Ixii' REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The interest in the preservation and increase of tlie salmon is due, in. 

 the first place, to its reputation as a game fisb, and the sport experienced 

 capture ; but, perhaps, still more to its great size and economical value. 

 No fish of its magnitude brings so large a price per pound, and is so uni- 

 versally regarded as a chief delicacy. It abounds in all the waters of 

 the Xorth Atlantic, both in Europe and America. Making its home in 

 the sea, it passes into fresh water at periods varying with the locality, 

 sometimes early in tlie wiuter, and again not until spring; and after 

 remaining some months in the rivers, it seeks a suitable spawning-bed, 

 where the eggs are deposited ; after which the adults either return to 

 the sea, or in some instances, as in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 

 pass into the freshwater lakes, and spend the winter and early part of 

 the spring. 



The eggs occupy from two to four months in their development, and 

 the young are hatched in early spring and remain in the rivers for at least 

 one year. There is evidence that a portion remain until the second year, 

 this being especially the case with the female. Then, passing down 

 to the sea as fish weighing a few ounces, they remain there several 

 months, and return in autumn as grilse of several pounds. These are 

 said to go back to the sea again before winter sets in, and to return the 

 next season, as breeding-fish, -weighing perhaps eight or ten pounds 

 each. ■ The growth of these fish is very rapid ; and as this takes place 

 in the sea, without the necessity of artificial feeding, it may be readily 

 imagined how valuable a salmon fishery is likely to be, compared with 

 one of trout, which, to be of any special economical importance, requires 

 the constant feeding of the fish. 



1 do not at present propose to attempt a detailed biography of the 

 salmon, as the facts at my command in reference to that fish, in 

 America, at least, are not yet sufficient to warrant my doing so. The 

 articles in the appendix, by Messrs. Stone, Atkins, and others, will, 

 however, be found to contain much valuable information. 



As to the important point of the period of their abode in the sea, au- 

 thorities differ, but it is now the general impression, as already stated, 

 that the male fish are mature frequently in three years, and that all are 

 certainly so at the expiration of four years from birth. 



The salmon is emphatically a fish of New England and the British 

 provinces, and never belonged to any of the States south of that section 

 of country. The Connecticut Eiver is believed to have been its western 

 limit on the Atlantic coast, as shown by the testimony of Douglass and 

 others,* although some extend their range to the Housatonic. They 

 were also abundant in Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain.t 



*Donglass, William. A summary, historical aud political, of the first plantiug, progress- 

 ive improvement, and present state of the British settlements in North America. 



2 vols., S vo. Boston, 1749-'51. 



On p. 212, he says that salmon are a high-latitude Bsh, not to he found south 

 of New England ; the farther south, the later they set iuj aud continue a shorter time ; 



