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A^ypendices to Fourth Annual Report 



defined by 7 and 8 Vict, cap. 95, that is outside one mile measured sea- 

 wards from low- water mark, and the onus is tlirown upon them by statute 

 to show that they got them outside the one mile, not upon the proprietors 

 of fisheries or the watchers of the District Board to prove that they were 

 caught inside that limit. If, however, it shall be held that this view of 

 the proper reading of the 25th section is incorrect, then the sooner a 

 clause is added to it, to the effect that it shall not be necessary to prove 

 the locus, the better. 



*The scringers operate with a strong herring net with a deep bag, 

 sometimes fishing from the shore in regular net and coble fashion, some- 

 times in deep water, having the net between two boats, which make a 

 wide sweep and then come together. They thus contravene the law in 

 two ways — 1st, by fishing for salmon and sea- trout without a title or 

 permission from one who has a title ; and 2nd, by fishing for and taking 

 salmon by means of a net with a mesh smaller than that fixed by law for 

 nets used for the capture of salmon. So far back as 1870, the evils of 

 this practice of scringing were strongly set before Mr Buckland and 

 myself, then acting as Special Commissioners to report on the effects 

 of recent legislation on the Salmon Fisheries in Scotland ; and, in our 

 Eeportof 1871, we suggested the combination of a number of the smaller 

 Fishery Districts north and south of Oban into larger Districts; the main- 

 tenance of one or two steam-launches for purposes of protection; and 

 the assistance of the county police and coastguard to put down scringing. 

 A great deal of evidence was laid before us bearing on the subject, and 1 

 may quote the following suggestions made by one of the largest 

 proprietors in the neighbourhood of Oban : — 



* I wish to call the special attention of the Commissioners to the system of 

 scringe and splash-net poaching, which prevails to a great extent along the 

 shores of the numerous islands and lochs on the west coast. By the laws 

 already existing this is strictly illegal, but as in using these nets men do not 

 require to land, and as. to obtain a conviction, they must be seen in the 

 act of taking salmon or sea-trout, these laws are, in fact, totally inoperative. 

 In this district I myself have between 25 and 30 miles of sea coast, and to 

 protect this would require a fleet of boats and men out every night, and 

 even that would not be effectual. During the summer months, salmon and 

 sea-trout are openly brought by boats to the quays at Oban and other places 

 Qearly every morning for sale, and the only effectual way in which this 

 most destructive system of poaching can be stopped, is by throwing on the 

 seller the onus of proving that he got the fish legally. This might easily be 

 done by giving each legal and chartered fishing station a brand or trade 

 mark for their boxes, and to stamp on all receipts given for fish sold, and 

 then giving the police power to seize all boxes not so marked, and all fish 

 for which the seller could not produce the stamped receipt of a legal fishery. 

 This has already been done under the late Herring Acts in Scotland (since 

 repealed), and under the Game Laws in England ; and as this sort of poach- 

 ing is confined chiefly to the west coast, the police on duty at the quays and 

 shipping places would be able to stop the greater part of the illegally caught 

 fish before they reached the market. Of course, the brand or stamp Vfould be 

 a trade-mark, and any person imitating it would be tried for forgery. 



'The Lochy District Board, whose District comes within these parts of 

 the west coast which are exposed to the ravages of the scringers, made 

 the following suggestions at a meeting held on 23rd January 1871 : — 



' The formation of a staff of marine watchers provided with a steam launch 

 to put down the depredations upon salmon committed by trawlers within 

 the southern hmits of the district of the River Add and the point of 

 ArdnamuTchan. 



'This provision is necessary, owing to the prevalence of the capture of 

 salmon by means of trawl and other nets in the waters of the Sound of 



