The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-29 00:00:00

FISH CULTURE IN FRANCE.

The art of fish breeding has been extensively
practised in France during the last 20 years, and
has recently been brought to a focus in the esta-
blishment constructed for the reception and distri-
bution of fish ova at Huningue, near Basle, on the
Rhine. The artificial system of spawning fish
by hand manipulation) owes its success to th 3 fact
of the fecundation of fish eggs being an external
act—in other words, the roe of the female is not
fecundated by the milt of the male fish till after it
has been deposited in its watery bed. An observ2
ant fisherman of the department of La Bresse, in
the Vosges, was the first in France to discern that
the natural principle of fish fecundation could be
easily imitated, and so be turned to profitable ac-
count in the pursuit of his business.
Joseph Remy, the re•discoverer of pisciculture,
was an unlettered peasant, and therefore unac6
quainted with the fact that fish-breeding had been
practised in Chir a from the remotest times with
such success as to make fish one of the cheapest
luxuries of that great country, or that the art was
known in its utmost perfection in the classic days
of Italy. Nor was he aware that one Gottlieb had
practised in Germany a century before him, and
most likely he was even ignorant of the salmon-
breeding experiments of Mr. Shaw at Drumlanrig
Castle in the years 1837-9. Remy, so far as the
breeding of fish for commercial purposes is con-
cerned, is undoubtedly entitled to all the praise of
an original discoverer, and his own narrative of how
he came to try the artificial system is explanatory
of what is still a grievance and a misfortune—viz.,
the growing scarcity of our fresh water fishes :

