288 How to obtain it. 



Whilst we find, then, that in one part of the world salmon 

 have been increasing, we find that in another part they have 

 decreased to a considerable extent. The cause of the decrease is, 

 I think, too obvious to need explanation. Increased means of 

 capture and number of captors, along with many more indirect 

 causes, have brought about the result. The destruction has been 

 greater than the supply, and the consequence is inevitable. The 

 remedy is also plain increase the supply by caring for the helpless 

 salmon during its infancy. 



A great deal has been said from time to time about salmon 

 not feeding in our rivers. That they feed when in the rivers is 

 beyond any doubt, and there are many instances recorded in 

 which food has been found in their stomachs. On the other 

 hand, there is no doubt that they often fast for long seasons or 

 during those times take but very little food. They are detained 

 in the fresh water longer than they used to be, owing to the low 

 state of our rivers during lengthened periods, due to our drainage 

 systems. That this detention in the fresh water is injurious to 

 the fish is beyond any doubt, and it is difficult to estimate the 

 influence which it may have in the course of a few generations. 



Salmon take hardly any food at spawning time or during very 

 -cold weather, and when they are feeling rather upset, or " out of 

 sorts," which I believe is often more or less the case when in 

 some of our fresh waters. An idea seems to exist in many minds 

 that the huge bodies of the salmon are somehow developed by a 

 very indefinite something, which the fish manages somehow or 

 other to obtain, by a process which they call " suction." What 

 this " suction " consists of I find they usually do not know. But, 

 in any case, it seems to point to something very much resembling 

 microscopic supplies. 



We know that the food of salmon in the sea consists largely 

 of herrings, sand eels, crustaceans, etc. The exceptional and 

 temporary absence of herrings from a portion of our coast has 

 been accompanied by a corresponding scarcity of salmon. The 

 salmon, indeed, feeds voraciously in the sea, and whilst there 

 lives on the very best of food. 



During the sojourn in the salt water it has a great deal to do, 

 for it has to recover from the sorry plight in which it often finds 



