmon, and is, for its size, 

 productive, it being not uncommon, I am informed, for an angler to 

 take four or five in the day when the river is in suitable order for angling. 

 A Board has been formed for the district, but no assessment is levied, 

 nor are any regular water-bailiffs employed. Lord Stair, the principal 

 proprietor, however, employs a watcher solely to look after his fishings 

 and to see that his tenants observe the weekly close time ; with this 

 exception the watching is done by the keepers on the several estates. 

 The limits of the district are from Benane Head on the north to the 

 lighthouse on the Mull of Galloway on the south. In the roll of the 

 proprietors, however, shown me by Mr Greig, Clerk to the Board, only 

 the proprietors of the fishings in the river and of those on the sea coast 

 in its immediate neighbourhood are included. The District Board should 

 have this error rectified, as, in the event of their imposing an assessment, 

 under the Salmon Fishery Acts, that assessment should be levied on all 

 the proprietors of fisheries in the district, and not alone on those in the 

 river and its immediate neighbourhood. 

 River Luce. The Luce is a late river. Salmon are said not to ascend it until 

 September, although sea trout do so in June and July. There is neither 

 a district board, nor a regular staff of water-bailiffs. The proprietors em- 

 ploy their own watchers, each on his own water. The bye-law for the 

 regulation and use of mill dams is not observed. In the mill dam 

 immediately above the bridge at Glenluce, a stone had become fixed 

 across the head of the fish-pass, thereby rendering the pass useless. 

 This was not of much consequence at the time, as a breach had been 

 made by a recent flood in the centre of the dam, through which the fish 

 could easily ascend. It may be pointed out, however, with regard to 

 this matter, that section 15 of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act of 

 1868 provides that any person who does any act for the purpose of pre- 

 venting salmon from passing through any fish-pass, shall, for every such 

 offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding «£5, and, in addition to such 

 penalty, to the costs and expenses of prosecution and conviction. A 

 strong complaint was made in this district that those fishing for salmon 

 under licences from the Crown did not conform to the regulations made 

 by the Office of Woods. It was urged that that Department should 

 take steps to enforce their regulations. 

 River In the district of the river Bladenoch, where no Board has been 



Bladenoch. formed, and where there is consequently no authority to enforce the 

 Commissioners' bye-laws, it was complained that the dam dyke at 

 New Mills had been altered so as to form a greater obstruction to the 

 free passage of fish than formerly existed. The alteration complained 

 of was the placing of a beam or plank, some 4 or 5 inches in height, 

 along the crest of the dam. The miller pleaded in justification of this 

 alteration that the dam, which was carried away in the winter of 1894- 

 1895, when rebuilt, was not restored to its original height, and that 

 the beam was only added temporarily until the level of the water 

 would permit of the stone-work being raised to its former level. An 

 obstruction of even greater importance than the beam just referred to was 

 a wooden dam or sluice fixed across the head of the fish-pass in such a 

 manner as to form a complete barrier to the passage of salmon. Such 

 an obstruction appeared to be a contravention of the 15th section of the 

 Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 1868. It will be remembered that I 

 reported specially on this matter on my return to Edinburgh, and that 

 steps were taken by the Board to have the obstruction removed. 



T.»«m In the district of the river Leven (Dumbartonshire) an active interest 



Kiver LeveD titiatt 



(Dumbarton- is being taken by the new Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Associa- 

 sbire). 



