316 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



of the Tadoussac Hatcher}^ liave been given to its branches ; the same returns, 

 within the same years, show an increase as follows : — 



66 per cent, increase in 1882 over 1881. 



115 per cent, increase in 1883 over 1881, 



(6.) That in the Northumberland fishery district in the Province of New 

 Brunswick, which takes in the estuary and river fisheries of the Miramichi 

 Hiver, upon which a salmon-breeding estabUshment has been in operation 

 since 1875, the returns show an increase from 1881 to 1883 inclusive, in the 

 catch of salmon thus : — 



95 per cent, increase in 1882 over 1881. 



15 per cent, increase in 1883 over 1881. 



(7.) That in the following counties in the Province of Nova Scotia, namely, 

 AnnapoHs, Cumberland, Colchester, Guysboro, Halifax, Hants, Kings, Lunen- 

 burgh, Pictou, and Queens, in the rivers of which young salmon fry from the 

 Bedford Hatchery have been distributed since 1876, the official returns 

 show a large increase in the salmon fisheries from 1881 to 1883 inclusive as 

 follows : — 



150 per cent, increase in 1882 over 1881. 



120 per cent, increase in 1883 over 1881. 



(8.) That in the following counties in the Province of Nova Scotia, namely, 

 Antigonish, Cape Breton, Digby, Inverness, Bichmond, Shelburne, Victoria, 

 and Yarmouth, where salmon fry have not been planted from the hatcheries, 

 the returns show a very small increase in the salmon catch from 1881 to 1883, 

 when compared with the counties where artificially -bred fry have been planted, 

 as follows : — 



45 per cent, increase in 1882 over 1881. 



40 per cent, increase in 1883 over 1881. 



Thus it will be seen that in every instance where the localities have 

 received supplies of aiiificially bred fry, a large increase in tlie catch of 

 sahnon is shown over those that have not received supplies of young salmon 

 from the hatcheries. 



Now, whilst these official returns for 1881-82, and 1883 give undoubted 

 evidence of an increased catch of salmon in all of the districts in the several 

 Provinces where artificially bred fiy have heen planted since the commence- 

 ment of their propagation in a small way in 1875-76, and 1877 ; they also 

 show a decided decrease in the catch of these fish, at the same time, in the 

 several districts where young sahnon have not been pkmted. It is neveiiheless 

 a deplorable fact that all the sahnon fisheries in the Atlantic Provinces have 

 fallen off" to an alarming extent from the general returns of former years. 



It is not intended to be put forth here that this improvement of the salmon 

 fisheries in the several districts where only moderate supplies of young salmon 

 have been deposited in the rivers from the hatcheries has been brought about 

 wholly from artificial breeding ; and it must not be gainsaid either, that these 

 fish-breeding institutions are not entitled to a fair share of the credit for the 

 results shown by these returns ; for it could not so happen by any law or freak 

 of nature of an accidental or co-incidental character that such a preponder- 

 ating diff'erence could take place between the various waters that were 

 artificially stocked and those that were supphed by the natural process alone. 

 Therefore it is but reasonable to conclude that the improvement in the fishery 

 divisions described must have been the result of the influences of the natural 

 and artificial methods of propagation combined, and this is all that has ever 

 been advocated by the practical, intelligent, and honest supporter of the 

 science of artificial fish culture, as being a most useful adjunct, and an 

 important subsidiaiy aid to the natural method which has been and is now so 

 seriously interfered with by such a multitudinous number of destructive 

 agencies as almost to forbid tlie possibility or power of man to control. 



