FISHERIES. 



breeding-ponds at Stormontfield, which have bee. 

 in operation for about twenty years ; that at Howie 

 toun on the Forth, near Stirling, is more im 

 portant and successful. Various experiments o 

 a testing nature as regards the natural histor 

 of the fish have been tried at Stormontfield b, 

 means of marks put upon the fish. Some im 

 portant questions as to salmon-growth have been 

 thus settled : it has been determined, for instance 

 that the parr is the young of the salmon in th 

 first and second years of its age ; that parr become 

 smolts at the end of one and two years respect 

 ively from the time of birth ; and that smolts ar 

 salmon ; which was at one time hotly disputed 

 Many of the smolts marked at Stormontfield, on 

 being let into the river on their way to the sea 

 liave been captured as well-grown fish, and hav< 

 denoted the growth of the salmon to be ven 

 rapid. 



Very few of the ' salmon-lairds ' ' fish ' their own 

 rivers, except in the way of sport The fisheries 

 are usually let very often by public roup to 

 tenants, who do all the work of fishing, which is 

 chiefly performed by net and cobble. Some econ 

 omists say : ' What does it matter how you obtain 

 your fish, so that you capture them.' But many 

 good judges are of opinion that the art of catching 

 should be studied, and with that view bag-nets 

 and even stake-nets, come in for a large amouni 

 of opprobrium. Proper close times have long 

 been established, which admits of a portion of the 

 fish attaining the head-waters, so as to afford a 

 little sport to those gentlemen who may be said 

 to afford them breeding-grounds, but more par- 

 ticularly it allows, in the tributary streams, places 

 where the salmon can yield its eggs in comparative 

 peace, and where, during the necessary period 

 which they take to arrive at maturity, they may 

 be nursed into life to the gentle music of the 

 rippling streams. 



There is a considerable commerce in salmon, 

 and the largest supplies are obtained from the 

 rivers of Scotland, from which, at one time, 

 princely rentals were derived, and the rentals of 

 which, even at present, are of great consequence. 

 As with most other kinds of fish, London is the 

 chief seat of consumption ; the largest number of 

 salmon sold in London are Scottish fish, the 

 value of the salmon taken in Scottish streams 

 being as much as ,275,000. A salmon caught 

 in the Spey or the Tay to-day can be in 

 London to-morrow ! Many of the salmon-fisheries 

 are in the hands of ' tacksmen,' but others, as the 

 river Spey, one of the best managed salmon- 

 streams, is not let, but actually fished by its 

 proprietor, the Duke of Richmond. One hun- 

 dred thousand salmon and grilse per annum have 

 often been obtained from this river, without in 

 the least lowering the breeding-stock. 



Considerable quantities of this fish are now 

 being derived from some English streams, and 

 some hundred boxes of Norwegian, Swedish, 

 Dutch, and Rhine salmon are imported ; a few 

 also (refrigerated) from Canada. Of late an im- 

 portant fishing industry has sprung up in Oregon 

 and British Columbia ; enormous quantities of 

 salmon are canned and exported. In the United 

 States, artificial fish-breeding in 'hatcheries' is 

 successfully prosecuted, not merely with reference 

 to salmon and river fish, but lake fish (as ' white 

 fish ') and sea fish (as shad, cod, &c.). 



Anglers' fishes have no great commercial value, 

 the Loch Leven trout being perhaps an exception, 

 and little effort has yet been made to cultivate our 

 canals, lakes, and other waste waters. In France, 

 where 'pisciculture' has made its mark, every 

 little spot of water is turned to account fish of 

 all kinds being an absolute necessity at certain 

 times to a Roman Catholic population. 



VL THE OYSTER AND OTHER SHELL-FISH FISHERIES. 



Vast quantities of what are generally designated 

 shell-fish' are consumed in London and other 

 large cities. Shell-fish includes crabs, lobsters, 

 cray-fish, muscles, periwinkles, and oysters. For 

 the last edible there is such a constant and ever- 

 increasing demand as almost to paralyse those 

 industries which have been specially organised for 

 its production and sale. The price of the oyster 

 has increased within the last twenty years in a 

 greater ratio than even that of the turbot, cod- 

 fish, or salmon one dozen of the mollusc cost- 

 ing in the retail shops about three shillings. 

 The oysters brought to market are obtained both 

 from natural scalps and artificial beds. The besl 

 example of a fine series of natural oyster-scalps 

 is to be found at Newhaven, near Edinburgh ; and 

 the most famous artificial or cultivated layings are 

 at Whitstable, on the coast of Kent, near Canter- 

 bury, where several well-managed oyster-farms 

 may be seen. 



The incessant demand for oysters during late 

 years has had the effect of impoverishing many 

 of the natural scalps. The Newhaven oyster- 

 fishings, which were at one time held by the 

 fishermen of that town at an almost nominal rent 

 From the corporation of Edinburgh and from the 

 Duke of Buccleuch, were at one period very pro- 

 ductive, so much so, that oysters could be pur- 

 chased in Edinburgh at less than one shilling per 

 lundred ; and if care had been taken to keep up 

 an efficient quantity of breeding-stock, the supplies 

 might still have been abundant ; but tempted by 

 ligh prices from English breeders, large quantities 

 of ' brood ' were sold to be fattened on the oyster- 

 ields of Kent and Essex, in order that they might 

 >e sold as ' natives' in the shell-fish emporiums of 

 Condon. The scalps at Newhaven belonging to 

 he city of Edinburgh are now better regulated, 

 vhilst those belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch 

 have been leased to a private dealer. The 

 oysters dredged day by day in the season from 

 Newhaven scalps are sold by auction, and very 

 arge prices are obtained for them, as much some- 

 imes as ten shillings per hundred, the price vary- 

 ng according to appearance and quality. They 

 ire chiefly purchased by English buyers for the 

 Vlanchester and London markets. 



The largest supplies of oysters are required by 

 hose dealers who have their places of business in 

 ,ondon, and a great portion of what they obtain 

 s brought daily from Essex and Kent. The 

 Yhitstable Oyster Company is a well-organised 

 ndustry of the co-operative kind, the proprietors 

 f the farm being also the labourers who work it, 

 nd it is most systematically 'worked' both during 

 ic season and in close time. The company is 

 ossessed of a very large stock of oysters, which 

 icy purchase as ' brood ' from whoever has brood 

 o seLL These young oysters are laid down to 

 TOW and fatten, and are most carefully tended 

 nd watched till they are large enough to be sent 



