Salmon at the Antipodes Author:Samuel Wilson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH SALMON INTO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. The introduction of the English salmon into the waters of Australasia has bee... more »n frequently attempted, and many failures have been made, and much money spent, in the endeavour to accomplish this object. The reason that the introduction of this fish into Australia has been considered so important is not far to seek. The Australian rivers are already stocked with native fish of pretty good quality, and not to be despised from a gastronomic point of view, but there are no representatives of the anadromous or migratory species found there. Hence the salmon is particularly valuable, as its feeding grounds are in the unlimited extent of ocean washing the shores of the Australian continent, and they bring far inland the wealth ofnourishing food which they have collected in the depths of the ocean; and as they consume but little in the rivers, these are not impoverished by this temporary addition to their scaly inhabitants. When we consider that almost every plant and animal useful as food to the British race, which has taken possession of Australia, has been introduced there, it is evident that many more species may yet be found eminently suitable to the climate and circumstances of the country. No less than ten different shipments of ova of the salmonidce have been sent from Britain to Australia and New Zealand. The first attempt to send out salmon to Australia was made in the Sarah Curling, in February, 1860. It was superintended by Messrs. J. A. Youl and Edward Wilson, and it was intended that the fish should be hatched out on the voyage. Very complete arrangements had been made by the Salmon Commissioners appointed by the Government to receive the salmon fry in Tasmania, and Baron von (then Dr....« less