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SWITZERLAND. 



SWITZERLAND, with a surface extent of 41,346*5 square kilometres, has 32,520 kilometres of 

 running water (rivers and streams), occupying a space of 231 square kilometres, the lake 

 expanse amounts to 1342 square kilometres, so that the total extent of Swiss waters is 1573 

 square kilometres. 



In these there are found forty-six or forty-eight species of fish, it being questionable, 

 however, whether some of them are distinct species or merely varieties. 



The Confederation regulates the whole Fishery Industry through the Federal Council. 

 The administration is assigned to the Forest Section of- the Trade and Agricultural 

 Department. 



The Federal Law on the Fishery Industry is dated 18th September, 1875, the Council 

 Decree concerning it dates 18th March, 1877. 



The execution of the law is left as far as possible in the hands of the different Cantons : 

 some of which are besides charged, by sanction of the Federal Council, with the 

 regulation of the fisheries in boundary waters. 



The following Conventions, relating to these last-named fisheries, have been concluded with 



1. Baden and Alsace-Lorraine, dated 14th July, 1877. 



2. France, dated 28th December, 1880. 



3. Italy, dated 15th September, 1880. 



In most of the Cantons the Fishery Industry is under the administration of the Police or 

 Revenue Departments, the police inspection being exercised through the usual channels. 



For the boundary-waters on the French frontier the Swiss Convention, has appointed 

 two Fishery Commissioners, and the Cantons of Berne and Neuchatel have appointed a similar 

 official for the inspection of the Doubs. 



For the preservation and collection of spawn and young fry during the breeding season the 

 different Cantons appoint fishery agents. 



There are at present seven fishery wards in Switzerland, one near the town of Zurich, 

 three in the Canton of Berne (belonging to the Aar, the Emme, and the Romder), one in the 

 territory of the Canton of Zug, and two in the Upper Engadine, Canton Orisons. As the 

 last named are contiguous, there are in reality only six of such wards. For the restoration 

 of free passage to fish in certain streams three fish-ladders have been erected, one in 

 the Saone near Freiburg cut into the sandstone, one in the town of Lucerne, and one in 

 the Looze near Cham ; the two last being made of wood. 



A report on the subject of water-pollution to the injury of fish, so far as concerns the 

 Basle Industrial District, in the first place, will shortly be prepared and circulated. 



In the year 1881-82 there were in Switzerland thirty fish-hatching establishments, and 

 from them issued 3,700,000 fish, principally trout, salmon, salmon-trout, and "rothel." 

 The Confederation awards grants to the amount of 4000 francs to these establishments. A 

 small quantity of foreign fish has up to the present been acquired by these institutions, among 

 them being Coregonus Maraena B, G. cdbula L, C. albus, Salmo Guinnat S. fontinalis, and 

 the land-locked salmon. 



The major portion of fishing in Switzerland is a royalty of the cantons, exclusively so 

 in the cantons of Vaud, Vallais, Neuchatel, Oberwalden, Glarus, and Appenzell, also in 

 Rhoden, and, with few exceptions, in the Cantons of St. Gall, Grisons, Solothurn, and 

 Freiburg. Private fishing rights exist principally in the Cantons of Berne, Aargau, and Ticino. 



There is a Central Fishermen's Benefit Society, and four local societies (one in the Canton 

 of Basle, two in Grisons, and one in Berne). 



