816 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



in enormous numbers, but rarely higher than Huy. Most of the rivers 

 which How into the Meuse, the Vesdre, Ourthe, Hayoux, Bocq, Lesse, 

 Semoi, and their tributaries, were full of trout {Salmo fario) and ombres 

 {ThymaUus vexillifer), not to mention other food-fish which are found 

 throughout the whole middle portion of Western Europe. 



This paradise of fishermen has well-nigh been destroyed. To meet 

 the needs of boating and navigation towards France great river im- 

 provements have been made along the entire course of the Meuse. The 

 dams in the river prevent the greater part of the salmon from ascend- 

 ing it. Those fish which succeed in clearing these obstacles are scarcely 

 able to do it except by favor of high tides and occasional inundations. 



As regards the shad, which not long ago gave rise to truly miracu- 

 lous fisheries near the city of Liege,^ it is stoppe^d by the dams found 

 farther down the river ; and I do not think that it will be able to clear 

 the sahnon ladders which are going to be established, let us hope under 

 better conditions than those which have hitherto been tried. We may 

 not indulge in the flattering hope of seeing the waters of the Yesdre 

 again rendered sufliciently pure to support fish. They have been too 

 strongly poisoned by the washing of wool and the dyeing establish- 

 ments and cloth manufactures of Verviers. 



It might not be imijossible, however, to arrive at a satisfactory solu- 

 tion of the question by leading the polluted waters of Yerviers as far 

 as the Meuse through channels running parallel with the Yesdre. 

 Works of this kind are now constructed, at a moderate expense, for 

 leading the juice of the beets from the places where they are grown and 

 first ground to the sugar-refineries, a distance of several miles. As a 

 work of this kind on a larger scale we may mention the collecting channel 

 of the Senne, at Brussels, and also the works constructed in England 

 to lead the refuse water of London into the sea. This last-mentioned 

 work has been so successful that recently trout have been caught in the 

 Thames, where they had long since disappeared. In the watercourses 

 of the right bank of the Thames, where the water has remained pure, 

 trout is found, but unlicensed fishing is there carried on on a large scale. 



As regards the tributaries of the right bank of the Meuse, the indus- 

 tries which there kill the fish are manufactures of chemicals, sugar- 

 refineries, and to a less degree distilleries. 



Excellent laws have been made for regulating the fisheries and for 

 suppressing the mischievous destruction offish, but as it is out of the 

 question for us to restore the salubrity of the waters by taking meas- 

 ures which would render industry impossible, we must appeal to science 

 if we wish to obtain the means for rendering healthy the poisoned waters 

 of our rivers. 



When pisciculture came into vogue, almost forty years ago, it was 



^At the end of April and in the beginning of May I remember to have seen taken 

 near Li^ge, at one haul of the net, as many as two hundred and iifty and even three 

 hundred large shad. 



