New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-05-05

1 =. n. 49, j
true that an occasional mess of suckers,
| piekerel, etc, may be taken, and that the
markets of the principal cities generally
! contain certain number of these fish; but
! beyond an occasional meal to a small per
| centage of the general population, they are
not worthy of any special consideration.
WILL sHAD SPAWN IN THE MISSISSIPPI +
If, however, such fishes as shad can be
| introduced into these waters the case would
| be totally different, and we might, in few
| years, have as great proportion OF men
| employed in their capture as on the Allan
tic streams, and corresponding amount of
food, fresh and salt, to add to the resources
OF the country. This would, of course, pro-
duce the corresponding reduction in the
| price OF butchers meat, so that the boon to
| the population of the West can scarcely be
calculated. 1t is, of course, not certain
| that shad can be made to thrive, but the
| experiment is one full worthy of trial, es-
peclalIy IN view of the small sum that
would be required for such a purpose
| Shad, as far as We know, are not naturally
indigenous to the waters of the GuIf of
Mexico. But they we've introduced into
the AltOmaha some years ago and it is said
| that they have multiplied there to salts
| factory extent.
THE sTERLET A GOOD FISH.
Among the other fishes that might he
made to thrive very well in the Mississippi
waters may be mentioned the sterlet, a
small species of sturgeon, which, in Russia.
ranks with the turbot of the western part
of Europe, and from which is derived the
best quality of caviare, which is so impOr-
tant Russian product.
EGGS AND SPAWN TO BE PROTECTED.
The object of such experiments is not TO
attempt to cultivate fish or feed them until
they are ready for use, but simply to take
the necessary steps to introduce them into
new water, or to supply eggs and young in
sufhclent numbers to meet the drain caused
by capture in waters where they already
exist. 1t is a well ascertained fact that If
the eggs laid by a fish in a state of nature
very few attain maturity. Thus, while the
cod is said to deposit two millions of eggs
at time, 1t is not probable that more than
hall dozen eggs ever attain the dignity of
spawning fishes. The ease is precisely the
same with salmon, trout, whitefish. etc.
In the first place, a large percentage
OF eggs fail to be properly fertil-
ID. The remainder become affected by
floods and the turbidity of the water. They
are devoured by other fsh-even their own
parents; and when Matched out they are
still more liable to destruction until old
enough to care for themselves 1t has been
estimated by very good authority that
nlnety-tive per cent of the eggs of the sal
mon laid naturally fail of becoming fish
able to take food; and it is equally well es-
tablished that by collecting these eggs I'M
der methods known to pisciculturists, and
Keeping them in enclosures until the same
period of life, only five per cent of the total
number will perish. In this way the pro
geny of half dozen salmon, treated artifi- |
cially, Will be equivalent to many hundreds
under ordinary circumstances. For these
reasons, it is quite evident that if the busi-
ness of protecting the spawn of salmon,
whltehsh, etc, were prosecuted for a suita- |
BILE time, the ordinary sources of injury will |
be of comparatively little moment in exter.
the species. The same NAV be !
said of shad, which are, of course, harassed
by every variety of net and mode of cap
ture.
A SMALL EXPENDITURE.
The expenditure of few hundreds OF
of dollars annually in any river
will tend to throw such an enormous num-
Der of young fish into the water, as it would
be quite impossible to catch all the matured
fish by any means tried.
HOW sHAD COULD BE INTRODUCED IN THE
MISSISSIPPI.
The experiment of introducing shad into !
the Mississippi would be a simple one, con- |
sisting mainly of the transporting the i'm |
pregnated eggs or young fish from Matching |
along the Potomac, the Del |
aware, the Hudson, or the Connecticut, and |
placing them in the headwaters of a large |
number of the principal rivers of the West. |
This experiment was tried last summer by |
The State of California. which employed |
MIR. Seth Green, the well known piscicultur- |
st, for the purpose. He carried 10000 |
7Oung fish by rail to Sacramento river. |
Osing very few on the way, and placed !
hem in that stream with every prospect |
hat in the course of few years California |
will have an abundance of this delicious |
lrticle Of food. 1t has recently been sug- |
,ested that shad and salmon may be made
o thrive in the great lakes cut off from the
ca, as it has been recently ascertained that
n the deep, cold waters of Lakes Michigan,
superior, Huron and others, minute crus-
aceans abound in almost precisely the
anne species which supply the food that
hey find in the ocean.
ALMON MORE DIFFICULT TO INTRODUCE. |
The implantatiOn of the salmon is a mat
or of rather more difficulty, on account of
he scarcity of the mother fish on our east
IN coast. For several years past the only
leans by which States or individuals could
e supplied, was by application to fish
reeder in Canada or to the Canadian gov
rnment, which has salmOn-br breeding es-
ibishment at Newcastle, ON the north side
Lake Ontario. The price asked there
n salmon eggs is forty dollars per thou
and, or four cents apiece, price which is
most prOhibitory. By making proper ar
lngementS, however, on the Columbia
Yer, or other location OF the Pacific coast,
le eggs or young fish could be brought
way well advanced in deve0pment to the
IS crn States or the Lakes at a very
itiing expense.
ESTABLISHMENTS FOR COLLECTING EGGS.
1t may be stated that this business of
Getting establishments for the collection
eggs Of various species, and their dis
ibutiUn throughout the country, is one
lat has already occupied the attention of
lrlOus governments, among them England,
rance and Germany. The most important
such nurseries is that at Huemingem, on
e Rhine, which was first founded by the
rench government and coming within the
erman lines after the late war, has been
ken up by the government OF Germany,
I'd is to be prosecuted on a still larger
ale. Here all varieties of the best fish
e cultivated and raised, and the eggs of
e salmon are sold in any desired quantity
the small sum of eighty cents a thousand {
stead of $40 just referred to.
THE FISH YIELD A SURE THING. +
1t is not logical to Glass an ENTERPRISE l.
ch as that which the Fish Culturist AssO- L
alton proposes to the government as mere t
perimenting, since the success which has s
tended all the efforts of the kind in Eu- f.
pc, and even in their limited scale in this b
untry, is warrant for their APP b
icati0n. With proper precautions, the
cid from given number of
eds of fishes will be Just as certain 4
that Of the farmer who Introduces a GER
il kind OF grain into the soil There may
seasonal influences or local causes which :,
y prevent success for a time; but by !,
Iehu0n, sooner or later, the desired OBJ =.
t Will be accomplished. The assertion %