CONFERENCE ON SALMON PROBLEMS 



105 



portion of smolt is an equally important 

 means of perpetuating and maintaining the 

 salmon supply. 



Dr. Huntsman. I heartily agree with Dr. 

 Belding as to the desirability of conserva- 

 tion of each generation and of stocking par- 

 ticular rivers to have more salmon avail- 

 able for all fishermen. I have the same 

 doubts as Dr. Belding whether there is any 

 evidence of a general drop which would 

 have any particular effect upon the stock. 

 Undoubtedly we have cases where the local 

 stock in a particular river has been utterly 

 wiped out, as in Ontario and parts of New 

 England. There is no question at all there. 

 But as regards those parts of the coast 

 where fishing for salmon has gone on for a 

 great many years there is nothing to indi- 

 cate that the stock has really declined. 

 Conservation then is particularly impor- 

 tant with regard to the young in the rjver, 

 but the other should not be disregarded. 



I have seen evidence of particular tribu- 

 taries which seemed to be quite suitable for 

 adult salmon, but I felt there was a definite 

 indication that the salmon were kept from 

 going up those branches, any going up 

 were removed. That would be a direction 

 in which conservation measures for the con- 

 tinuing stock would be important. If such 

 practice of destroying the fish were stopped 

 there would be chances of increasing the 

 stock automatically. Removal of obstruc- 

 tions, such as dams, might be expected to 

 bring back the condition which existed pre- 

 viously. 



There is the matter of conservation of the 

 stock in the sea, whether that be with a view 

 to getting a larger number to spawn or in 

 order to have the catch better distributed, 

 a better proportion going to the river for 

 the anglers. Results of this year's tagging 

 of salmon in the St. John outflow are not 

 complete, but quite striking. We tagged 

 the fish at three different points, in St. John 

 Harbor, off Dipper Harbor, off Lorneville. 

 "We have been astonished at the very large 

 number of recaptures from those tagged in 

 the harbor. Unfortunately, owing to the 

 fact that they are taken first at the inner 

 end we have not comparable figures for all 

 times. From June 1 to 11 the tagging was 



going on at all three places and the results 

 are, therefore, comparable. I include all 

 recaptures reported up to June 24. For 

 the harbor there were 29 recaptures, mak- 

 ing 48 per cent. ; for Lorneville, 19, making 

 37 per cent., and for Dipper Harbor 2, 

 making 20 per cent. We can not say very 

 much as yet, but the order seen is that the 

 farther in you get the greater the expecta- 

 tion of recapture, the more intensive the 

 fishery. 



Dr. Belding. Were the salmon which 

 were tagged in the harbor caught inside or 

 outside the harbor? 



Dr. Huntsman. Those tagged in the 

 harbor were 8 per cent caught above tidal 

 water, 3 per cent, in the estuary, 30 per 

 cent in the harbor and 7 per cent outside. 

 For Lorneville, 4 per cent recaptured above 

 tidal water, 4 per cent in the estuary, 10 

 per cent in the harbor and 21 per cent 

 outside. The indications are that the fish- 

 ing is more intensive inside and decreases 

 going out to the limit of the zone of fishing. 



So it does seem that, if conservation 

 measures are required, more attention needs 

 to be paid to the fishery inside the harbor. 

 The weirs catch them and there are about 

 80 of the drift-nets, which are not large 

 compared with those outside, but fill up the 

 harbor at times. Some of them take quite 

 a number of salmon. 



Mr. Eodd. We buy them from the weirs 

 for fish cultural purposes. No trouble get- 

 ting 1,200 selected fish from this source. 



Dr. Belding. There is a marked concen- 

 tration of recaptures both in the fish tagged 

 at Lorneville and in the harbor, a much 

 higher percentage than that obtained from 

 tagging operations in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence. 



Dr. Huntsman. On the Miramichi coast 

 the salmon spread much more. None at all 

 of the St. John fish were recaptured out- 

 side the zone of river influence. 



Mr. Menzies. I suppose there is com- 

 mercially room for more fishing at Port- 

 aux-Basques ; by that I mean that the num- 

 ber of nets fishing now are not catching all 

 the available fish. 



Dr. Belding. Any material increase in 

 the number of boats on the present grounds 



