8 
Appendices to Ninth Annual Report 
Answers from 
Lochy and 
Spean District 
Board. 
Loch Lomond, 
its tributary 
streams, and 
its elfluent 
the Leven. 
About statistics he says : — 
There is no means of giving approximately the quantities. The lessees 
conceal the statistics, and the tish go to market by such divers ways. 
The rivers in the district he states to be fairly well protected. 
The mischief is chiefly done by scringing in the bays of the sea at night. 
He is satisfied, on the whole, with the annual close time, but thinks 
that nets at the mouths of rivers like the Awe should be taken off two 
days in the week. 
Concerning natural obstructions he writes : — 
There is one river, the Avich, which has been inspected and reported on by 
the inspector. The difficulty of get ting the right of salmon fishing alone stands in 
the way of the ^owprietors getting the obstructions removed* 
With regard to the neighbouring District Board of the Rivers Lochy 
and Spean, the Chairman, Lord Abinger, sends in answers. Respecting 
close times he writes : — 
As has been suggested before, a small steam launch would assist very greatly 
in enforcing the ol)servance of the bye-laws by stake, fly, and bag-net fishers, 
and in preventing poaching by net and coble. The police, coastguard, and the 
preventive service men should also be called on to assist. 
He enumerates the natural obstructions in the district — (1) Mounessie, 
which, he states, can be easily removed, also the obstructions below ; (2) 
Inverlair can be removed at considerable cost. Is in favour of giving coui- 
pulsory powers to District Boards to remove or render passable such 
obstructions under conditions and restrictions. In answer to the 'general 
question,' he would suggest that — 
Fishermen, dealers, or others having salmon or fish of the salmon kind in 
their possession, should be obliged to give an account to watchers or other 
persons in authority of how the fish came into their possession, and tlmt 
dealers or shopkeepers should be obliged to keep a book, like game dealers, in 
which their purchases are entered, and from whom. This to apply to all 
seasons of the year, and the legal presumption to be against the possessor of the 
salmon or fish of the salmon kind. 
In July last I inspected the w^ider and shallower part of Loch Lomond 
which lies below Luss and Rowardennan, where the fishing, both for 
yellow trout and the migratory salmonidse is best. I also inspected the 
Endrick, the largest stream which flows into the loch, and the Luss and 
the Douglas Water. 
Loch Lomond is 23 miles in length and 6 miles wide in the broadest 
part. But, above Luss, it narrows, until, in some places near the head, 
it is less than half-a-mile wide. It covers an area of 21,000 acres. It 
receives a multitude of tributary streams, of which the largest are the 
Falloch at the head, and the Endrick at the foot. The loch is only 23 
feet above the level of the sea, and it discharges its superfluous waters 
through the wide stream of the Leven, which, counting by the windings 
of the water, is 7 miles long, and up which the tide flows for about 3 
miles. The depth of the loch varies greatly. South of Luss it seldom 
reaches 20 fathoms. But farther north, in some of the narrower parts, 
it is 96 fathoms ; and off Culness — the deepest point — it is 105 fathoms. 
The best fishing is in the wider and shallower portions below Luss and 
Rowardennan. Salmon and sea trout used to be very plentiful and cheap 
in the Leven and in Loch Lomond. But print-works and their accom- 
* For a full description of the ohstructions on the Avich, which flows out of Loch 
Avich into Loch Awe, see my Sixth Report to the Board, pp. 55-56. 
