THE FISHERY INTERESTS OF AUSTRIA. 585 



reeds or bushes, or put them in wicker-baskets or boxes in streams, 

 leaving the hatching to nature. 



7. — PROGRESS OF FOREIGN FISHERIES. 



Great Britain. — The most brilliant example of progress is in Scotland, 

 whose rivers had for a long period been almost entirely depopulated by 

 reckless fishing. The river Spey in Scotland scarcely contained any fish 

 up to the year 1854 ; since then, and up to 1860, it has annually produced 

 upward of $10,000 worth of fish; this bas even been increased of late 

 years, so that a single fishing-station belonging' to the Duke of Eich- 

 mond yields an annual income of $52,500 to $60,000. The annual yield 

 of the river Tay has, in a few years, risen from $40,000 to $90,000, net 

 income, not counting the large number of fish given to the fishermen ; 

 and all this in consequence of feeding, watching, and protecting the 

 fisb, and of introducing artificial breeding. By the same means, and in 

 consequence of excellent laws and strict protection of the fish during 

 the spawning season, the yield of some of the Irish fisheries has in a 

 few years increased fourfold. In 1858, the revenues from the salmon 

 and trout fisheries in Scotland and Ireland amounted to $3,500,000, 

 while in 1863 they had increased to twice that sum. * 



The constantly improved British fishery-laws, and many institutions 

 called to life by the government, or at least encouraged by it, such 

 as the appointing of inspectors of fisheries, are perseveringly following 

 the object in view, to clear away all impediments to the progress of the 

 fisheries, and to extend them by every possible means. 



The report on the British salmon fisheries for the year 1870, by the 

 inspectors Buckland and Walpole, shows a considerably increased har- 

 vest during the year 1869 in consequence of artificial breeding and proper 

 protection of the fish ; there are, however, still some complaints of hin- 

 derances and plundering the fisheries. In the seventeen salmon -rivers, 

 the fish are still excluded from 7,990 square miles by weirs, and from 

 3,600 square miles by industrial poisoning of the water, so that, there 

 are only remaining 6,600 square miles for spawning and raising young 

 fish. In order to do away with the weirs, water-mills are as far as pos- 

 sible to be changed to steam-mills, and those which are still in existence 

 are to be made harmless by salmon-paths. 



The poisoning of the rivers by factories is strongly condemned not 

 only on account of the salmon but likewise on account of human beings, 

 as it not only kills the fish, but has likewise been generally acknowl- 

 edged to be a means of breeding fatal contagious diseases. Great 

 efforts are therefore made in England to purify the rivers, whereby the 

 industries are likewise brought to a higher degree of perfection, as the 



*Die rationelle Zucht der Siisswasserfische und einiger in der Volkswirthschaft 

 wichtigen Wasserthiere. R. Molin, Wien, 1864. p. 212. 



Die Bewirthschaftung des Wassers und die Eraten darans. H. Beta, Leipzig urid 

 Heidelberg, 1868. p. 67. 



