DEAR SIR,--I am favoured with your letter of yesterday, and shall
be glad to give you any information I may possess on the habits of
Salmon, or the requirements of any act of Parliament necessary for
the preservation and increase of this valuable fish. Being a mill-
owner, I have interests which are supposed to clash with those of
fish preservers; but I hope to be able to show that all mill-
owners are able to give a passage over their weirs at all times
when the fish are inclined to run; that is, when there are freshes
in the river. I say this the more confidently, as I believe the
works here are the largest in England for the power of the stream
they stand upon, and I find it necessary to employ 150 horse-power
of steam. Yet I find from a careful register, which has been kept
here since the year 1838, that we are able, without interfering
with the efficiency of the water power, to give the fish a passage
over the weir 181 days, or part of days, annually, and this at
times when alone they are disposed to avail themselves of such a
passage--that is in floods.
The suggestions that occur to me from time to time I will not fail
to send you. At present the following seem to me to be essential,
to give efficacy to any Act of Parliament framed for the purpose
of preserving and increasing the breed of Salmon, for without some
such provisions the gentlemen on the upper parts of rivers will
have no inducement to exert themselves in the matter.
First.--No nets or other engines, except rod and line, should be
used for taking fish from six o'clock at night to six o'clock in
the morning, and all fish should be allowed a free passage up the
stream every night when this does not destroy or impair the
efficacy of the water power.
Second.--No mill-owner nor his servants, nor any other person,
should be allowed to take fish at his weir, or within fifty yards
of it.
Third.--Conservators should be allowed to go into all wheel-races,
wheel-houses and tail-goits, and also upon all lands on the banks
of Salmon rivers, as well as inspect all cruives, weirs, &c.,
without being deemed guilty of trespass.
Fourth.--All weirs kept solely for fishing purposes, cruives, &c.,
should be compelled to give a free passage to the fish every night
from six o'clock to six o'clock in the morning; and any
obstruction placed in the gap calculated to hinder or frighten the
fish back, should be deemed breaches of the Act of Parliament and
liable to a penalty.
Fifth.--All nets and other devices for catching Eels should be
prohibited in April, May, and June.
Sixth.--Close time should be altered and extended, as well as made
uniform, in all rivers.
Seventh.--The sale and use of Salmon roe should be prohibited.
Eighth.--Justices should be enabled to assist the passage of fish
over weirs by any contrivance which did not impair their stability
nor the efficiency of the water power.
Ninth.--All cruives should be formed of vertical bars, and should
have the intervening spaces to measure not less than three inches.
Tenth.--No nets used in a Salmon river should measure in the mesh
less than two inches and a half from knot to knot.
Eleventh.--Any person having no right of fishing found with a net
in his possession or a Salmon out of season, should be guilty of
misdemeanour.
Twelfth.--A ten shillings' licence for angling for Salmon.
The reasons for most of these suggestions will be obvious to you,
but there are some which may not be so; I will therefore give a
short comment on such.
Third and fourth.--The conservators shall have the right to
inspect all wheel-races, cruives, &c., to see they are properly
regulated, and also to see that no contrivance is used to drive
the fish back. In the evidence given before the House of Commons
in 1825, it was proved that the lessee of a fishery in Scotland
used to place a crocodile painted red in the king's gap, which the
law compelled him to give from Saturday night till Monday morning.
Fifth.--The prohibition to set Eel nets in April, May, and June is
to prevent the destruction of Smolts when going down to the sea.
Seventh.--Salmon are destroyed here when spawning chiefly for the
sake of the roe. If a man were fined for selling it or having it
in his possession, this inducement would be weakened.
Eleventh.--There is the same reason for seizing the net of the
black fisher that there is for seizing the snare of the poacher,
and if the latter can be convicted for having hares or snares in
his possession, I do not see why the former should not for having
nets and Salmon.
A meeting of the gentlemen interested in the fisheries of the
Ribble and the Hodder will be held on Friday, the 17th instant,
previous to which time I should be glad of your criticism.
I am, dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
THOMAS GARNETT.
P.S.--It occurs to me since closing my letter that I have
forgotten one important provision required in any new Act of
Parliament--namely, protection to the Smolts in their downward
migration. Here the pools are swept with small meshed trammel nets
of all the fish that they contain.
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