828 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



industrial purposes, all in all did his utmost to modify the stream in a direction 

 contrary to the interests of the ascending salmon and their propagation. 



Up to the present, nevertheless, the Rhine distinguishes itself from the other 

 rivers of North Europe (and from those of the Atlantic coast of North America 

 as well) by the relative productivity of its salmon fishery — though I must point 

 out at once that also for the Rhine the figures of the catches have greatly dimin- 

 ished from what they were, say twenty-five years ago. There exist no good 

 statistics of the product of the salmon fisheries of the whole river; favored by 

 special circumstances, however, those interested in the fisheries of the lower parts 

 of the Rhine in Holland, embracing all the larger seine fisheries, have for many 

 years been able to register carefully the figures of all the salmon caught in these 

 waters. These are the fish landed and sold by auction at the market of 

 Kralingsche Veer, near Rotterdam. We have these figures since 1871, and just 

 to show you the importance of this auction, I give you the following summary: 



Period. 



1871-1907 (37 years) 

 1871-1889 (19 years) 

 1890-1907 (iB years) 

 1 899- 1 907 (9 years)- 



These figures show a very considerable diminution. We are not to forget, 

 however, that partly in consequence of changes in the natural condition of the 

 river, partly through the influence of the treaty, and partly through the high 

 development of navigation in the lower parts of the river — Rotterdam harbor — 

 the fishing of the so-called large seine fisheries, which means those selling their 

 catches at the said market of Kralingsche Veer, is now by no means as good 

 as it was twenty to twenty-five years ago. In consequence, the percentage of 

 the ascending fish caught in the lower parts of the river and sold at the said 

 market, before that period, was naturally much larger than it is at present. In 

 other words, there is no reason to consider the decline of the Rhine salmon 

 fishery as quite so important as might be concluded from studying the figures 

 of the Kralingsche Veer market alone. 



As, however, reliable statistics for the salmon fishing of the whole river are 

 not available, it is impossible to calculate what part of the whole catch is repre- 

 sented by the fish landed at Kralingsche Veer market. It may be 50 per cent 

 at present, it may be a little more, it may be much less. Last year at Kra- 

 lingsche Veer market 31,000 salmon were offered for sale, and 9,500 more were 

 landed at five other salmon markets in Holland. Still higher up the river in 



