In the early nineteenth century there were no laws or regulations to restrict the taking of salmon in Island rivers. In 1846 an act was proposed in the House of Assembly to protect the salmon fishery and suggests overfishing was of some concern. In May of 1860 "An act for the protection of the Salmon Fishery " was passed in the House of Assembly . This act was not very effective as another act had to be passed in 1869 "for the better protection of the Salmon Fisheries". The latter act designated four rivers, including the Dunk, where fish protectors or river bailiffs would protect against poaching or illegal fishing between 1 September and 31 December each year. The Dunk River was one of the principal salmon rivers in the province in 1878, according to a federal government fishery report. This report informs us that the Dunk was especially well stocked with salmon but that wardens along the river had a great deal of trouble with poachers. In October or November of 1879 a salmon hatchery was built on the Dunk River by the Dominion Marine and Fisheries Department, under its program to promote artificial fish culture. The land was donated by the Minister of Marine and Fisheries the Hon . James College Pope , a native of Bedeque and former premier of Prince Edward Island . The project was supervised by Mr. Samuel Wilmot , a fish culturalist with the Marine and Fisheries Department in Ottawa. The hatchery was located just upstream of the influence of tidal waters (code 128a). In the Daily Examiner for 11 November, 1879, Mr. Wilmot stated "the hatchery location is one of the best in the Dominion!' The buildings for the hatchery were constructed by Messrs Tanton and Williams whereas the dam was built by Alfred Schurman and Henry Clark . The buildings consisted of a hatchery, reception house, coal house, ice house and stable. The dam created a pond with headwaters ten feet deep. The total cost of the project was $2475. Salmon swimming upstream were trapped in the hatchery, and transferred to a breeding room which contained one large and several small troughs. The eggs were scraped by hand from the belly of the females and placed on a small shelf near the bottom of the troughs. The bottom of the troughs were covered with perforated sheet metal pans. Each pan could hold 3000 eggs and the hatchery was designed to hatch four to six million salmon eggs annually. The Dunk River Hatchery was a local attraction, as reported by Mr. J.H. Duvar , Inspector of Fisheries for Prince Edward Island in 1879. "A fish-breeding establishment of much artistic design, has been completed on the Dunk River , and, having been inspected by Mr. Wilmot , is now ready for operations. In another report, dated 1 December 1881 we learn "The public from all parts of the province visit the hatchery, where they are respectfully received. The beauty of the situation and the simple yet mysterious processes going on in the little river within the building combine to render it attractive" The first operator of the Dunk River Hatchery was Mr. Mowatt , formerly of the Restigouche, New Brunswick hatchery. In 1880 Henry Clark was installed as the officer in charge and he remained with the establishment until its closure. The salmon fry would hatch in spring and after they grew to two inches in length, were transferred to a fresh water stream. In 1881 a total of 375,000 fry from this hatchery were distributed to four rivers in the province. In 1881 a total of 361 salmon, at an average age of five years, entered the Dunk River Hatchery . Males that year were scarce due to the clearness of the water. They preferred to stay under the bridge below the hatchery. Over its eight years of operation, the Dunk River Hatchery distributed salmon fry to Island rivers at the following rate. 1880 500,000 1881 375,000 1882 1,060,000 1883 1,210,000 1884 1,000,000 1885 1,100,000 1886 400,000 1887 500,000 Total 6,145,000 82