ceptible degree, affect the produce of the river fisheries. 

 And it is utterly absurd to suppose that the species itself 

 would be endangered. 



In ihejirst place,, let us consider the effect of the stake- 

 nets upon the produce of the river fisheries. 



The Salmon, as was formerly noticed, is not a river 

 fish, but chiefly, though not exclusively, an inhabitant of 

 the ocean. And it is a migratory fish, wandering from 

 coast to coast. It frequents the fresh waters only when im- 

 pelled by its natural wants and instincts, but it cannot 

 remain in them without becoming wasted and diseased. 

 So serious is the effect of the fresh water, that a full-grown 

 salmon, proceeding in all its richness and firmness from the 

 sea to the river, will lose, in a few days, two or three 

 pounds of its weight. This is a fact quite familiar to 

 fishers : who have no difficulty in distinguishing a fish 

 which has been in the fresh water, even for a very short 

 time. In those places, common in Ireland, where the 

 salmon are caught in cruives, or cuts as they are sometimes 

 termed, and kept alive in the fresh water, until an oppor- 

 tunity occurs for sending them to market, a very few 

 days detention diminishes considerably the weight of the 

 fish. And, as might naturally be inferred from these facts, 

 it is ascertained that the Salmon avoids the fresh water, 

 unless when compelled to resort to it. 



It has already been seen, that the most powerful and 

 direct impulse under which the Salmon leaves the sea, is 

 that which tends to the propagation of the species. But, 



state, to repress the spirit of enterprise, that it is not to be 

 expected that stake-net fishing will be a favourite mode of 

 investing capital, or that any will engage in it, who were not, 

 in some measure, connected with fisheries before the law was 

 finally declared. 



