152 



DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



as the catch of Salmon and Trout separately, are shown, the 

 annual average being struck for five-yearly periods. Part 

 of the extraordinary decline, from an average of 109,971 

 Salmon and Trout in the period 1842 to 1846 (in 1842 the 

 numbers reached i48,93O,)toless than 4O,oooin the 'seventies, 

 is rio doubt due to restrictive legislation controlling the size 

 of mesh of salmon nets, but this still leaves much of the fall- 

 ing off to be explained. 



TWEED FISHERIES 



DURING FIFTY YEARS 



1842-46 47-51 52-56 57-61 62-66 67-71 72-76 77-81 82-86 87-91 



Fig. 36. The Decline of Tweed Fisheries, as shown by the statistics of Trout and 

 Salmon caught during fifty years. Each column indicates the average annual catch in a 

 period of five years. Dotted columns indicate number of Trout caught; lined columns, 

 Salmon : solid columns, total catch of Trout and Salmon. 



The figures at tops of columns show actual numbers caught; those at bottom the five 

 yearly periods. 



In other countries also, destruction is proceeding apace: 

 in 1913 on the Pacific coast of the United States of 

 America, 140,000,000 Salmon were slain for food, and the 

 gross value of canned salmon packed in North America in 

 1916, amounted to ,8,708,527. 



Take again the case of a close relative of the Salmon 

 and Trout the Char (Salvelinus alpinus and its races). 



