of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



25 



Protection — 



1. £3,383 4s. 5d. 



2. 20 per cent, on the assessable rental. 



3. Twenty. 



4. Fourteen prosecutions implicating 22 individuals. The offences were for 



having unseasonable salmon in their possession or poaching implements. 

 All convicted, save in one case found "not pro^^en," Fined £2 to £5, 

 with option of imprisonment for periods of from 7 to 30 days. Only 

 one or two paid fine and expenses ; the others went to prison. 



Obstructions to the Passage of Fish — 



1. No dams destroyed or given up, nor have any new dams been built or 

 old dams altered. 



5. Fish can always ascend when river is high; but when low there are 



places on the lower river where, owing to mills and weirs, ascent is 

 impossible. 



6. Xo. 



7. No changes. 

 Pollutions — 



1. No fresh causes of pollution were introduced in 1897. 



2. Negotiations between the Board, the Aberdeen District Committee of the 



County Council, and the owners of mills adjoining the river, were 

 carried on for some considerable time with the view of disposing 

 otherwise of the sewage and mill refuse presently drained into the 

 river, but these have now fallen through and the Boards are taking 

 steps otherwise to obtain the removal of the causes of pollution. 



The Salmon Disease — 



1. A good deal of disease was apparent from October to December caused 

 from fish being confined in large numbers in polluted water behind 

 mill dykes. Now that the river is higher it has practically 

 disappeared. 



3. 145 diseased salmon taken from the river and destroyed between 



beginning of October and middle of December; mostly female fish; 

 only 1 kelt. 



4. It is believed that the salmon disease in the Don was due to impurities 



from mills, and especially to the abstraction of water by these mills, 

 occasionally making long stretches of the bed of the river almost dry, 

 thus causing the fish to congregate in hundreds in the deeper pools 

 below, where they soon show signs of disease. But for these causes it 

 is thought that there would have been little or no disease. 



The Spawning Season — 



1. 5 th November. 



2. Between the middle and end of December. 



3. Practically finished at end of December. 



4. Rather above average height. 



5. Less. 



6. Chiefly in the river itself; best places at Alford 27 miles up and 



at Kildrummy 37 miles. 



Kelts— 



1. Always a few. 



2. Greatest number in May and June. 



3. Never quite free but mostly so in July. 



4. Small. 



2. No. 



3. Yes. 



4. No. 



• Smolts — 



1. Middle of April. 



2. Fairly so. 



