The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-03 00:00:00

THE YORKSHIRE SALMON FISHERIES.

The annual meetings of the Conservators of the
Wharfe and Derwent boards of these fisheries were
held on Thursday, January 23, at York. J. Meek,
Esq., presided over the meeting of the Wharfe
Board, and Colonel St. Quintin over that of the
Derwent Board. The business at each meeting was
precisely the same, J. H. Phillips, Esq., of Beadlam
Grange, Helmsley, opening each by the reading of
the minutes. From these it appeared that a peti-
tion had been prepared for presentation to Parlia-
ment, praying for more efficient legislation for the
protection of salmon in the rivers of the kingdom.
The petition was adopted. A number of queries
which had been sent down by the Government in
reference to the operations of the boards of the
Wharfe and Derwent districts were then read, as
well as the answers which Mr. Phillips had pre-
pared to them, and the latter were unanimously
adopted by the meetings.
Mr. Phillips read his report. Owing to the
notices prescribed in the Act of Parliament re-
quiring three months' publication, the commence-
ment of the fishing season was retarded until the
Ist of May. The licenses issued on behalf of the,
board had realised the sum of £l6l, a revenue
which, bearing in mind that three runiths of the
open season had already elapsed, was considerably
more than was anticipated, and was entirely derived
from draft nets worked in the tidal portions of the
liver Ouse. From statistics transmitted to the
secretary by the licencecs, and carefully collated,
there appeared to have been caught in the aggregate
3,204 salmon during the season.
j\lr. Phillips gathered from various reliable
sources that salmon had not only increased in num-
ber, but likewise in size and weight, but it was in
vain to look for any great augmentation of fish
until those obstructive weirs were provided with
passes. The north-western part of Yorkshire, with
its numerous diversified valleys and mountain
streams, was strikingly adapted by nature for sal-
mon, yet these prolific sources of food were cut off,
dried up, and destroyed by mill-proprietors for
their own private benefit, and this at an immense
loss to the rest of the community. Mr. Ashworth,
the enterprising owner of the Galway an 1 Severn
fisheries, stated that "nine-tenths of the salmon-
fishery proprietors of the kingdom are sacrificed for
the benefit of the other tenth, viz , the mill-owning
proprietors, and the nation lose food worth nearly
half a million." In relation to this subject, Mr.
Phillips could not refrain from mentioning that vast
quantities of salmon were seen at the foot of Tad-
caster, even in December last, by the Rev. J. Chal-
loner, Mr. Bradley, and others, jumping and strug-
gling in vain to get over. Application was there-
fore made to the Houu Secretary to allow them to
be netted and turned in above the dam. High floods
occurring in the interim, their good intentions were
frustrated. He was, therefore, painfully convinced
these fish had spawned below the dam and re-
turned to sea. The destruction of ova was, there-
fore, beyond calculation. They might only sup-
pose there were 100 pairs of salmon (a very low esti-
mate indeed), and that each hen fish was 10 pounds
iu weight, and calculating by the usual mode of a
thousand to each llb. weight of fish, they had a

