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Appendices to Thirtieth Annual Report 



APPENDIX O. 

 SALMON FISHERIES. 



MR. CALDERWOOD'S REPORT. 



Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 March 1912. 



I have the honour to submit my Report for the year 1911. Since my 

 last Report, three District Fishery Boards have been formed, viz. : — For the 

 Wick, of which Mrs. Duff Dunbar sits as Chairman; for the Dunbeath, of 

 which Sir Stafford Howard, as representing the Office of Woods, etc., is 

 Chairman ; and the Feochan, Nell, and Euchar Board, presided over by the 

 Marquis of Breadalbane. 



Considerable difficulty has occurred in the past in the Wick district in 

 connection with the observance of the weekly close time on the coast. 

 Eventually the Fishmongers' Company of London instituted a prosecution 

 and obtained a conviction against the tacksmen. It is hoped that by the 

 creation of the District Board further difficulty in this respect may be 

 avoided. I visited the district as part of my annual tour of inspection, saw 

 the river, and, on the Sunday, examined the whole coast from just south of 

 Wick to D unnet Bay. The great majority of the nets were in order, but 

 certain irregularities were noticeable in or near Wick Bay, and to these 

 matters I called the attention of Mr. Georgeson, the Clerk. The limits of 

 the estuary of the Wick are : — " The line of the breakwater now in course 

 of construction (1865), and a straight line drawn due north from the outer 

 end of the said breakwater to the north shore." So far as I was able to 

 ascertain, the said breakwater is that which is still called " the new break- 

 water," and if this is correct, the positions of bag-nets fished in Wick Bay 

 require to be readjusted in future. 



An agreement has been come to as to the opening of the sluices in the 

 weir situated a short distance above the Bridge of Wick. The weir is not 

 high, and is reached by ordinary tides to a greater or less extent, but 

 salmon do not readily ascend, I am informed, except during spring tides. 

 The agreement is to have the sluices opened for two hours before and two 

 hours after high water on three days of each week in which spring tides 

 occur. The purpose of the weir is to form a stretch of quiet water for 

 pleasure boating. 



Nell, Feochan, and Euchar Board. 



The limits of this district are : — On the north, Minard Point ; on the 

 south, the bridge from the mainland over Siel Sound to Siel Island. (In 

 the definition given in Schedule A of the 1868 Act, Siel Island is called 

 Jul Island.) 



The catchment basin forming this district lies a few miles to the south 

 of Oban, and, curiously enough, is surrounded by a part of the Awe 

 district. The Awe district is from Appin Ferry on the north to Craignish 



