of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



99 



was in one year as high as 5 2 J. In scales examined from East Coast rivers 

 one spawning mark is certainly more common than two, and a percentage 

 of 5 or 6 previously spawned fish is usual. 



The results of the Board's research by the use of bag nets on the East 

 Coast of Sutherland, so far as previously spawned fish are concerned, showed 

 in 1913, 8*7 per cent., and in 1914, 10 per cent. From the special ex- 

 amination of 671 fish caught on a neighbouring stretch of coast, the per- 

 centage was found to be as high as 22. 



It may be such figures are above the average, but it seems necessary 

 to point out that in reality no one knows what the average is for the whole 

 of Scotland, much less for England or Ireland. We might venture upon 

 the statement that apparently the salmon in our West Coast rivers spawn 

 much more frequently than do the fish on the East Coast, yet we must 

 reflect that the West Coast fish are less numerous. We really know only what 

 the average is of such groups of fish as we have examined in certain 

 localities. Our sea results are rather higher than our river results on the 

 East Coast, but again we have to recollect the high mortality amongst kelts 

 in large rivers. It cannot be said, however, that kelts seldom return 

 as clean fish, when it can be shown that in one case at least half the 

 kelts captured during our February marking operations had spawned the 

 previous year. 



I am not stating these particulars for the purpose of objecting to the 

 eating of kelts. I am not dealing with that subject at all, though I may 

 add that those who eat kelts have my sympathy. The question arises out 

 of war emergency, but a case in support should not be drawn, I think, from 

 scale examination. 



W. L. Calderwood. 



