32 



Appendices to Sixteenth Anmoal Report 



still existing presence of distillery pollution in this stream, where deposited' 

 ova, especially in the vicinity of Duftlown, would from this evil be rendered 

 useless. It is also very doubtful whether fry hatched in the river above 

 Dufftown do not suffer injury or die as soon as they drop down below the 

 <listilleries. Secondly, on account of the presently existing " bad draw " for 

 ascending fish at mouth of stream. At the junction of Fiddich with Spey 

 during the last year or two an accumulation of beach or shingle has lodged on 

 the left or Dandaleith side of the river from the railway bridge downwards, 

 until below where Fiddich mouth enters, and this beach has had the effect of 

 throwing a heavy stream right into the mouth of the Fiddich, or in other 

 words, " drowning the draw of Fiddich," by causing the natural run for 

 ascending fish upon Spey at this point to be upon the easy or Dandaleith side 

 of the river, and they are thus led past Fiddich mouth. Formerly, or previous 

 to this alteration at Fiddich mouth, large numbers of salmon about to spawn 

 found their way into this stream during the months of November, December, 

 and January, Avon and its tributaries depend most upon autumn — Sep- 

 tember and October — run fish for the middle and lower reaches, and, as I 

 have already said, the run of fish fell off during those two months last year. 

 The upper Spey tributaries beyond Grantown depend most upon summer run 

 fish, and as already noted, this run of fish was exceptionally good. 



The late Mr. Wedderspoon asked me last October to get the Bailiffs to 

 count the spawning beds formed and wrought upon on River Spey between Boat 

 o' Brig and Carron. The Spey during spawning season, in respect of its 

 normal flow for a considerable length of time at this season, gave the men a 

 favourable opportunity of counting the beds over this district, and their 

 respective records were as follows : — On Aberlour section, from Carron to 

 Tunnel Pool, 50 beds ; Craigellachie section, from Tunnel Pool to Bulwark, 

 153 beds ; Rothes district, from Bulwark to HoUybush, 563 beds ; Boat o' 

 Brig section, Hollybush to Boat o' Brig, 476 beds; upon Burn of Mulben, 

 21 beds — total, 1,263 spawning beds. Regarding the weather during the 

 spawning season, the absence of high spates and severe frosts w^as in favour of 

 successful hatching results to the deposited ova. Nothing was observed 

 among the spawning fish over the tributaries in the way of unevenly matched 

 sexes, such as more males than females or vice versa. 



During the last 25 years the mouth of the River Spey has gradually 

 diverged to the extent of nearly a mile westward — that is, from a point of the 

 sea beach near the Tugnet premises to west of the village of Kingston. Along 

 the said mile the river runs almost ^^'estward, and the only barrier preventing 

 its running direct into the sea is a wall of shingle about 180 feet wide and 

 10 to 12 feet deep. I consider that if the Spey Board gave their attention to 

 and agreed to have this wall or barrier cut at a point 200 or 300 yards west 

 from Tugnet, and thus allow the river to run " slap-dash " into the sea, that a 

 free and fast run of salmon up the river would be the result. The present 

 state of matters at the mouth of the river is certainly a serious barrier to a 

 free run offish up the river at all times, including the weekly "slap." At 

 present the river enters the sea on a dead level or still running state, thus 

 giving no force of fresh water over the bar to entice fish seeking for same to 

 enter the river. A cut to make the new run as proposed could be carried out 

 for £200. 



II. — Smolt Season. 



During the spring and early summer months of the present year the 

 appearance of descending smolts on the River Spey was, like last year, 

 exceptionally good. As usual, during present year, from 26th April to 5th 

 June — six weeks— eight bailiffs were on duty protecting smolts and salmon 

 fry over the River Spey and tributaries, viz., one at Speymouth, one at 

 Rothes, one at Dufftown, one at Aberlour, one at Ballindalloch, one on Upper 

 Avon and Livet, one at Grantown, and one at Duthil, Twenty-three dozen 

 (instead of twelve dozen as formerly) of printed notices cautioning persons 

 against killing smolts and parr were posted up over all the district. Trout 

 anglers met with by the bailiffs were civil, and willing to show the contents 

 of their baskets when asked to doyso. The usual force of bailiffs to protect 

 parr went on duty again at the 1st of August. 



