698 ANNEXE I 
Salmon Migration. 
By J. W. Wizuis BUND (London), 
With 3 Tables. 
In the course of the last five years observation on the movements of 
Salmon in the Severn disclose a state of things not in accordance with 
the ideas generally received of the life history of the Salmon. Therefore 
they are deserving the most careful consideration both from a biological 
and a commercial point of view. 
It should be premised that in 1890 a large quantity of water 45,400,000 
Litres a day was taken from the Severn to supply Liverpool. This and 
a series of dry seasons prevented the fish from ascending the river until 
the middle of November, so the spawning season instead of, as formerly, 
extending from October to March has been cut down to the time between 
November and January practically at least a third. The result has been 
a series of bad spawning seasons. This led to the falling off in the takes 
between 1896 and 1900 of Salmon. The modes of capture have practically 
remained the same but the number of fish caught declined from 18,000 
to 8,500. Each year the number of fish spawning has alsc decreased. 
Some other noticeable features should be mentioned : 
a) The Smolts descending appear to be getting fewer and fewer. 
b) The Grilse have almost wholly disappeared. 
c) The large fish for which the Severn used to be famous have also dis- 
appeared. 
d) Average weigth of the Salmon caught remains about the same, only 
varying 907 grammes in 10 years. 
It is impossible to give any figures as to the actual number of (a) spaw- 
ning fish (b) decreasing number of Smolts, but all the Watchers agree 
that the number of « redds » they can count are fewer than formerly and 
that no Salmon can be seen on Fords where they always used to be. It is 
also agreed that the number of descending Smolts appear to be much smal- 
ler while the number of those accidentally caught are certainly less than 
formerly. From these facts it is not an unfair inference that the number 
of spawning Salmon has fallen of and therefore the number of descen- 
ding Smolts has done the same. 
