Report on Salmon Fisheries. 
xiii 
After inspecting [ the fishways on the Erich t, the Inspector wrote Correspond- 
to Colonel Macdonald on the subject, and has since received from tSe^nspeSSS' 
him a letter, accompanied by plans of an improved fish way, of Salmon 
designed to obviate the faults which so materially interfere with £ 1 i hen 1 e l r and 
1*1 c m i i tv • i Colonel Mac- 
the usefulness or fishways similar to those on the Lncht.* donaid, Wash- 
Before closing our Report, we desire to direct attention to the in s ton - 
following extract from the Seventh Keport of the Inspector of f^^iatfon 1617 
Salmon Fisheries to this Board. Under the head of ' Salmon ° 
' Fishery Law and Legislation,' the Inspector there writes as follows 
with reference to the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Consolidation 
and Amendment Bill, which was withdrawn in the last Session of 
Parliament : — * But that bill, which has now been withdrawn, was, 
to some extent, an attempt to reconcile the almost irreconcileable 
claims and interests of upper and lower proprietors ; and it, there- 
fore, not unnaturally, excited an amount of opposition which proved 
fatal to it. But there are many provisions which would be un- 
questionable improvements to our Salmon Fisheries in Scotland 
about which both upper and lower proprietors are agreed. Might 
it not, therefore, be worth trying the experiment of embodying 
these in a new bill, without touching upon those matters with 
regard to which there is no chance of securing unanimity ? For 
example, a bill providing for the following points would probably 
unite the suffrages of upper and lower proprietors, and would have 
a good chance of passing through Parliament. These points are 
the prohibition of the sale of salmon caught during the extension 
of time for rod-fishing; granting additional powers of search and 
seizure to water-bailiffs, &c; provisions for District Boards remain- 
ing in office until their successors are appointed ; for removing 
diseased fish from rivers and waters ; for making obstructions in 
rivers passable for salmon ; for effectually preventing the pollution 
of rivers ; for prohibiting the use of the cleek for landing salmon 
until the 1st of May; for fixing minimum as well as maximum 
penalties for offences ; for the prevention of ' sniggling ; ' for fixing 
a close time and a gauge, or both, for trout ; for smolt-guards in 
the case of turbine wheels and similar engines ; for giving District 
Boards additional powers to rent, lease, or purchase any salmon 
fishing, fixed engine, &c, for the benefit of the fisheries in their 
respective districts ; and for conferring powers on the Fishery 
Board for Scotland to enforce the provisions of the Salmon Fishery 
Acts in those districts where there are no District Boards. Such 
a bill, it humbly seems to me, would have a fair chance of passing. 
Whereas a bill providing for lengthening the annual and weekly 
close times; for regulating and restricting the working of draft nets; 
for alio wingDistrict Boards to elect their own chairman,irrespective 
of rental; for prohibiting netting within a certain distance above 
and below dam dikes ; for further regulating and restricting the 
construction and working of stake, fly, and bag nets ; and for alter- 
ing estuary lines ; would, almost certainly, be rejected.' 
* For plan of this improved Fishway,"see Note IX. to the Inspector's Report to 
the Board. 
