Fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



89 



less numbers. There are also various Bays, Beaches, Islands, and 

 points' of land along the coast, where Salmon are intercepted by 

 nets, while seeking the Rivers in which they were spawned, and 

 to which Salmon always return. 



The Salmon of the Gulf are noted for their fine flavour ; they 

 are precisely similar to the Salmo salar of Europe. 



The quantities of Salmon in the River Resticouche and Mira- 

 michi, at the first settlement of the country, were perfectly prodi- 

 gious; although many are yet taken annually, the supply diminishes 

 from year to year. And this is not surprising when it is considered 

 that many of the Streams formerly frequented by Salmon, are now 

 completely shut against them, by Mill Dams without " Fishways," 

 or those openings which the British Fishery Reports designate as 

 "Migration Passes ;" that in the branches of the large Rivers, as 

 also in the smaller Rivers, nets are too often placed completely 

 across the Stream, from bank to bank, which take every fish that 

 attempts to pass — that "close time" in many of the Rivers is 

 scarcely, if at all, regarded — and that, besides the improper use of 

 nets at all seasons, fish of all sizes are destroyed by hundreds, in 

 the very act of spawning, by torch light and spears, at a time when 

 they are quite unfit for human food. 



The quantities of pickled Salmon in barrels, exported from the 

 northern Ports of New Brunswick, during the last eight years, are 

 as follows : — 



Since the establishment of regular Steamers from the Port of 

 St. John to Boston, large quantities of Fresh Salmon, — packed in 

 ice, have been exported, and the commodity has greatly increased 

 in value. If facilities of communication were created by Railway, 

 the fresh Salmon of the Gulf could also be sent abroad in ice, and 

 their value when first caught would be three or four times as great 

 as at present. 



The exceeding value of the Salmon Fisheries of Ireland, and 



