[13] FAILURES AND SUCCESSES OF FISH-CULTURE. 449 



conditions of the water and the weather, and also in the fact that nu- 

 merous salmon fisheries are now carried on also in the Weser below 

 Hameln. Preuss says, in an article published in the Weser-Zeitung in 

 1874, and reprinted in the circulars of the German Fishery Association, 

 1874, pp. 74 et seq., entitled " Fish and Fisheries of the Lower Weser," 

 that the salmon fisheries had reached their lowest ebb ; in that year a 

 single large salmon (weighing 25 pounds) had been caught near Kase- 

 burg, while smaller fish, weighing from 1 to 2 i^ouuds (here we recognize 

 the results of the Hameln establishment) were more frequent. About 

 the year 1879 the salmon fisheries of the Lower Weser began to in- 

 crease very perceptibly. In 1879-'80 an unusual number of salmon, 

 weighing from 3i to 5 pounds, were observed near Stolzenau, and in 

 1880-'81 extraordinarily large quantities of salmon were caught. It de- 

 serves to be mentioned that at that time, even during the most suc- 

 cessful fishing season, nearly all the fish caught weighed 9 or 10 pounds, 

 a uniformity which had never been observed before, and which also 

 points to the planting of artificially-hatched fiy farther up the river. 

 (See " Report by Mr. Kleiuschmidt, of Stolzenau," iu Circulars of the 

 German Fishery Association, 1878, p. 147.) 



The salmon fisheries of the Lower Weser, which formerly had hardly 

 amounted to anything, began to develop rapidly, and new fisheries 

 were started. On the river banks from Oslebshausen (1^ German 

 miles [G or 7 English milesj below Bremen), as far as the Baden 

 Hills (2^ German miles above Bremen), there are now said to be 16 or 

 17 salmon fisheries. In Bremen itself four different fishery associations 

 are engaged in the salmon fisheries {Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitnng, 1883, p. 

 35). Although some of the Bremen salmon fisheries are not favorably 

 located, the Lower Weser has nevertheless, of late years, yielded a 

 considerable number of salmon. In February, 1882, for instance, so 

 many Weser salmon were brought into the Geestemunde market that 

 they were sold at 1 mark 70 pfennige [40 cents] per pound. In the 

 spring of 1883 the salmon fisheries of the Lower Weser were still more 

 productive. In view of these circumstances, it is not suri^rising that 

 the Hameln salmon fisheries do not always yield as good results as in 

 former times, when there were but few such fisheries on the Lower 

 Weser. 



The territory of the Eiver Ems, where the salmon fisheries had also 

 ' declined, and, properly speaking, have, with few exceptions, never 

 amounted to much, has since 1878 been stocked with young salmon on 

 a large scale by the German Fishery Association. A small beginning 

 in that direction had been made in 1872 and 1874, when 17,000 young 

 J salmon were planted. As to the results, I have but very few and im- 

 j perfect data, as many portions of this territory are but sparsely popu- 

 lated, and but little attention is given to the salmon fisheries and their 

 (Statistics. 



Near Quakenbruck there were exceptionally successful salmon fish- 

 H. Mis. 08 29 



