EESULTS OF SALMON MARKING 75 



The Deveron kelt was reported as very well mended 

 when marked at Muiresk. Its condition when re- 

 captured at Ardmiddle, which is just above Muiresk, 

 and in the upper waters, clearly showed that the 

 fish would soon have spawned, i.e., within about 

 eight months of the date of marking. 



The data dealing with the kelt to clean fish con- 

 dition form only one section of the salmon marking 

 returns, but introduce the particular migratory 

 movements, which are perhaps of greatest practical 

 importance to our salmon fisheries. The dual habit 

 of migration shows us that a large number of salmon 

 remain in the sea even when their fellows are re- 

 producing their species in the rivers. So far as the 

 returns show, the proportion of what may be termed 

 the feeding fish is subject to variation in different 

 localities and in different seasons, and is much 

 greater in Scotland than in Ireland. Moreover, 

 we do not at any time either in our rivers or in our 

 sea salmon nets recover a large proportion of the fish 

 marked. The marking experiments conducted in 

 connection with the North Sea Fishery Investiga- 

 tions, in which large numbers of flat-fish have been 

 marked, have yielded a much higher percentage of 

 returns than have ever been obtained in marking 

 of salmon. This is rather striking when it is recol- 

 lected that the salmon congregate in the confined 

 waters of rivers, and are caught in such localities in 

 large numbers. Some do no doubt lose their marks, 

 but we have no evidence to show that this happens 

 often. Marked fish may be recaptured and not 

 reported, but with the interest now taken in the 



