3 



Mr. CALDERWOOD'S REPORT. 



Fishery Board for Scotlaxd. 



I HAVE the honour to submit, to the Fishery Board for Scotland, my 

 Annual Report concerning inspections made during the year 1902. 



The inspections were made in the Outer Hebrides, the islands of 

 Orkney and of Shetland, and in the Districts of the Rivers Wick, Nairn, 

 and Lossie. 



Special inspections conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the extent 

 to which the weekly Close Time is observed by tacksmen and others 

 on the coast of Scotland are referred to separately in Appendix III, 



Nairn. 



On 24th September I inspected the river Nairn from Daviot to the sea, 

 giving special attention to the causes which obstruct or hinder the ascent 

 of salmon. Uuder the heading of Obstructions I desire to refer to the 

 weirs of the river, which are seven in number, and to the pollution by 

 domestic sewage, more especially the sewage of the town of Nairn. 

 There is no natural obstruction or waterfall in the course of the river, 

 but it may be here stated that, the river being a comparatively small one, 

 there are times when the natural water-flow is insufficient to allow of the 

 free entrance of either salmon or sea trout. 



I shall refer to the weirs in the order in which I visited them, as 

 follows : — 



Colchunaig Weir^ the property of the CuUoden Trustees. This is a 

 low, irregular structure of boulders and large stones. By means of it, 

 water is supplied to a small meal mill on the left bank. Owing to the 

 loose construction of the dam dyke much water which should pass over 

 the sill finds its way through the substance of the weir, a condition 

 which is the more unfortunate since no fish-pass or even statutory gap is 

 present, yet the structure being only about two feet in height does not, 

 in my opinion, oflTer any very serious obstruction to ascending fish under 

 conditions of water-level in which fish may be expected to "run." If the 

 weir were made watertight and a gap six inches in depth constructed in 

 the properly adjusted sill, together with a channel in the down-stream 

 face, as provided by Schedule G of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act, 

 1868, the existing lade to the mill would not, I think, be deprived of any 

 water which it now receives. When the river is low, as at the time of my 

 visit, there are three separate channels in the river below the weir. The 

 central channel is the most important, and into it the concentrated stream 

 through a gap and salmon ladder should be directed. 



The lade is unprovided with sluices or hecks, and with the repair of the 

 weir those should be adjusted. There are also two bye- washes through 

 which a constant stream of wasted water seems to be permitted to flow ; 

 one is situated just below the intake of the lade, the other just above 

 the mill wheel. Those, and the trap with under-wash which exists in the 



