ABSTRACT
Population growth and overfishing were contributory factors to salmon stocks falling, but as the extract illustrates, it was apparent that so too was river pollution. The strident language used by the association also serves to show that this was beyond a sporting matter and was a public health concern, given the importance of salmon and other freshwater fish to the national diet. The Council therefore in the few observations they propose to make, need do little more than point out, that while the Royal Commissioners and the other authorities quoted have all in the strongest terms denounced the pollution of our rivers by sewage, and mine, and manufacturing refuse, as a most intolerable and dangerous nuisance that must be abated, they one and all at the same time concur in declaring that it can be abated and in a manner satisfactory to all parties.
