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Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



NOTE I —APPENDIX G. 



LOCAL MOVEMENTS OF THE SALMONID^. A Paper read at 

 the Half-Yearlj Meeting of the Scotch Fisheries Improvement 

 Association, Edinburgh, 30th November 1885, by W. Anderson Smith, 

 Ledaig, Argyllshire. 



The general movements of the Salmonidse, in sea- water more especially, are 

 so little known that it may help the subject if I endeavour to bring together 

 a few facts concerning those frequenting the waters of this part of Lorn. 

 Even should the facts in themselves not be absolutely new they may 

 corroborate, or suggest new departures for, the facts gathered by, or the 

 observations still to be made by, other inquirers. 



The gTeat water-way of the Linnhe Loch furnishes an admirable ground for 

 the student of this particular class of fishes. For the lochs that form sub- 

 waters are so extensive and so wide apart, that the various fishes have ample 

 range and sufficiently diverse conditions to difi'erentiate to a remarkable 

 extent, quite enough to be readily distinguished one from the other by 

 unscientific but otherwise skilled and practical observers. If, in the case of 

 the herring, — as is assumed on presumptive evidence, — the varieties are 

 mainly produced by variety of feeding provided by each loch or range of 

 feeding ground, this can scarcely be the case with salmon, as this fish cannot 

 be said to feed to any practical extent in fresh water except in its early stages 

 as parr and smolt, when it is just possible the peculiar characteristics may be 

 given, however difficult it would be to distinguish them at tliat stage. 



At any rate the salmon of the various rivers from the Lochy to the Nant 

 gradually find their way into lioch Linnhe, and thence apparently proceed in 

 a great body out to sea beyond Mull. What they do there it would be 

 difficult to assert positively, as facts are greatly wanted in this connection — 

 but the probability is that they go to fatten upon the herring, as most other 

 fishes do that are greatly voracious. That the salmon must be of such a 

 character, is abundantly evident from its rapidity of growth when once it gets 

 to salt water. 



These fish go, not in one, but in various shoals through the season, and 

 commence returning early, striking Mull near Lochbuy, and thence advancing 

 by Kerrera towards Loch Linnhe. The consequence of this is, that the man 

 who some years ago commenced a fishery on the island of Kerrera. levied 

 virtual blackmail on the shoals that passed on to all the liigher rivers, and 

 made a marked difierence on the fishings of such rivers as the Awe. 



As the shoals passed up Loch Linnhe the fish of the Loch Etive streams 

 first left the main body, and then those of Loch Creran, Loch Leven, &c. 

 Those of Loch Etive had thereafter to divide as they reached the Nant, the 

 Awe, and the numerous other salmon streams that enter that noble loch. 

 Now a remarkable but recognised thing is, that while the mouths of the 

 Nant and of the Awe are close alongside, the fish of either will not enter the 

 other beyond a certain point. Thus, those of the Nant may enter the mouth 

 of the Awe should the water of the former river be too low to permit their 

 ingress at all — but they will not proceed beyond the mouth. Again, the Awe 

 fish have been caught at the head of Loch Creran but not in the Creran river. 

 They may blunder so far as to miss the mouth of Etive, but they apparently 

 soon discover their error, and return again upon their course. The difficulty 

 of finding the entrance to Etive or Creran is not little, and it cannot be 



