20 



Appendices to Si/jcteenth Annual Report 



Smolts — 



1. Latf in March. 



2. Considered above average. 



Artificial Propagation of Salmon — 



There is a salmon hatchery at Dupplin on Earn belonging to District 

 Board. Hatches 570,000 ova. 



Proportion of Male to Female Salmon — 



Mere sjDeculation ; not one fisherman in a hundred can tell the difference 

 between the male and female in a spring salmon until it is opened. 



THE DISTRICT OF THE RIVER SODTH ESK. 



Take of Fish— 



1 . Below the average in all cases. 



2. No ; have no means of getting this information. 



3. (a) 16th February; (h) July and August; (c) July and August. 



4. Impossible for us to supply this information. 



5. (a) and (h) 48 lbs.; (c) 30 lbs. 



Protection — 



1. £3,507. 



2. Ten per cent, on rental. 



3. Nine. 



4. Yes ; six prosecutions. Chiefly for dragging and illegal use of 



instruments in catching salmon. One case, for breach of weekly 

 regulations, raised against tenants of fishings, found not proven as 

 against tenants, by Sheriff Campbell Smith, but on apj^eal to High 

 Court, reversed. Tenants found proper parties to be prosecuted under 

 24th Sec. of 1868 Act. Convictions obtained in all the other cases. 



Obsiructions to the Passage of Fish — 



1. No dams destroyed or given up, and no new dams or old dams altered. 



2. No cruives fished in 1897. 



3. Dams generally worked in accordance with bye-laws. Some improve- 



ments about to be made in some of dams. Only cruives in district 

 are at Brechin Castle, but have been closed for some years under 

 certain conditions stated in an agreement between town of Brechin 

 and their tenants of mills and Earl of Dalhousie. 



4. No. 



5. Fairlv good passage. 



6. No. 



7. Ascent of fish to upper waters improved in consequence of an agreement 



between Earl of Southesk and proprietor of dam and upper i)ro- 

 prietors, whereby netting of river on fishings has been stopped for 

 period of years. 



Pollutions. 



1. No. 



2. No. 



The Salmon Disease — 



1. Yes ; first observed 15tli April ; at height about middle of May;. 



scarcely disappeared. 



2. Fair ordinary size. 



3. From 15th April to 15th May 21 clean salmon taken out of river — 12 



males, 9 females; also 65 kelts — 35 males, 27 females. 



4. No. 



