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ON THE POSSIBILITY OF INTRODUCING SALMON INTO NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.
October, 1859.
The colonists of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand appear to wish for the introduction of Salmon and Trout into the rivers of these colonies, and one of them, Tasmania, is said to have offered the reward of L500 for the first pair of live Salmon which reaches that colony. If this is true it is a liberal offer, and one that is likely to induce various persons, both in England and France, to make the attempt.
I should be sorry to say anything to check so laudable an endeavour, but I greatly fear that Van Diemen's Land (to say nothing of the Australian colonies) is too near the tropics to offer a reasonable chance of success. I think it is practicable to take these fish there (or at least fertilized ova), but I don't think they would live and thrive in the rivers of that colony. Never having been there, I can, of course, only reason from European experience, but the best inquiries I can make lead me to suppose that there are no Salmon in France (south of Brittany), Spain, or any of the countries washed by the Mediterranean Sea; and in America (although I confess I am not so well informed on that country) I have never heard of Salmon being seen to the south of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence. Supposing this to be so, I think that we may fairly infer that if Salmon are not found south of a certain latitude in Europe and America, it must be that the climate of these southern countries is not congenial to the habits of this fish. I believe, however, that the Trout lives and thrives much further south than the Salmon; for instance, it is found in the Pyrenees and in the lakes of Northern Italy (Lady M. W. Montagu). It is also found in Northern Turkey, and probably Albania also (Spencer); and therefore I think it is quite probable that it might live in Tasmania—that is, if the streams are never dried up and the rivers reduced to a number of water-holes, which appears to be the case in Australia. Should this be the case in Tasmania also, I doubt whether even Trout would thrive, for here in Lancashire I have known the Trout to die in great numbers from the heat, when, owing to the water-wheels of the mill diverting the river from its usual channel, there was no stream, but merely a series of detached pools or water-holes; and the Grayling seem to be more incommoded by heat than the Trout, and it was one of the diversions of my boyhood to wait until the wheels of my father's mill were stopped in the hot weather, and then go up the covered wheel-races in search of the Grayling that had gone there to get out of the sunshine. I used to catch them there in great numbers. However, this has nothing to do with the matter, except to suggest that although Grayling are very desirable fish to introduce into the colonies, I fear they would be too impatient of heat to thrive there. But my object in addressing you is to ask whether it is true that the legislature of Tasmania has offered the prize of L500 for the first pair of live Salmon taken there?
Secondly, whether they offer a prize for the introduction of
Salmon fry; and if so, what is the amount offered?
Thirdly, whether they offer a prize for the introduction of fertilized ova of Salmon or Trout, and what is the amount?
I ask these questions because I happen to know a good deal on such matters, and I have been applied to this day by James Birch, the head water-bailiff of our river (Ribble), to obtain some information for him on the subject, as he seems seriously bent on making the experiment, provided the reward be an adequate one; for, to be successful, it would involve the necessity of his making the voyage himself, and it would be a cruel thing to induce him to do so, and in the end to find that he was entitled to no reward.
I'll say this for him, that if he tries he will succeed, if success be possible; but his pecuniary resources are too limited for him to undertake such a risk.
I have reason to believe that he has been applied to by Ramsbottom to go to Tasmania, but this he declines to do under Ramsbottom's auspices. As he (R.) professes to be in communication with the authorities of Tasmania (or at all events with influential persons there) let him make the first attempt, and if he succeed, there will be no necessity to apply to me on the subject; but if he should fail—as I think he will—why, then the persons interested in the matter may, if they wish to try again, let me know their wishes and the amount of remuneration they mean to give.