of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



79 



APPENDIX VI. 

 SALMON FISHERIES. 



MR. CALDERWOOD'S REPORT. 



Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 March 1919. 



I have the honour to submit the following report to the Fishery 

 Board for Scotland. 



Pressing Legislative Needs. 



With a return to more normal conditions, and the general aspiration 

 after a fuller development in salmon fisheries as in other national enter- 

 prises, it seems fitting to attempt a review of the more pressing needs 

 which have arisen during the long period since the passing of the last 

 Scottish Salmon Fishery Act. 



I refrain from reference to the recognised necessity for additional 

 powers both to the Central Authority and to District Boards or to the 

 necessity of the Central Anthority being able to act when a District 

 Board does not exist, and confine myself to other requirements which 

 have come prominently before my own notice in an experience which 

 now represents a period considerably longer than that of my two pre- 

 decessors put together. 



Knowledge as to actual catch, so valuable in the case of the large 

 marine fisheries, still has to be gained from uncertain data in the case 

 of Salmon Fisheries. Actual statistics of catch are not obligatory, and 

 are available in only a very few cases. The annual statement of weight 

 of salmon carried by railways is the only means of arriving at an estimate 

 of the total annual marketed stock of salmon. The drawbacks are that 

 no means are at command for estimating the state of any given Fishery 

 District concerning which it may be highly necessary to form a judgment ; 

 and also that a statement of total weight gives no indication as between 

 a possible large number of small or young fish and a paucity of heavy 

 fish. The objection, on the part of those who hold netting rights, to 

 giving a regular return, is the effect this might have upon rental. This 

 does not appear to be a very genuine or sound objection, as most tacks- 

 men have means of finding out how any particular fishing has been doing, 

 and in any case it could be easily provided against by making the return 

 confidential, like a return for Inland Revenue purposes, and by an agree- 

 ment that no individual return be published. 



The general policy, which has been advocated by the Board for years, 



