114 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Matters are uo better in the ueigliboriug- countries. We learu the 

 condition of France in this respect from the reports of the " Commission 

 for restocking the French waters," appointed a few years ago by the 

 senate, which, after very careful investigations, has reached the con- 

 clusion that, owing to the construction of numerous weirs, the migra- 

 tory fish have nearly disappeared from the rivers of northern and west- 

 ern France, which, in former times, were full of salmon. 



Across the Atlantic we hear the following complaint from the United 

 States: "It is an established fact that our river fisheries have for a number 

 of years decreased steadily, both as regards the quality and the quan- 

 tity of the fish caught. In some cases certain kinds of fish which for- 

 merly were abundant have disappeared entirely. More especially has 

 the number of migratory fish decreased to an alarming degree. The 

 construction of weirs in our rivers has entirely cut off some species of 

 fish from their spawning places, so that their complete disappearance 

 is only a question of time." 



The only country where the wealth of fine migratory fish is not on 

 the decrease, but actually increases from year to year, is Great Britain. 

 In England, even among the middle and lower classes, good meat forms 

 a staple article of food, much more so than in Germany. It is well 

 known that, as regards their nutritive qualities, fresh fish do not rank 

 much lower than meat, and are even ijreferable for people with a weak 

 stomach. From the instructive treatise by the Duke of Edinburgh " On 

 the sea fisheries and the fish of the United Kingdom," wo learn that 

 the average annual quantity of fish consumed bj^ every citizen of Lon- 

 don is upwards of about 6Q pounds, and so about as much as the quan- 

 tity of beef consumed. The citizen of Berlin has to be satisfied with 

 an annual average quantity of about 9 pounds; while in Vienna, on 

 the banks of the beautiful blue Danube, the average quantity of fish 

 per capita is only about 2|- pounds. Although the fish found in the 

 Billingsgate fish-market in London are principally salt-water fish, the 

 finer river food-fish are also offered for sale in considerable quantities. 

 The price of salmon and sea-trout is low enough to allow these excel- 

 lent fish to be seen frequently on the tables of the middle classes. 



The undeniable fact, that in no country of the world — Canada per- 

 haps excepted — do the fisheries of migratory fish flourish more than in 

 Great Britain, might at first thought be cited as an argument against the 

 hurtful influence of weirs on the fish; for it is well known that Great 

 Britain has made her watercourses from the source to the mouth sub- 

 servient to industry and navigation by the construction of numerous 

 weirs. If, in spite of this, British salmon fisheries are very productive, 

 the cause must be found principally in the successful eflbrts of intelli- 

 gent men to protect the salmon during the spawning season, to intro- 

 duce rational methods of fishing, and to make the weirs passable. In 

 Great Britain public opinion has declared in favor of an active support 

 of the fisheries much sooner and more generally than on the continent. 



