26 
Appendices to Tenth Annual Report 
Evil effects of I have twice visited the Solway Firth as a Government Commissioner 
Hang-nets on — m 1870 and 1880 — and have twice carefully examined its Fisheries 
e yne ' since my appointment as Inspector of Scotch Salmon Fisheries in 1882; 
so that I have had ample opportunities of studying the various ques- 
tions that arise from its peculiar position, its exceptional physical features, 
and the variety of Acts of Parliament that apply to it. And I have no 
hesitation in expressing a decided opinion that nothing has done so much 
harm to its salmon fisheries as these hang or whammel nets ; which float 
like a wall of netting in the narrow and comparatively shallow low-water 
channel of the upper part of the Firth, stretching almost entirely across it, 
and intercepting the majority of the fish which are making for the rivers. 
That these nets are most prejudicial in rivers and in narrow channels has 
been repeatedly shown. In four years they nearly ruined the fishings in 
the Northumberland Tyne. In the official Reports of the late Mr 
Buckland and of Mr Spencer Walpole, it is stated that 129,000 salmon 
were captured in the Tyne in 1872, and that there was even a larger take 
in 1868. In 1866, hang-nets were introduced, in small numbers at first ; 
but year by year their number was increased, until at last hundreds of 
such nets, many of them of great length, might have been seen at night 
fishing for salmon in the sea north and south of the mouth of the Tyne. 
The evil effect on the fisheries was soon apparent. On a fishing 2 or 3 
miles below Newcastle, 1252 salmon were taken in 1867, and only 226 
in 1873; while on a fishing immediately above Newcastle, where the 
lessee made .£1500 in 1867, the take fell to only 36 salmon in 
1873. 
The general result to the Tyne fishings was most disastrous. In 1872, 
129,100 salmon were taken, while in 1874 only 21,746 were captured, 
or, in other words, only one-sixth of the take of 1872. The salmon are 
in the habit of congregating in large numbers behind the two solid 
masonry piers which have been constructed by the Tyne Navigation Com- 
missioners, north and south of the entrance of the Tyne. The neighbour- 
hood of these piers formed the most convenient places for the operation of 
the hang-net fishermen, and thousands of salmon were annually taken 
there. 
In 1873, however, a new Salmon Fishery Act for England was passed, 
and under the powers conferred by it, the conservators of the Tyne drew 
up a bye-law prohibiting any netting for salmon within a certain distance 
of the piers at the mouth of the Tyne, and this bye-law was confirmed by 
the Home Secretary. Its beneficial effects were soon demonstrated ; for 
whereas, owing to the operation of the hang-nets, only 21,746 salmon 
were taken in the Tyne District in 1874, the take in 1881 had risen to 
45,946, or had more than doubled. It will be observed from the above 
statement that the hang-nets had not been fishing in the river Tyne itself, 
but in the sea close to its mouth ; and it is obvious that such nets fishing 
in the channel of a river or in a narrow estuary, like that of the Solway 
at low water in the Annan and Nith Districts, would be even more deadly 
and destructive. 
Powers to It would be greatly for the benefit of the Salmon Fisheries in Scotland, 
District and would greatly strengthen the hands of District Boards in putting a 
Boards to s t 0 p t 0 or limiting the operation of hang-nets, whose destructiveness has 
laws' 3 ByG " been so clearly proved, if a power of making bye-laws, such as that con- 
ferred on boards of conservators by the English Act of 1873, were 
conferred on District Boards in Scotland. Speaking of this part of the 
Act of 1873, Mr Willis Bund makes the following remarks in his book 
on The Law relating to Salmon Fisheries of England and Wales, as 
amended by the Salmon Fishery Act of 1873: — 'Power is given to 
