:i6 Appendices to Twenty -first Amimd Report 



Table showtnc; Fifteen Years' Spawning Beds Counted on 

 Tributaries. 



Total number of Beds for year 1887 - - - 3,849 



Do. 



do. 



1888 



5,637 



Do. 



do. 



1889 



2,932 

 2,768 



Do. 



do. 



1890 



Do. 



do. 



1891 



4,591 

 5,287 



Do. 



do. 



1892 



Do. 



do. 



1893 



4,635 



Do. 



do. 



1894 



7,214 



Do. 



do. 



1895 



6,203 

 4,778 



Do. 



do. 



1896 



Do. 



do. 



1897 



5,661 



Do. 



do. 



1898 



3,983 



Do. 



do. 



1899 



5,654 



Do. 



do. 



1900 



7,344 



Do. 



do. 



1901 



5,588 



It will be seen that the spawning season of last year did not come up to the 

 record spawning of the previous year. The decrease in number of beds 

 counted was 1756. For the weeks ending 14th, 21st, and 28th of December 

 1901, owing to heavy snow lying upon banks of river Avon and tributaries, 

 the bailiffs, as is customary, refrained from tracking the banks to enable them 

 to count the spawning beds, although they had no aoubt that much spawning 

 was then going on, upon the Avon especially, at said season of the year. By 

 the time the snoAV lifted and the succeeding high flow of water abated enough 

 to permit the counting of new formed beds, the beds worked upon during the 

 time of snowfall had become so much levelled down and blackened in colour 

 as to make counting impossible. Some hundreds of uncounted beds on the 

 Avon alone may be thus accounted for. The same cause for the same time 

 accounts for several hundreds of uncounted beds on Dulnain and Nethy. 

 Had it not been for this precaution on the part of the bailiffs in refraining 

 from tracking the river banks during the lengthened snowstorm, the count of 

 spawning beds would have compared favourably with the previous year's 

 exceptionally ^heavy spawning. The reason why the bailiffs do not track the 

 river banks during a fall of snow is to prevent poachers approaching the redds. 

 Local poachersJ(the only poachers we have got) would never think of forming 

 a new track to approach a spawning redd. 



The spawning on river Spey was also very good. The spawning on said 

 river commenced early, and fewer late spring spawners were to be seen on the 

 spawning redds. The first spawning beds were seen on Spey in the Rothes 

 district on the 8th October, and on Spey at Grantown on 28th October. 



From 4th till 9th of January 1902 inclusive the river Spey and tributaries 

 were in high spate, which must have caused a certain amount of injury to 

 spawning beds. 



From 25th January till 16th February inclusive the river Spey and 

 tributaries were partially ice-bound,, and this must also have caused slight 

 damage to beds formed near the water edge. 



II. — Smalt Season. 



Smolts began to show themselves about the middle of April. During month 

 of May they were to be seen descending the river Spey and tributaries in 

 large numbers. A force of eight bailiffs carried out the usual joeriod of six 

 weeks' smolt and salmon fry protection duty over the district of river Spey 

 and tributaries, from 28th April till 7th June inclusive. The permanent staff 

 of bailiffs continued said protection throughout the summer. Four bailiffs to 

 protect parr and salmon fry were put on duty on 11th August. 



Six hundred printed precautionary notices were posted up all over the river 

 and tributary banks at the commencement of the smolt protection season. 



