CHAPTER XIII 



THE ECONOMIC ANT> SPORTING VALUE 

 OF SALMON 



Economic Value of Salmon Salmon-Angling Weight of Salmon. 



THE excellence of salmon as food, and the enormous 



productiveness of the fish in those rivers where they have 



received some measure of protection and encouragement, 



have rendered salmon-fisheries the object of constant 



Economic . _ . J r 



value of attention on the part or the .Legislature from the 



C 1 



' earliest times whereof there is any record. There 

 can be no doubt that they form an exceedingly valuable part of 

 the natural wealth. Taking Scotland alone, the rateable value 

 of the salmon-fisheries in those districts where Fishery Boards 

 have been formed was assessed in the year 1898 at 107,271. 

 The weight of salmon carried to market by Scottish railways 

 and steamships amounted to 4,230 tons in 1895, an< ^ to 2 >O93 

 tons in 1898. The number of boxes of Scottish salmon 

 delivered at Billingsgate alone in 1895 was 25*364, and in 1899 

 it was 15,411. The average price in each month of the open 



season of 1899 was as follows : 



s, d. 



February / . , 2 5% per lb. 



March . . > , .29 



April . , .27 



May . . . . . 2 o| 



June . . '. ';. . i 6 

 July . . . . i 2^ 



August . . . . ' .15 



September . . . -23! 



