The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-01-03
OF INTEREST TO ANGLERS.
Canadian Waters to Be Stocked with
Atlantic Salmon.

Quebec Letter in Chicago TimesIIerad
Experiments that promise to be Of
the greatest interest to anglers and
fish cultursts alike and that have been
under way for some time in northern
Canada, are now giving indication Of
gratifying success. The scheme re-
ferred to is the stocking with the true
Atlantic salmon Of a number of the
inland waters of the province of Que
bee.
The so-called land-locSed salmon OF
the Maine lakes, known in Canada as
the ouananche, and which usually at
tain the size of the largest size brook
or speckled trout, have for some years
past attracted large numbers of Ameri-
can anglers to it's northern habitat in
Lake st. John and it's tributary waters.
But the magnificent salmon of the sea
is so limited in it's range as compared
with it's former extensive habitat, that
| the luxury of fishing for it promises in
| the near future to be confined to mill
ionaires and their invited guests, un-
less there can be brought about a large
| increase in the waters frequented by IT,
Not more than three-quarters of a
| century ago all the tributaries of the
st. Lawrence, as well as the rivers
| flowing into Lake Ontario, swarmed
with the Atlantic salmon. Spealing,
netting and other engines of destruc-
ton ami the pollution Of the streams
have so effectually destroyed the fish,
however, that, with the exception of
a vety few specimens in couple of
unimportant rivers, it has become ex-
| tinct III eastern Canadian waters west
of the Saguenay.
| Some time ago it was suggested that
where the ouananiche lived and thrived,
salmo salar-being it's very close con-
gener-would equally thrive For the
| two last years, therefore, many thou
sands of salmon fry have been plant
ed" in the rivers falling into Lake st.
John, where the fish, upon coming to
maturity, will be able to indulge the
natural instinct of running out an
nually to the sea, returning to fresh
water to deposit their spawn.
To the great satisfaction of those
| who have been conducting the experi-
ments, it has been ascertained that the
| young salmon fry has lived and thrived
in it's new surroundings, several speci-
mems of the fish having recently been
captured measuring ten to twelve
inches in length.
The question that now remains to be
solved is whether the young fish, when
| they leave the fresh water next year
! or the year after to grow fat and lusty
upon the crustaceous food of the sea,
| after the manner of their kind, will re-
turn to their present home or to some
other streams for purposes of repro-
! duction. The natural instinct of the
| salmon to return, season after season,
| TO the same river Is, of course, very
strong and quite we'll known, and the
| principle upon which the fish cultur-
lists pursue their work is that the par
ent streams TO which they resort at
the promptings of nature, are those in
which they spent their early years.
Some authorities are still doubtful OF
the outcome of the experiment, sup
! posing that salmon instinct is a mat
ter hereditary rather than of memory
and that the adult fish seek out on
their return from the sea not neces-
sarily the river which they left to run
down to salt water but that of their
ancestors, in which their parent fish
lived and developed their spawn.
All the natural obstructions in the
Saguenay to the return of the salmon
from the sea to Lake St. John and It's
many important feeders are being re.
moved or overcome by the construc.
tion of fishways, and unless the fish
culturists are much astray in their cal.
culations two or three years at the
most from the present time win see
hundreds cf miles OF northern water
ways transformed into salmon rivers
worth thousands of dollars mile tc
visiting sportsmen.