632 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



There is all the less reason to wait for the final report of the commission, 

 since any law prepared by them is'sure to he unsatisfactory and not calcu- 

 lated to reach the true interests of the fisheries, as during the parliament- 

 ary discussions regarding the appointment of such a commission it was 

 strongly insisted upon that the fisheries be kept out of the range of the 

 commission's work. It therefore seems to me to be very desirable to 

 insert, as soon as possible, in the law on the salmon fisheries a provis- 

 ion prohibiting the pollution of the salmon rivers by sawdust. 



By a resolution of the Norwegian Parliament, passed in 1878, 1 have 

 been commissioned to prepare the draft of a law regulating the salmon 

 and sea trout fisheries, and it is my intention to insert a clause with re- 

 gard to the injurious influences of sawdust. This whole question is also 

 of considerable importance with regard to the trout and other fresh-water 

 fisheries, and it may therefore be desirable to extend any future legisla- 

 tion on this question to all the rivers, as was proposed by the commis- 

 sion. This whole "sawdust question," although of great importance to 

 the fresh- water fisheries, is, at present at least, of much greater impor- 

 tance to the salmon and sea-trout fisheries, but a provision relating to all 

 the rivers of Norway, and not merely to the salmon and sea-trout rivers, 

 does not seem to be in its proper place in a law regulating the salmon 

 and sea-trout fisheries. It is understood, however, that any law pro- 

 hibiting the throwing of sawdust into the rivers, if it is not to miss its 

 aim entirely, must be worded in such a way as to include within certain 

 districts the tributaries of the salmon rivers, even if they do not contain 

 any salmon. It is not necessary, however, in this place, to enter into 

 details regarding the provisions of such a law. 



