THE SEVERN SALMON. 227 



to purchase and consume other and apparently less tainted fluids ? 

 On this point Salmon and other fishes play a most important part 

 by demonstrating whether the water they reside in is sufficiently 

 pure to sustain their lives, for if not, it stands to reason that 

 human beings and cattle that may incautiously partake of it may 

 be doing so to their own destruction. Anybody may pollute the 

 Severn at Gloucester where it is tidal, the authorities declining 

 to consider it a stream, and thus it escapes the provisions of the 

 Rivers Pollution Act ! 



We are now in a position to enquire why it is that the interests 

 of the proprietors of Salmon fisheries are not identical throughout 

 the entire extent of the river, and also to consider whether this 

 clashing of interests is not inimical to the fisheries, and conse- 

 quently to the general public ? The proprietors of fisheries living 

 on the higher waters may fairly argue that from Tewkesbury 

 to the sea pollutions are permitted unchecked access, that 

 immoderate netting is almost continuously carried on, giving 

 the fish, except in close time, but little chance of escape. Thus 

 the upper proprietors see but few fish, excepting during the 

 breeding season, when it is illegal to capture them. They are, in 

 a manner, " clucking hens," whose duties seem to be to take care 

 the eggs are hatched, rear the fry, and " speed the parting guest" 

 as it descends to the sea, from whence nets and other obstructions, 

 and pollutions in the lower reaches of the Severn, will most 

 probably prevent their ever re-ascending, or only in sufficient 

 numbers to maintain a supply for the lower waters. Official 

 statistics are worse than useless — they are positively misleading ; 

 for they ought to show the yearly quantity of Salmon taken in 

 each portion of the river — not the number of boxes of Severn 

 Salmon received at Billingsgate. Can it be a source of surprise 

 if the breeding grounds are not strictly preserved ? For the 

 rearing of Salmon is effected at the expense of the local fish, which 

 are residents of the upper waters. Take the Trout as an instance : 

 it has constantly been observed that a Salmon river is not, as 

 a rule, well stocked with Trout. Several reasons have been 

 advanced to account for this, but the most prominent seems to be 

 that the Trout breeds some little time earlier than the Salmon, 

 and deposits its eggs in the identical spots that the Salmon like- 

 wise selects. As the Salmon turns up the gravelly bed, in order 

 to form its redd, it disturbs the previously deposited Trout eggs, 



