88 THE RIVER AND LAKE FISHERIES 



■whence they derive their excellence — there is no limit to their reproduction 

 or increase, allowing every fair and reasonable use of them, whether for 

 local consumption or foreign export. 



In a paper read before the Canadian Institute, by the Rev. W. A. 

 Adamson, D.C.L., on the "Decrease, Restoration, and Preservation 

 of Salmon in Canada," after referring to the importance of the 

 salmon as an economical production and as an article of commerce, 

 and stating, as an article of food it is the most valuable of fresh- 

 water fish, both because of its delicacy of flavour, and the numbers in which 

 it can be supplied, it was observed that, by prudent exertions and at a 

 small expense, it could be rendered cheap and accessible to almost every 

 family in Canada, and at the same time an article of commercial importance 

 for export to the United States, in which such fish are well nigh extermi- 

 nated. About twenty-five or thirty years ago, every tributary of the St. 

 Lawrence, from Niagara to Labrador, and Gaspe abounded with salmon ; 

 now, with the exception of a few in the Jacques Carrier, none are to be 

 found between the Falls and Quebec. Two causes for this were alleged ; 

 first, the natural disposition of uncivilised man to destroy whatever has life 

 and is fit for food ; second, the neglect of those who have constructed mill- 

 dams, in not attaching to them slides or chutes, by ascending which the fish 

 could pass onwards to their spawning beds in the interior. The real cause 

 of their disappearance is not, as some allege, the sawdust of the mills, 

 but the insuperable obstacles put in their way, by which they are prevented 

 from gaining those aerated w r aters high up the streams, which are essential 

 for the fecundation of their ova and propagation of the species. The modes 

 adopted in France, England, Scotland, and Ireland for preserving this fish, 

 are the construction, below each mill-dam, of a series of wooden boxes, 

 proportioned to the height of the dam. This, in the case of Canada, could 

 be done for about 20 dolls. Suppose, for example, the height to be gained 

 was fifteen feet, and that the salmon made five feet at a bound, only two 

 such boxes, each five feet high, would be required. In the waters of Lake 

 Ontario, a few of the genuine salmon are occasionally taken, especially at 

 the mouths of the Humber and the Credit, in May or June. There are 

 other facts which prove that this fish can live and breed in fresh water 

 without visiting the sea. Mr. Lloyd, in his " Field Sports in the North of 

 Europe," tells of a fishery near Lake Katrineberg, where some ten or twelve 

 thousand are caught annually, and that they have no means of access 

 to the sea. They are, of course, small in size and deficient in flavour. 

 Mr. Scrope tells us of a salmon put into a well and living for twelve 

 years. It became so tame as to come and feed from the hand. The 

 fact that they are to be found hi the Credit and Humber, and the tribu- 

 taries of the St. Lawrence, proves that these rivers might be again 

 stocked. Those tributaries of the St. Lawrence between Quebec and 

 Labrador, for a distance of 500 miles, are held under lease from the 

 Government by the Hudson's Bay Compan}', who fish in an unsystematic 

 manner with standing nets. By means of proper weirs the fishermen in 



