FISHERIES AND THEIR PRODUCE, 41 



ing, or attempting to catch fish at that period, 

 is liable to a penalty of not less than £1, nor 

 more than £10, for every offence, besides the 

 loss of boats and implements employed. Much 

 poaching, however, goes on, during the close 

 or breeding season, to the great injury of the 

 fisheries.* After breeding, they require some 

 time to recover their condition, and conse- 

 quently the number of fish obtained early in 

 the spring, in a proper state for food, is small, 

 compared with the quantity procured as the 

 spring and summer advances. During the 

 breeding season, the male is called a red fish, 

 and the female a black fish, froua the peculiari- 

 ties of their colour. Having spawned, and 

 being unfit for food, the fish are called kelts ; 

 or the male is termed a kipper, and the female a 

 baggit : the young fry, called smolts, descend in 

 March and April to the estuary, and so gradually 

 to the sea, where their growth is amazingly 

 rapid, for fry of seven or eight inches in length, 

 marked in April or early in May, have returned 

 by the end of June, or in July, from the sea to 

 the river, weighing from two to three pounds 

 and upwards, and already in a condition to 

 breed. At this period, they are termed griles ; 

 and it is remarkable, that they push up the 

 * In Sweden, the salmon is said not to breed until June. 



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