140 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ties. After the fish have laid on these boards for a night, they are spread 

 out to dry either on flat rocks or on a sort of lattice-work placed in a 

 drying booth. It is best to lay the fish on a lattice-work to dry, as the 

 rocks often get very hot and therefore cause the fish to shrivel. When 

 the fish are laid out to dry, the air should not be damp, nor should the 

 fish be exposed too long to a hot sun. In the evening, as soon as the 

 air gets damp, the fish should be piled up in heaps and be again spread 

 out in the morning. This is continued till the fish gets half dry, when 

 the pressing commences, which is done in the following manner : The 

 fish are piled in large heaps, covered with boards, and on these stones 

 of a suitable weight are placed (Figure 4, Plate III). Whilst being 

 pressed the fish should again be spread out for drying, if the weather is 

 favorable, but should likemse, when night comes or when damp weather 

 sets in, be piled up and pressed, and the sides of the pile covered with 

 matting or tarpaulin so as to keep the moisture out. This is continued 

 till the fish gets so dry that when pressed with the thumb no impression 

 is made, showing that the flesh has become quite hard. The fish are 

 then packed in wooden boxes and are ready for the market. Fish pre- 

 pared in this manner find a ready sale not only at home but also abroad, 

 in England and Germany, where "dry-cod" fetches a higher price than 

 " brine-cod." 



C. SALMON-FISHING WITH LINES. 



The salmon is a kind of fish which lives half the time in fresh water 

 and half the time in salt water. Its nature compels it during summer 

 to seek swiftly-flowing streams, where during autumn it deposits its roe 

 among pebbles and rocks. Observations have shown that its roe loses 

 its vital power as soon as it comes into contact with salt water. The 

 young salmon hatched in the streams stay there about two or three years, 

 and generally during the rising of the streams in spring return to the 

 sea or to large lakes, where the easier access to food makes them grow 

 rapidly. The young salmon, when they have reached the sea, as well as 

 the full grown salmon, live on small fish, e. g., herring, launce, smelt, 

 &c. When the salmon has become capable of propagating, after a stay 

 of one or two years in the sea or some lake, it returns to the streanwvhere 

 it was born, deposits its roe, and goes back to the sea ; and thus its life 

 continues to be a regular change of its place of sojourn until it is either 

 caught or meets with its death in some other way. Fishermen living 

 near the coast can, therefore, not expect good salmon -fisheries unless 

 the salmon are protected in the streams during the spawning-season ; 

 nor can the fishermen living along the streams hope to see the salmon 

 again unless the coast-fishermen carry on fishing in such a manner as 

 not to prevent the salmon from going up the streams. Both classes of 

 fishermen have, therefore, an equal interest in having the salmon-fish- 

 eries regulated in such a manner as to suit the nature and n^ode of life 

 of the salmon ; for if this is not done, both the coast waters and the 

 streams will soon lose their wealth of salmon. The laws for protecting 

 the salmon-fisheries therefore prescribe that no salmon are to be caught 



