88 THE SALMON. 



CHAPTER III. 



DECAY OF SALMON. 

 Amount of the Decay — Periods — Causes. 



Great as has been the decay in the supply of Salmon 

 in the United Kingdom, there has been a tendency to 

 rate that decay rather above than below its true amount. 

 That the numbers of a fish of such quality, haunts, and 

 habits must tend to diminish, or can be maintained only 

 l3y increased care and legislative aid, in countries where 

 population and mdustries are great and growing, is sufii- 

 ciently obvious. The obstacles to the fish performing 

 its natural journeys and functions, the number and efti- 

 ciency of the instruments of capture, the demand for the 

 product as food, all increase, and all tend to increase 

 the pressure upon the supply beyond the powers of re- 

 production. Still there have been some serious mistakes 

 in estimating, or rather assuming, the amount as well as 

 the periods of the decline. It has been a good deal forgot- 

 ten that the excessive plenty of olden times, besides being- 

 somewhat more matter of tradition than of evidence, 

 was rather a partial or local than a general or national 

 plenty ; and also that in later times the great im- 

 poverishment of many of the principal fisheries repre- 

 sented rather a temporary enrichment of other and 



