Report on Salmon Fisheries. 



vii 



The reports from District Fishery Boards and others received Reports from 

 by the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, and included in Appendix I. p^ery 

 to Mr. Calderwood's Report, show that almost in every district in Boards. 

 Scotland net fishing, where carried on, has been comparatively 

 unsuccessful, and that in the majority of rivers fishing by means of 

 rod and line has only been moderately successful. A few exceptions 

 to the last statement occur. In the Tay the spring angling was 

 exceptionally good, the autumn angling exceptionally poor. In the 

 Awe, a river which fishes best in low conditions, a record was 

 obtained. Owing to the dryness of the summer the smaller streams 

 suffered, except in cases like the Helmsdale, where the head waters 

 are stored for use at such times. In the main, however, the season 

 1906 must be regarded as a year of small waters and few fish. 



With regard to the question of netting, it appears from Mr. Reduction of 

 Calderwood's Report that the policy of reducing net and coble fish- Narrow waters, 

 ing in narrow waters, recommended by Lord Elgin's Commission 

 on Salmon Fisheries, is gaining favour, and that in several impor- 

 tant districts attempts are now being made, through combinations 

 of proprietors of salmon fisheries and others, to improve the stock 

 of fish by the removal of nets formerly fished in waters where 

 ascending salmon congregate, and where, therefore, constant netting 

 results in the removal of an undue number of fish. Experience in 

 Scotland and elsewhere seems more and more to show that the sea 

 coast has to be regarded as the proper situation for the net, where 

 salmon in best possible condition for the market can be captured, 

 and our great commercial salmon fisheries successfully carried on, 

 while the river has to be regarded as the natural breeding place of 

 the fish, where fishing should not be of such a kind as to seriously 

 reduce the stock. Rivers of large volume with wide estuaries can no 

 doubt be netted to an extent which would be extremely harmful 

 to smaller rivers ; but in every case a river has to be judged upon 

 its own merits, and the netting so regulated that a proportion of 

 each run of fish is enabled to pass the nets and to ascend to the 

 comparatively safe waters of the upper river. Details of existing 

 net and coble fisheries, so as to show the extent thereof, are 

 given in Appendix III. 



The District Fishery Boards in the Island of Mull have unfor- Lapsed Dis- 

 tunately been allowed to lapse. A proposal that the three districts tnct Boards - 

 in the island — viz., Lussa, Penny gown, and Baa — should be amal- 

 gamated could not be carried out because of the non-existence of 

 the District Boards. The grouping of the smaller districts of the 

 West Highlands has repeatedly been recommended as likely to 

 lead to better supervision and control. 



With regard to the rentals of the principal districts, the following Rentals of 

 brief statement is sufficient to show that the high standard pre- Districts - 

 viously referred to has been well maintained : — 



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