28 



THE MIGRATION AND CONSERVATION OF SALMON 



not possess the characteristics of local sal- 

 mon, since their ultimate destinations may 

 be elsewhere. 



Table I gives a comparison of the char- 

 acteristics of the salmon of certain locali- 

 ties in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The data 

 for Nova Scotia and the north shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence are meager. 



The Bay of Chaleur, Gaspe Peninsula, 

 the western section of the north shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence and Nova Scotia have 

 a high percentage of three-year sea-life sal- 

 mon, while comparatively few of these large 

 salmon are found on the east coast of New 

 Brunswick, on the west coast of Newfound- 

 land and in the eastern section of the north 

 shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 

 percentage of previously spawned salmon 

 on the west coast of Newfoundland is much 

 greater than that of the other localities. 

 Individual rivers differ markedly in the 

 percentage of previously spawned salmon; 

 the Caseapedia has an average of 22 per 

 cent and the Moisie 20 per cent, whereas 

 the Upsalquitch has as low as 5 per cent. 



The time spent as parr in the rivers, 



TABLE I 



Chaeacteristics of the Salmon of Various 

 Sections of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 



Locality 



Port-aux-Basques, 



drift-net fishery 90.3 2.9 6.8 3.27 78.5 

 West Coast of 



Newfoundland... 72.1 2.3 25.6 3.40 74.7 



Nova Scotia 42.1 57.9 5.0 2.55 78.8 



East Coast of New 



Brunswick, Mi- 



ramiehi district 83.9 1.2 14.9 3.03 77.3 

 East Coast of New 



Brunswick, Mi- 



ramichi drift- 

 net fishery 88.5 5.3 6.2 2.90 77.9 



Bay of Chaleur ... 52.8 38.8 8.4 3.59 79.3 

 Gaspe Peninsula ... 68.1 26.1 5.8 3.60 79.1 

 Moisie Eiver, north 



shore of the Gulf 



of St. Lawrence 20.5 59.8 19.7 3.34 77.0 



though subject to annual variations, is 

 longest in the northern localities such as 

 the Bay of Chaleur, Gaspe Peninsula and 

 the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 and is shortest in the southern localities 

 such as Nova Scotia. 



The length of the two-year sea-life sal- 

 mon, an important differential character- 

 istic, is shortest on the west coast of New- 

 foundland and longest in the Bay of Cha- 

 leur and on the Gaspe Peninsula. 



The salmon taken in the Port-aux- 

 Basques drift-net fishing area resemble most 

 closely those of the Miramichi drift-net fish- 

 ing area and of the east coast of New 

 Brunswick, but apparently represent a 

 mixed stock of salmon bound for various 

 localities. 



Seasonal Runs of Salmon 



There are two distinct runs of salmon, 

 exclusive of grilse, in the Bay of Chaleur 

 and on the Gaspe coast: (1) the run of 

 large salmon and (2) the run of small 

 salmon. There is only one run, that of 

 small salmon, in the Miramichi River, in 

 the Miramichi drift-net fishing area, and 

 in the Port-aux-Basques (Newfoundland) 

 drift-net fishing area. Apparently the 

 western section of the north shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence has both large and 

 small salmon, and the eastern section has 

 small salmon only. 



The large salmon differ from the small 

 salmon by (1) their sea-life age and (2) 

 the time of run. The division into the two 

 groups of large and small salmon is pri- 

 marily concerned with the maiden salmon, 

 since the previously spawned salmon con- 

 stitute only about 8 per cent of the stock. 

 The small salmon, which average between 

 10 and 11 pounds, have spent two years in 

 the sea; and the large salmon, which aver- 

 age about 21 pounds, have had three years 

 of sea life. 



The time of run of the large salmon in 

 the Bay of Chaleur and on the Gaspe Pen- 

 insula, as shown in Table II, is about two 

 weeks earlier than that of the small salmon. 

 The time of run of the salmon in the Mira- 

 michi area on the east coast of New Bruns- 



