New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon Fisheries in the Late 19th Century

Excerpt

ARTICLE I

Some Results of the Artificial Propagation of Maine and California Salmon in New England and Canada, Recorded in the Years 1879 and 1880

Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. 1, Page 270, 1881

New Bedford, Mass May 20, 1879.

Prof. S. F. Baird:

Sir: I have just been in the fish market and a crew were bringing in their fish from one of the "traps." A noticeable and peculiar feature of the fishery this year is the great numbers of young salmon caught, especially at the Vineyard, although some few are caught daily at Sconticut Neck (mouth of our river). There are apparently two different ages of them. Mostly about 2 pounds in weight (about as long as a large mackerel) and about one-half as many weighing from 6 to 8 pounds; occasionally one larger. One last week weighed 33 pounds and one 18 pounds. The fishermen think they are the young of those with which some of our rivers have been stocked, as nothing of the kind has occurred in past years at all like this.

John H. Thomson.

Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, Vol. 1, Page 271, 1881

New Bedford, Mass. June 1, 1879.

Prof Spencer F. Baird:

SIR: I received yours. I have examined carefully since your letter, but no salmon have been taken. The run was about the two first weeks in May and a few the last of April. Mr. Bassett had about 30 to 35 from the trap at Menimpsha, and 10 or 12 from Sconticut Neck, the mouth of our river. Mr. Bartlett, at his fish market, had about one dozen; 12 from the traps near the mouth of Slocum's River, six miles west of here, and I have heard of two taken at mouth of Westport River.

As to the particular species, I do not get any reliable information, as so few of our fishermen know anything about salmon, and in fact the men from the traps on Sconticut Neck did not know what the fish were.

John H. Thomson.

FISHING ITEMS. "A ten-pound salmon and seventeen tautog, weighing over one hundred pounds, were taken from the weirs of Magnolia, Thursday night. This is the first salmon caught off Cape Ann for over thirty years. On Saturday morning three more large salmon were taken and 150 large mackerel. The fishermen are highly elated at the prospect of salmon catching." (Cape Ann Advertiser, June 6, 1879.)

[Postscript to a letter from Monroe A. Green, New York State Fishery Commission, to Fred Mather, June 9, 1879.]

"P. S.--Kennebec salmon caught to-day in the Hudson River at Bath near Albany weighing twelve and a half pounds, sold for 40 cents per pound. The first that have been caught for years."

State of Maine, Department of Fisheries,
Bangor, August 25, 1879. [Extracts.]

Dear Professor: We have had a great run of salmon this year, and consisting largely of fish planted by us in the Penobscot four or five years ago, so far as we could judge; there were a very large number, running from 9 to 12 pounds. The east and west branches of the Penobscot report a great many fish in the river....