CONTENTS. Page VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SALMON AND CHANNEL FISHERIES. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. To give a description of a fish so well known as the salmon would be as absurd as it would be unnecessary, but in attempting its natural history I may occasionally touch upon points which may have a tendency to further the objects of this inquiry. In Sturt's Elements of Linnæus it is said, that the common salmon, or salmo salar, "grows very quickly; it is sometimes six feet long, and weighs upwards of seventy pounds. It is much coveted for the table, and forms in many countries a very considerable article of commerce. Salmon begin to quit the sea and ascend the rivers in the month of November; the impulse which urges them to this progress is irresistible; they ascend the most rapid rivers for hundreds of miles, and spring over cataracts several feet in height. When they have attained a place fit for their pur B pose, the male and female join in forming a receptacle for their spawn in the sand or gravel, about eighteen inches deep, which they afterwards cover up; and having performed this duty, they hasten back to the sea, being now very poor and lean. The spawn continues buried till the spring. About the latter end of March the young are excluded, and when they are four or five inches long they are called smelts or smouls. About the beginning of May they swarm in myriads; but the first flood sweeps them down into the sea, scarcely leaving any behind. About the middle of June these begin to return to the rivers. They have now grown to the length of twelve or sixteen inches, and continue growing till the end of July or beginning of August, when they get the name of gilses, and are from six to nine pounds weight." What is meant by their beginning to quit the sea, is, that the great body then enter the rivers in order to go to their breeding haunts. Every one knows that salmon enter the rivers early in the year, though but rarely; they are then called new fish, having the lernæa salmonea, or sea-louse, attached to them. Their number continues to increase as the summer advances, which is the time when they ought to be taken, for they are then rich and good. They so continue until towards the close of the year, when they assume a copperish colour, and are evidently out of season; the great bulk being then in a very pregnant state, and anxiously seeking a place to deposit their roe. There is evidently a difference in, the forwardness of their pregnancy, and the kippers, or males, have not that appearance of unseasonableness that the shedders, or females, have; yet, for want of this distinction, a great many of the former have been destroyed. This, if they pair*, must render the female unproductive, and the destruction of them is consequently a most pernicious practice. The fish which the naturalist speaks of as returning to the rivers twelve or sixteen inches long, are those which we call salmon peal, that is, as the name itself denotes, a fish proceeding from the pea of the salmon. As much difference of opinion has prevailed, and still exists on this point, viz. whether the salmon peal be the same or a distinct species from the common salmon, and as this is a very important question to be decided as connected with the welfare of the salmon fisheries, I have devoted an entire chapter to its investigation. It should, if possible, be set at rest; and I think I have collected such evidence to prove them to be young salmon as will, for the future, put the fact beyond dispute. The naturalist says, that in some countries the salmon form a very considerable article of commerce; they would do so equally in this if they were properly attended to; for there is no country which abounds with rivers more favour * Whether they do so or not, will be inquired into hereafter. |