1894)

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

Compiled By The United States Fish Commissioner

_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.

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_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.

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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.)

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