loss of one million ova ! In addition to these there
were others killed in trying to get up the mill
wheel. Mr. Phillips alluded to the pernicious
system of river pollution, which was increasing, and
would yearly become worse unless some legislative
measures were rigidly enforced. In the neighbour-
hood of Otley and Richmond there were numerous
pollutions, both of fluid and solid kind, discharged
into the rivers from the towns themselves, and fro
paper mills, gasworks, mines, woollen manufac-
tories, dye works, tanneries, &c., which fouled the
rivers to a considerable extent ; and York, too, with
its population of 46,000, was not exempt from blame,
as the whole sewage from that city was drained
into the river, and in dry weather was complained
of as a great nuisance. He would next come to
the consideration of fish ladders, of which only one
had been erected in that district, viz., at Linton,
nine miles above the city of York, on the river
Ouse. The weir had been, on several occasions,
surveyed by the late Mr. Ffennell, and various
plans had been suggested as to the best mode of
erecting a ladder, and as to where it was finally
decided that it should be made. Mr. Ffennell
strongly urged the navigation commissioners to
allow it to be placed in the centre weir, but those
gentlemen having a fear lest a structure of that sort
should ia any way interfere with the stability of
the darn, refused their sanction, and pointed out to
Mr. Ffennell the present site by the side of the
navigation sluices, where ho might, if he thought
proper, fix the ladder. As there was no alternative,
it was erected there, and it was now ascertained
that Mr. Ffennell's opinion was in the main cor-
rect—its present position was away from the course
of the river, and the top of it stretched past the
broken water at the foot of the weir, where it was
well known salmon were constantly to be seen
vainly attempting to overleap the barrier. Not-
withstanding these defects, it was believed that a
great number of fish had ascended it.
The corporation of York had decided to erect a
ladder on the dam at Naburn during the approach-
ing summer ; they had directed their surveyor to
obtain plane and specifications of YariollB kinds of

PRICE 4d.
STAMPED sd.

ladders submitted to the council and inspectors of
fisheries for their decision and approval. Whilst
in London attending the Fishery Congress in June
last, he examined a great number of models of lad-
ders that were exhibited on that occasion. Ile
could not say that many of them, were of a very,
practical description, such as would admit salmon
over the weirs at all times, and in large qulntities.
It occurred to him (and that opinion was share I by
others) that in constricting a fish pass the nea72c
they copied nature, and the simpler the means they
use.l, the mare successful would be their efforts.
Many of the ladders as at present constrecte.l re-
semblod, more than anything
el3e, fish traps. In
the month of Augustlast time Special Commis-
sioners fur English fisheries visited the first four
weirs on the I\rh mrfe, also tho3c on the Da-went, for
the purpose of inspecting some of the worst cases pre-
paratory to trying them a few months hence. From
the circumstance that five of those weirs had fishing
boxes attached to them, they were clearly within
their jurisdiction. These questions of law, regard-
ing dams, reminded them how urgently an amended
act was needed not only to give the Special Com-
missioners more extensive powers to deal with all
obstructions to the passage of fish, but also remedy
defects and deficiencies in the Acts of 1861 and
1865. There were also other important alterations
required, viz., to put a stop to the pollution of
rivers—extension of weekly close time—prohibiting
the use of nets within 150 yards of any dam, and
in non-tidal waters during night time. Also to
re-enact the 231 George 11. cap. 27, unfortunately
repealed by the Salmon Fishery Act of 1861, which
not only gave powers for the protection of spawn,
fry, or brood of fish, all unsizeable. fish and smelts
proper under the size of five inches ; but also all
fish included in the salmouid:e family. Had
not this act been repealed the Special Commis-
sioners could have effectually put a stop to all
those mischievous set-nets which commit such
whosesale destruction of fry and other edible fish ;
not only in the Humber, but in various other tidal
rivers throughout the kingdom. In closing the re-
port Mr. Phillips would just advert to the contem-
plated amalgamation of the two districts into one.
The subject had been already discussed at both
boards, and the conservators of each had expressed
their willingness that the fusion should take place.
With that view the usual notices required by the
Act had been given by each board, and at the ex-
piration of six months the sanction of the Home
Secretary only would be necessary to effect the
alteration. The Trent Board bad also signified
their wish to surrender that portion of their district
bordering on Yorkshire which comprised the natural
half of the estuary of the Humber, extending east-
ward of the Trent Falls to Spurn Point, and the
ea coast to Flambro' Head. As this would give
the board access to the sea, and likewise a share
and supervision of the estuary, into which nearly all
the rivers of the county were united, he though
the arrangements in many respects would prove an
advantageous one, and each board would then
have the Humber as a natural boundary to their
respective districts.
The report was adopted.