Report on Salmon Fisheries. 
ix 
On studying the above Table it will be seen that, though there 
is a great difference in the number of fish caught annually during 
the 7 years — the most productive year, 1883, yielding more than 
twice as many salmon as 1887, the least productive — there is 
wonderfully little variation in the average weight, only 1 lb. 
between the heaviest and the lightest year — the average for the 
whole 7 years giving the remarkable weight of 19 lbs. 10 ozs. for 
each salmon. 
In our last Report we found it necessary to advert to the illicit illicit traffic in 
traffic in salmon from Scotland to English and foreign markets, and to Salmon - 
the conferences which had taken place on the subject between Mr 
Young, Mr Berrington and Mr Towse, Clerk to the Fishmongers 
Company of London. We also pointed out what, in our opinion, 
is required to prevent or abate such traffic in Scotland. We are 
now informed that it is in contemplation to pass an Act for the 
purpose of putting a stop to this traffic — the said Act to embrace 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. Such an Act is much wanted, and 
if judiciously drawn up, would be of great value. We are prepared, 
on being called upon, to send a draft of the clauses in such an Act 
that should be applicable to Scotland, as it seems desirable that 
these clauses should be drafted in Scotland, the principles of the 
Scotch law relating to salmon fishings and the provisions of the 
Acts relating thereto being quite different from those of England 
and Ireland.* 
Of late years, hang-nets have been used in the Forth and Tay ; Hang-nets in 
and except on the Tweed, where they are classed among fixed Saries. d 
engines, there is nothing to prevent any proprietor or lessee of salmon 
fishings using them in all the rivers in Scotland. Yet nothing- 
seems more desirable than that their use in rivers and estuaries 
should be prohibited, which can be effectually done by including 
them in any future Salmon Fisheries Act under the category of 
fixed engines. 
How deadly they are in rivers, when used on a great scale, is Destructive- 
best proved by the case of the Tyne, which falls into the sea not far Set! to the" 8 " 
from Newcastle. The hang-nets on the Tyne, in the course of a Tyne. 
few years — as we are told in the 14th Annual Eeport of the 
English Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries — reduced the yield of that 
river from 129,100 fish to 21,746. They were then removed by a 
Bye-law of the Conservators outside the river, since which time 
the fisheries have improved. In the Blackwater, also, a large 
and important Irish salmon river which falls into the sea near 
Youghall, the hang-nets were rapidly ruining the river, and their 
removal was only procured by the Duke of Devonshire after one 
of the longest and most costly salmon fishery cases on record. 
Besides these cases, there is ample testimony as to the evil effects Mr Buckiand 
of hang-nets in rivers and estuaries, from those best qualified to on Han g' nets - 
judge. The late Mr Frank Buckiand writes as follows about them : 
— 'Even if they do not catch the fish, they frighten them and 
* Since the above was written Mr Young has received a letter from Mr Berrington, 
Chief Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for England and Wales, dated Board of Trade, 
18th April 1890, in which he writes as follows: — 1 It does not seem possible to do 
1 anything this year towards obtaining tho desired amendments on the law relating 
1 to the illegal traffic in salmon ; but the matter is not lost sight of. ' 
