REPOPULATION 139 



for breeding or nursery purposes. Neither are the pools 

 of Thau and Berre on the Mediterranean side very suit- 

 able, as their whole area is part of the public domain, so 

 that breeding-grounds could only be established in the 

 unsheltered centre portions, which are exposed to the 

 full force of the gale. 1 The pool of Valcares in Camargue, 

 however, might well become a French analogy of Comac- 

 chio. In 1866 M. Leon Vidal and in 1880 Dr. Brocchi 

 proposed the formation of two drains with sluices, one 

 on the Grand-Rhone near Beaujeu and one on the Petit- 

 Rhone by Chateau d'Avignon, thus creating a current of 

 fresh water through the pool. Nothing came of this 

 proposal. Along the French coasts there are many 

 places where dams might be built, as the roadstead of 

 Penerf in the Gulf of Morbihan, the creek at Fouras, 

 the " flats " of Loix and Ars on the He de Re", the bay of 

 Aiguillon, the creeks of Treberon and Lanveoc in the 

 Brest roadstead, the bay of Carentec, and the bay of 

 Morlaix. But we will not give way to illusions ; the 

 French are a studious race and are satisfied with projects. 



IV 



Looking back over the ground already covered, the 

 reader will see that hitherto I have spoken only of the 

 utilisation of natural sheets of water for the purpose of 

 breeding or rearing fish of the suitable equipment and 

 management of a bay, lagoon, or creek. But we are not 

 confined to such operations as these ; where there are no 



1 Recently the Chamber of Deputies voted a proposition intro- 

 duced by MM. Sarraut, Aldy, and Astier to the effect that the 

 State should buy all salt-water lakes and lagoons, fishponds, tunny- 

 fisheries, and other fishery establishments, in order to assist the 

 fishermen in the exercise of their calling. The Senate rejected the 

 proposition. 



