47 



Bullo has suggested the destruction of the dykes 

 separating the smaller seaward valli in order to form a 

 huge reservoir, whence sea-water might be passed into 

 the great landward valli. Samaritani, an engineer 

 whose practical knowledge of the conditions are unri- 

 valled, traverses the efficacy of this latter proposal point- 

 ing out that, as the evil to be averted is a rise in the 

 salinity of the lagoon water, admission of sea-water is 

 much less efficacious than that of fresh water. 



Several of the best informed experts upon vallicul- 

 ture believe the conditions now existing in the lagoon 

 and in the lands borderino- it to be such that it is ad- 

 visable to reclaim and give to agricultural purposes the 

 whole or the greater part of the lagoon. Samaritani 

 gives figures * based upon the results of reclamations 

 already effected to demonstrate that this step would prove 

 much more profitable to the communal authorities than 

 to utilize the lagoon for fUn-farmingf. 



Elsewhere t he suggests as a less radical measure 

 that, failing the adopt'on of a scheme for the total 

 reclamation of the lagoon, great benefit would result 

 to the remainder, if the less remunerative sections be 

 recla ; med. If such were to be done, the area of the 

 lagoon might then be so reduced that the river sluices 

 now existing would be capable of supplying sweet water 

 in sufficient volume to keep the remaining ponds at 

 a suitable level and of a salinity agreeable to the fishes 

 inhabiting them. 



The DisrosAL and Curing of the Products. 



An average taken over a period of 86 years in last 

 century shows the annual catch of eels and mullet to 

 bej:— 



Eels ... ... ... ... 695,818 kilos. 



Mullet 78,43! » 



Besides these a valuable amount of less important 

 fish, chiefly smelts and gobies, are caught and disposed of. 



* Fide Bullo, loc. cit., p. 365 et seq. 



f Provvedimenti necessari, etc., p. 96. 



% Samaritani, quoted by Bullo, loc. cit., p. 366. 