Remy, knowing how enormously prolific all kinds of
fish naturally are, most of them yielding their eggs by tens
of thousands, could not understand how they were yearly
becoming less plentiful, but setting his eyes to observe
and his wits to work out the question, he found-Ist, that
immense proportion of the ova was never properly fecun-
dated; 2, that even if all the eggs obtained the benefit :of
the milt, a vast proportion never came to life from
being deposited in places where they were ultimately
bereft of water, that others were eaten by waterfowl,
or devoured by other fishes, and a proportion swept away
to the sea, and so lost for ever. Then, again, Remy found
out that however large a proportion of the eggs might ripen,
and so become fish, a high percentage of these never became
of any food value, as they were killed in their infancy by
juvenile anglers, or preyed upon by larger fishes. There-
fore Remy soon saw that the best way to increase the sup-
ply was by obtaining the eggs and protecting the young
fish till they were able to take care of themselves.
Having arrived at these conclusions, Remy set to work
to col:ect in the various rivers of his native district the
spawn of such fish as could most readily be obtained ; these
were hatched into life and protected and fed while young.
But, not contented with this laborious plan, Remy was
wont to watch for and obtain the gravid fish, and so acquire
the ova, in what we may term wholesale quantities by the
system of artificial spawning. Having assumed M. Gehin
as a partner in his art, his experiments were largely ex-
tended, and were early crowned with a success far beyond
what he ever anticipated, as was speedily demonstrated in
the constantly increasing fish supply of his native streams.
Messrs. Gehin and Remy were at once rewarded with a sum
of money, and a handsome bronze medal was unanimously
voted to them by the Societd dEmulation des Vosges. Be-
sides these rewards, the fishermen were handsomely noticed
in 1849, in a paper communicated by Dr. Hese, of Epinal,
to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, which at once fixed
public attention on the art of pieciculture,and attracted to it
the patronage of the French Government, whose first act,
it is proper to say, was to reward and employ the two fisher-
men whose names we have mentioned.
After the matter was taken in band by the Government
the spread of pisciculture was rapid. It would take up far
too much space to detail minutely what has been accom-
plished in the art of fish breeding in the fresh water streams
of France; suffice it to say that at present no stream
need be without a plentiful supply of fish, as any quantity
of eggs can be obtained from the establishment at Huningue
for the mere asking, and from that source many of the
rivers are now leaping with fish. Indeed, we know from
information supplied at Huningue that the annual distribu-
tion of fish eggs is numbered by millions, the quantity of
ova supplied last year to various applicants was over
17,000,000, some of which came to England and were de-
posited in the river Thames.
Much of the success of this artificial culture of fish in
France must be attributed to the great personal interest
taken in the advancement of the art by Professor Coate, of
the Institute. It is not too much to say that he has re-
created the French fisheries, both in the fresh waters and in
the sea. He has made several voyages and explorations to
distant places in order to study the best modes of improving
the fisheries, and to his enthusiasm is dne a great portion
of the success which has attended the spread of pisciculture.
His " Voyage of Exploration" is a most interesting work;
it has been printed under the auspices of the French Go-
vernment, and contains a very detailed account of the eel
fishery of Comacchio, the mussel beds in the Bay of Aiguil-
lon, and the green oyster grounds of Marennes. A year or
two ago might be seen in the College of France an appa-
ratus, contained in a marvellously small space—a space
about 16ft, square, which was capable of hatching 150,000
salmon eggs. The ponds at Stormontfield for the breeding
of salmon are constructed to hold about double that quan-
tity of ova, but even that number cannot be hatched annu-
ally, because there was only one reception pond; and, as is
well known, a portion of the salmon in every hatching re,
quire to be two years in the pond before being sent to sea.
An immense deal, however, can be done in fish hatching in
a small space. Ample evidence of this may be had at the
Etablissement de Pisciculture, near Basle. The boxes con-
taining the eggs are there arranged in pyramids
groups, the water flowing from the one on the top to
those beneath it ; and, of course, flooding all the eggs
which are nicely disposed on little glass gratings or frames.
This establishment does not breed any fish, except for the
purposes of study and acclimatizing—it is more a depot for
the collection and distribution of eggs. Fish eggs when
first deposited by the fish will not bear to be much handled
or carried to a great distance ; carefully packed in wet moss
they may be sent a day's journey, hence the necessity for
having the piscicultural establishment at the boundary of
the two countries—i. e,, France and Switzerland, the greater
proportion of the eggs being obtained from the latter coun-
ery. They are collected by agents in the lakes and streams
of Switzerland, and paid for at so much per thousand by
the authorities.
The various buildings at Huningue were specially erected
by M. Coumes, the chief engineer of the Rhine, for the
purposes of pisciculture, and they are admirably adapted for
their work, The series of egg boxes are well supplied with
a constant stream of water, of which there is a large supply,
both from a spring in the grounds and from the Rhine
itself. A series of little streams at the back of the buildings
contain Rhine salmon and river and lake trout, in various
stages of growth—that is, from the age of a few weeks to
four years; and it is interesting to watch their habits as
they are fed by their keeper. The total cost of erecting the
suite of buildings at Huningue was little over £ll,OOO, and
the annual charge is about £2,000.
A few figures will show what has been achieved at
Huningue in the distribution of ova during
years. The winter operations of the season 1860-167.
1761,
the last two
begun on October 20, 1860, and finished on March
speciesvarious
of fish distributed from Ilunin
the orabre che-
lake and salmon trouts, the Rhine salmon,
gue were the comm great
s ecies the
valier, and the fera. Of the first five of these
pma at
total quantity of ova provided hau
bpr cent. perished
nearly 6,000,000, of which about
during the period of incubation. Of the remainder about
3,500,000 wore forwarded to different parts of the con-
tinent, and a little more than 500,000 were retained
quantity
for experiment at the establishment. •Tbe
of ova despatched from Hlillingllo in the season of
1860.61 was sent in reply to 278 demands from establish-
meats scattered over 70 departments of France, and there
were 20 demands from establishments in other parts of
Europe, principally in Belgium, Switzerland, Bavaria, and
Wirtemburg. The hatching of the fera is carried on sepa-
rately from that of other species. Ihe operations connected
with the distribution of the fera occupied a period of 46 days,
commencing on the 14th November, The quantity of ova
of the fera forwarded far exceeds that of the other five
species taken together, and for the season of 1860.61 is esti •
mated at close upon 9,000,000 of eggs, of which 5,573,000,
or 62 per cent., was distributed as above, while upwards of
3,000,000, or '3B per cent,, were retained
for the experiments