The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-06-22
Propagation Of Fish-Is Shad Culture
Proftablee -
From the Rochester IN. " Daily Union.

the fishes in the great rivers could be assis
ted. in propagation and their numbers be I'M
mensely multiplied by the artificial process
Seth Green had previously been engaged ir
+, the cultivation~of brook trout. with more OF
| less successful results He had turned his
attention to shad and insisted that with 9
small outlay Of time and money these excel
lent fishes could be produced in such quan
titles as to glut the market and make shad
the cheap food for the poor. TO. demon.
strate this it became necessary to find suit
able place where work could be done under
the protection of the law, and some pccunia-
ry aid from the public could be obtaincd.-
Massachusetts and Connecticut were induced
to lend their aid in joint effort to stock the
Connecticut Mr.. Green made liberal pro-
posals to the Commissioners Of these States
and went to the dam at Holyoke, the head
waters Of the Connecticut, for shad and there
went to work under great disadvantages, in
Guiding the opposition of the ignorant fish
ermen, and receiving but little encourage
| ment from the public Of the locality general
ly. Tie sought to demonstrate the truth Of
his theories and was willing to make almost
any sacrifice to do this. He had declared
his firm belief that shad hatched in partic-
ular river would annually return to that riv-
er and would resort to no other, and that by
artificial propagation ninety per cent. of the
spawn would be productive, while by the
natural method not five per cent. were hatch
cd. The corsness Of his positions has
been demonstrated beyond all doubt. How
this has been done, let the Commissioners Of
the State of Connecticut tell. In their re-
port to the Legislature just received are the
following:
In the month of July, 1867, Mr.. S. Green
of Mumford, N. Y, under the joint patronage
of the Massachusetts and Connecticut Com
missioners, made the first experiment in the
artificial propagation of shad in the Connec-
cut River, short distance below Holyoke
Dam. Mr.. Green's skill and large expert
cnce in the culture of fish specially fitted
him for the work. His first attempt resulted
in Matching about two per cent. of the ova.
His second attempt with improved arrange
ments, brought out seventy per cent. Ills
third effort secured ninety nine per cent.
and in three weeks he put into the Connecti-
cut river about forty millions of young shad.
At this time nothing was known about the
growth of the shad; there was a great diff
ference of, opinion among fishermen and nat
| uralists; some asserted that it reached ma
turity, or marketable size, in one year; 9th
crs, that it took from two to five years The
better opinion seemed to be not less than
three nor more than five years; and this was
partially corroborated by the investigations Of
Mr.. NJ. S. Treat, of Eastf;rd, which showed
that alcwives, which are closely allied to
shad, take four years to mature. 1t was
also corroborated by the time of the disap-
pearance Of shad after the building of dams.
In the Fall Of 1867, more young shad were
observed at various places along The river
from Glastonbury TO its mouth, on theirAs..yy-
to the Sound, than had been noticed Tor SCI
-eraf years. The ferry boats on, the river re-
peatedly scooped thcm up on their aprons,
while many were caught by the fishermen in
their fne-mcshed nets.
In the following summer, June 20, 1868,
Mr.. Green repeated his experiments in the
Matching of fshad at Holyoke, under the di
rection of the Massachusetts Commissioners,
and for about twenty days had complete sue
cess. He turned out several millions" of
young fry daily. On the 18th of July, the
weatheS became so extremely hot that the
temperature Of the water ranged from S4 to
IS degrees, and the spawn was spoiled in
the Matching boxes. 1t is estimated that
sixty millions of young shad were put into
tba ropnontinut fh ot yaor
During the same year attempts were made
by the Connecticut Commissioners to hatch
shad at Brockway's Point but it was on the
Sth of July before the ova were placed in
the boxes, and . the extreme heat of the
weather destroyed them.
No attempts were made to hatch shad in
1870, the Commissioners decming it prudent
to await the results Of. the experiments of
1867 and 1868, before incurring further ex-
pensc. The great increase II young shad
since 1869, as in 1868, confirmed the belief
that they would mature in due time and an
abundance of mcrchautable shad would ap-
pear by the year 1871 at the farthest.
TO the surprise and delight of our people,
however, they appeared in unusually great
numbers in 1870. Such run Of shad had
not been seen in twenty years. On Sunday,
the 22d of May, they appeared in the Sound
IN vast numbers; captains of vessels sailing
thro~ ~gh the Sound, reported immense shoals
of them near the surface of the water, all
making for the mouth Of the Connecticut
River. On Monday morning the 22d, over
$4,000 had of good size were taken from
the ponds at and near Saybrook. The same
day, at Lcwis's Pond, beyond Nuncatcsick
Point, $3.50 were taken at one time, being
seven times the usual catch. At Haddam
Island 700 were taken at one haul during
the day. At Holyokc Dam, 45O were taken
between four and five o'clock in the after
noon. At all the other fishing places on the
river, so far as heard from, the catches were
unusually large, and the fishing continued
unusually good throughout the season. The
average quality and size Of the fish were also
goods -
Now the largest hauls Of shad in or neal