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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND "WILDLIFE SERVICE 



grilse to 500 adults in the Dennys and Penobscot 

 Kivers. 90 



The average weight of the salmon caught in 

 the Penobscot was about UK pounds in 1905 

 (6,378 fish), 9 to 10 pounds in 1919 and 1920 

 (3,920 fish), 91 or a little less than in the St. John. 

 The heaviest Penobscot fish of which we found 

 definite record of late years weighed a little more 

 than 35 pounds. 92 The fish in the rivers flowing 

 into the head of the Bay of Fundy run much 

 smaller, as Perley pointed out long ago, and recent 

 studies show that most of them spawn first as 

 grilse, i. e., after only one year at sea; a few, 

 having spawned after one year at sea, return to 

 spawn again a year later; and the percentage of 

 larger and older fish is very small there. This, 

 Huntsman points out, 93 contrasts with the preva- 

 lent 6-year-old fish in the Miramichi, which dis- 

 charges into the southern side of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, and with 7- or 8-year-old fish in 

 the Grand Cascapedia, tributary to the Bay of 

 Chaleur. Various explanations have been ad- 

 vanced to account for these differences from river 

 to river, none of them convincing in our opinion. 



It also appears to be true (as often stated) 

 that a larger proportion of the salmon are annual 

 spawners in small streams, where most of the 

 spent fish drop downstream again soon after 

 spawning, than in large rivers where many of 

 these "kelts" remain in fresh water over the 

 winter. A plausible explanation is that kelts 

 that return to the sea immediately after spawning 

 have less opportunity to grow (though they recover 

 condition sufficiently to spawn again the following 

 summer) than such as await the spring to go 

 downstream, and that spend a whole year at 

 sea instead of one winter only between two suc- 

 cesive spawnings. This, however, does not ac- 

 count for the fact that it is almost invariably 

 the large rivers that yield the very large maiden 

 fish that have spent 4 years at sea, or more. 



Abundance. — The early extirpation of salmon 

 from the Merrimac, Saco, Kennebec system, and 

 various rivers to the eastward naturally resulted 

 in a great decrease in the abundance of salmon 



» See Kendall (Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 0, No. J, 1935. pp. 58-60) 

 for age determinations of Penobscot salmon. 

 »i Radcliffe, Rept. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1921) 1922, p. 146. 

 'J Kendall. Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 9. No. 1, 1935, p. 32. 

 •> Bull. 21. Biol. Board Canada. 1931. p. 19. 



in the open Gulf, clearly reflected in the catches. 

 Data are not available for early years when all 

 the rivers still offered free access. But the yearly 

 catch had been reduced to about 100 to 500 fish 

 in the St. Croix by about 1887; 200 to 1,000 

 each in the Dennys and in the Kennebec, and 

 5,000 to 15,000 in the Penobscot. The catch 

 along the Maine coast, which had been a little 

 more than 150,000 pounds in 1889 (more than 

 seven-eighths of this in or about the approaches 

 to the Penobscot), was only about 86,000 pounds 

 in 1905 (of this 74,000 lb., or 6,378 fish from the 

 Penobscot); was about 20,000 pounds in 1919 

 (13,557 lb. or 1,322 fish from the Penobscot); 

 and was only 14,744 pounds (12,700 lb. or 1,221 

 fish from the Penobscot) in 1928. As 70 to 90 

 percent of the Maine catch comes from Penobscot 

 River or Bay, the following table of salmon 

 caught there in certain years from 1896 to 1928 

 is pertinent: 



The Maine catch then increased again to about 

 88,000 pounds in 1930 and to about 70,000 in 1931, 

 suggesting a better run in the Penobscot, and var- 

 ied between 16,000 and 40,000 pounds through the 

 period 1932-1938. 94 But the average reported 

 catch for Maine for the period 1939 to 1947 9S was 

 only about 3,600 pounds (maximum 9,300, min- 

 imum 600), the average Massachusetts catch for 

 the same period only about 100 pounds (maxi- 

 mum 400, minimum 0). Thus the output of 

 salmon from the rivers of Maine (none from the 

 rivers of Massachusetts) has been only about one- 

 fiftieth as great during the past few years as it 

 was some 60 years ago. 



The numbers of salmon have held up much 

 better in the Canadian waters of the Gulf, thanks 

 to wise measures of conservation such as limiting 

 netting at the mouths of the rivers, and keeping 

 the streams free for access by fishways at the dams. 

 The average yearly catches, from 1870 to 1946, 



" No data are available for 1934 or 1936. 

 w No data for 1941. 



