Essays in Natural History and Agriculture | Page 9

took forty-four fish, twenty-five of which had not
spawned --fifteen were Kelts and four were clean fish; from March 1st
to March 10th he took seventeen fish, seven of which had not spawned
(four of them on the 10th)--six were Kelts and one clean fish. Now the
close time varies in almost every river, and some have no close time at
all; thus in the Ribble the close time begins on September 15th and
ends on December 31st, and in the Hodder there is no legal close time;
but there is no practical difference between them in this respect, every
one thinking himself entitled to kill all the fish he can, at all times of
the year, in both of them. The observance of the weekly close time, that
is, opening a passage for the fish from sunset on Saturday night to
sunrise on Monday morning, is a mere farce, even if it could not be
evaded, as it almost invariably is, for it is well known to every one
conversant with the habits of Salmon, that they only ascend the rivers
when there are freshes (floods) in them, and in summer the ground is
generally so dry, and vegetation absorbs so much moisture, and the
evaporation is so great, that it not only requires twice as much rain to
produce a flood in the river then as it does in winter, but when the rain
does come its effects are only visible in the river for a short time. I have
known a strong fresh in the Ribble in the morning, and the river low
again in the afternoon of the same day. A fresh coming at the beginning

of a week, would disappear long before the close of it, unless the rainy
weather continued; and thus the strict observance of the weekly close
time would be of little service to the upper proprietors unless the fresh
came at the right end of the week.
The Smolts and the Par ought to be protected as strictly as the Salmon;
and there ought to be a penalty attached to the killing of them, or
having them in possession, and conservators of rivers ought to have the
power of inspecting all mills and manufactories driven by those rivers,
to ascertain that they have no contrivances for taking the fry on their
way to the sea, as it appears that in some rivers they are taken in large
quantities. There ought also to be a penalty attached to the killing of
Kelt fish, which in that state are not only tasteless and insipid, but
actually unwholesome; yet they are pursued and destroyed with as
much avidity as the fresh fish, and a very small number of the few that
spawn in safety ever return to the sea. A penalty ought also to be
inflicted for selling, buying, using, or having in possession Salmon roe,
either in a fresh or salted state, as its excellence as a bait for Trout and
Eels, and the consequent high price at which it sells, are sufficient
temptations to poachers to kill the Salmon in the spawning season even
if they could not sell or use any other part. Yet destructive as this
practice is, there is an extensive trade in this article-- a fishing-tackle
maker in Liverpool having told a friend of mine that he sold 300 lbs. in
a season, which, supposing every egg to hatch, would produce perhaps
five times as many Salmon as are caught in one year throughout the
whole kingdom. [4]
In concluding this imperfect sketch, I may remark that I have omitted
many things concerning the natural history and habits of the Salmon,
fearing to trespass too much on the patience of my readers; but I have
wished, in addition to communicating some facts in the natural history
of this fish, which I believe are not generally known, to call the
attention of the public to the present state of the Salmon fisheries in
England. Many of the preceding observations are founded on the
evidence of persons connected with the fisheries in Scotland, and are
perhaps no longer applicable to that part of the kingdom, since there
has been an alteration in the laws; whether this is the case or not, I have

no present means of ascertaining. I shall be glad if any one having a
knowledge of the subject will say what benefit, if any, has been derived
from the alteration; however, it is sufficient for my present purpose to
show what is the state of things when there are no laws on the subject,
or, which is the same thing, when there is no attention paid to them; a
state of things which, instead of promoting an abundant supply of these
excellent fish, and rendering the Salmon fisheries nationally