of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



27 



choked in semi-liquid mud. The Moneypool Burn, which enters just above 

 Creetown, swept through the cross-arm, carrying with it a great quantity 

 of weeds and dirt of all sorts. Opposite the lowest Cassencary salmon net 

 a large " white-fish net " was erected. I could distinguish no difference 

 between the plan of this net and that of the recognised salmon nets, and 

 on asking the head salmon fisher, he replied that there was none. With a 

 recognised salmon net on one side of the river, and a so-called white-fish 

 net on the other, the opinion is irresistible that salmon are caught in the 

 white-fish net. One might almost venture to say that the catching of 

 many white fish is improbable, and that the initial cost and the upkeep of 

 such a net is not likely to be met by the quantity of white fish captured. 

 Some distance away on the mud flats of the Bladenoch district another 

 stake net was visible, and on enquiry this was described as a white-fish 

 net. I understand this net has since been dealt with in the Wigtown 

 Justice of Peace Court. A small fine was imposed upon the fisherman for 

 taking salmon in his net, it being intimated at the same time that power 

 existed to order the forfeiting of the net. The fisherman was asked if he 

 would be willing to remove his net to a situation where it was less likely to 

 catch salmon, but this proposal was strongly resisted by the fisherman's 

 agent, and was not further pressed. 



I recollect on two previous occasions inspecting stake nets in this 

 district which were described by their owners as " white-fish nets," one a 

 tidal net like the one just referred to, the other practically a typical salmon 

 bag-net, which, at the moment of my inspection, contained three salmon 

 and no other fish. This net was only removed after an appeal to the 

 Sheriff- Principal. 



In the Fleet district I inspected the nets in June, 1909, and found, in 

 addition to the salmon nets, two white-fish nets. One was situated in a 

 position in which it was quite as likely to catch salmon and sea-trout as 

 the certificated engines, being as a matter of fact closer to the river mouth 

 than any of the salmon nets. I considered it somewhat significant also 

 that it was being fished by the same fisherman who worked the salmon 

 nets. The other net was on the opposite or west side, and further down 

 the estuary near Cardoness. The former net has since been moved to 

 another site, and the river has also changed its course. I give a photograph 

 of this net now set on Craigmore Point. Two other nets of a similar kind 

 are set in Carrick Bay, at the mouth of the Fleet estuary. 



I desire specially to mention two points in connection w T ith these Bay of 

 Fleet nets. First, being " white-fish nets," they are apparently not 

 regarded as subject to the regulations respecting weekly close time (I 

 purposely made my visit to the Fleet on a Sunday in order to ascertain 

 this point) ; second, so far as I can learn, there are practically no white 

 fish to catch in the shallow estuary of the Fleet. 



It did not further strengthen my belief in the good faith of the local 

 fisherman to learn that a few days before my visit he had been convicted 

 in the Sheriff Court of Kirkcudbright of contravening the Salmon Acts 

 through the non-observance of the weekly close time. I found, indeed, that 

 the pockets of each of his salmon nets had (presumably the evening before) 

 been cut up. There was no arrangement provided for opening them 

 otherwise. The freshly-made cut in the netting was very clear. To 

 anyone familiar with a salmon "fly" net, the net represented in the 

 photograph will, I think, be indistinguishable. In my opinion it is absurd 

 to call these nets " white-fish nets," The possibility of fishing such nets 

 is in some measure due, as in the Fleet district, to the absence of a District 

 Fishery Board, who could supervise locally ; but in such districts as that of 

 the Nith it must proceed from a different cause. There is no doubt that, 

 in the repeated renewal of the offence, either the" possibility of escaping 

 notice or a spirit of defiance prompts the action, 

 c 



