ATLANTIC SALMON 



39 



shown by the difference between 1935 and 

 1936 in the recaptures of Margaree salmon 

 to the southwest of the river mouth (Fig. 

 4). In the summer of 1935 there were 

 three lots of tagged Margaree salmon in the 

 sea, those liberated as kelts a year and a 

 half previously, those liberated as kelts a 

 half year previously and virgin fish just 

 liberated. The Margaree kelts, unlike those 

 of the St. John and the Miramiehi, are in 

 the outer waters with the virgin fish. None 

 from any lot were taken more than four 

 miles to the southwest. In the summer of 

 1936, there were three comparable lots of 

 tagged salmon in the sea, and from each 

 lot there were recaptures 80 miles to the 

 southwest nearly as far as Pictou, and 

 from two of the lots also recaptures 95 

 miles away in Chedabucto Bay through 

 the gut of Canso. Some condition such as 

 current must have been responsible for 

 such a peculiar movement of the Margaree 

 salmon in 1936. 



Another instance of peculiar movement, 

 apparently attributable to current is the 

 following. Margaree salmon tagged and 

 liberated as kelts in various years from 

 1913 on had failed to give any recaptures 

 from the east coast of Newfoundland, ex- 

 cept one in the third year after liberation. 

 Then of those liberated in the fall of 1930, 

 six were taken on that coast in 1932. A 

 similar condition (Fig. 5) obtained (1) 

 for the Morell River, Prince Edward 

 Island, with six recaptured on that coast 

 in 1932, (2) for the Philip River, Nova 

 Scotia, with one so recaptured, and (3) 

 for the Miramiehi River, New Brunswick, 

 also with one recaptured. (Similar num- 

 bers liberated in these rivers from 1921 to 

 1924 failed to give any very distant recap- 

 tures except one for the Miramiehi to the 

 east coast of Newfoundland in 1924.) As 

 all of these were liberated in the fall of 

 1930, it is to be concluded that they were 

 affected by the same conditions, such as an 

 unusual current, which may be presumed 

 to have carried them out into the ocean and 

 to the northeast so that, on moving into 

 coastal waters characterized by river influ- 

 ence, they reached the east coast of New- 

 foundland. 



There have been no recaptures of St. 

 John salmon tagged as kelts and liberated 

 outside the river mouth, except in the river 

 and in its zone of influence in the sea. Con- 

 trasted with this the Annapolis salmon 

 (Fig. 6), on the opposite side of the Bay 

 of Fundy, when tagged as kelts and lib- 

 erated far up the river, have been recap- 

 tured chiefly in two different places: (1) 

 well up the river and (2) on the east coast 

 of Newfoundland, 800 miles or more away. 

 This extraordinary fact seems to find ex- 

 planation only through currents. The An- 

 napolis River has little recognizable influ- 

 ence outside the mouth of the Annapolis 

 basin in the Bay of Fundy. Such of the 

 Annapolis salmon as go so far are practi- 

 cally without river influence to hold them. 

 The demonstrated circulation of the water 

 is such as to carry them around (one was 

 recaptured this year in the St. John out- 

 flow) and out of the bay into the Gulf of 

 Maine, thence out into the Atlantic, and 

 along a northeasterly course toward Eu- 

 rope. Along such a course, once Cape 

 Sable has been passed, the nearest land 

 is the east coast of Newfoundland. There 

 they are taken in a year's time, in the 

 late fall, a different time of year from 

 that (the summer) in which the salmon 

 from the rivers of the south side of 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence are taken on 

 that east coast of Newfoundland. These 

 instances of the relation of ocean currents 

 to salmon movements should be sufficient to 

 show the need for knowledge of the move- 

 ments of the water if we are to understand 

 the movements of the salmon. 



Active Movements 



The picture so far developed is (1) that 

 the salmon becomes active as the water 

 warms from the ice-cold condition of the 

 winter, (2) that it roams chiefly when not 

 engaged in feeding, (3) that it tends to 

 stay in river water or the water of its own 

 river, in preference to other water and (4) 

 that it is carried in mass movements of the 

 water. Are the active movements of the 

 salmon when in the sea directed, or are they 

 at random? The available evidence indi- 

 cates that they are at random, except in a 



