of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



influence of the tide extends upwards above Stirling to Craigforth; 

 where the chief amount of net and coble fishing is carried on, 

 there being 30 available fishing stations. The Craigforth cruive, 

 concerning which 1 made special report some years ago, is now 

 disused, but the cruive dyke is still allowed to remain. It is in 

 part a natural barrier of rock and in part an artificial super- 

 structure. 



The cruive dyke practically determines the limits of tide reach, 

 and also acts as a check upon ascending salmon. From this point 

 down to Alloa 37 shots are regularly fished at the height of the 

 season. Considerable variation seems to exist, however, as to the 

 particular hauling grounds used. In the whole stretch of water 

 there are 63 hauling grounds available. Above Craigforth three 

 stations are fished at the junction of the Teith and Forth, and a 

 few shots are also annually taken in the Campbell Pool (river Teith) 

 at Callander. In addition to all this netting, I understand that a 

 considerable amount of fishing for salmon is carried on in the 

 estuary below Alloa. 



The assessable rental for salmon fishing in the Forth district is 

 now only £3274. 



In the Tay, netting is now all below the Linn of Campsie, but Tay. 

 the most constant and important section of the water fished is below 

 Perth. The limitations placed upon the netting above Perth have 

 already been referred to. In a river of such large volume, and 

 possessed of such a large and wide tidal estuary — extending, as it 

 does, with a marine character from Newburgh to Buddon Ness 

 beyond Broughty Ferry, a distance of 20 miles — a considerable 

 amount of netting is possible without interference with the 

 adequate stock of salmon. While, therefore, the number of fishing 

 stations regularly fished amounts to forty in a total distance of 

 thirty-three miles, it has to be remembered that the Tay netting 

 cannot be placed in the same category as the Tweed, netting, 

 where the entire stretch of water so fished is confined to the river; 

 nor can it be compared even with the netting of the Forth, where, 

 although the water fished is tidal, it is, nevertheless, confined in a 

 comparatively narrow river channel where netting has much more 

 complete effect, besides which the natural spawning ground of the 

 Forth is in no way comparable to the great extent of the Tay, and 

 the stock of fish very much less. 



So far as I have been informed, there is little or no change in North Esk. 

 the amount of netting carried on in the North Esk river. There 

 is no natural estuary, and the river is not of great volume, although 

 it attracts great quantities of fish. Netting is carried on from the 

 river mouth to Mary church Bridge, a distance of nearly five miles. 

 In this stretch there are, moreover, two dam dykes, the upper of 

 which has long been complained against as a serious obstacle to 

 the ascent of fish, but which the lower proprietors of salmon fish- 

 ings have so far declined to modify. 



A limited amount of netting is carried on in the Dee, Don, and j) ee to 

 Ythan. The Deveron is netted for three miles, as is the Spey. In Findhorn. 

 the Findhorn three miles of river are also fished and two miles in the 

 estuary. Sixteen shots are regularly worked, which, in a river of 



