Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-12-23
loral ano State. Nems.



their annual report, to be submitted to the Gov.
ernor and Council. They have made a tour Of in
spection of all the fishways in the State and fin
them of the "Foster pattern, answering for salmon,
but not adapted to shad alewiyes. Mr.. Bracket,
one of the Massachusetts Commissioners has a
1shway every way adapted to use here, and has Of
fered the Commissioners the gratuitous use of the
patent for Maine A fishway has been constructed
over the Ledge of Rocks at Dennysviie The
Commissioner at New Brunswick requests mat the
law on the American side be enforced against
throwing saw dust and waste lumber into the river
The flshway mt the Basin Mills Orono should be
enlarged as this is the only passage for salmon on
the Penobscot to their spawning grounds. The
inhabitants of all the up river towns arc moving
for nshways Sebec. Dover, Foxcrott, Milo, Brown
vile, Rowland, Mattawamkeag, &c, all demand
the res Grafton of salmon, shad and alewves to
their rivers. good clear, practical highway,
must be insured the fish from the most remote trb
utary where they spawn, to the ocean. The PRO
visions Of the statute allow the Commission to
order such ishways to be built the cost to be paid
by mill owners but they need an appropriation of
$1,000 to pay the expense of engineering, etc.
Not much has been done in the direction Of put.
ting varieties of fresh water Ash in the streams
lakes and ponds. Black bass turned into Fits
Phillips and Newport ponds three years ago, by
nish material for stocking other ponds The Com
missioners, however, regard the raising of trout
and land locked salmon of more Importance. A
loud call is made to the citizens of the State
operate in enforcing the laws against the wholesale
destruction of fish by lawless vagabonds.
Twenty-one thousand young salmon, the product
of ova placed in Matching troughs at Norway, were
turned into a small brook emptyng into the An.
droscoggin river, last May. The little fish were
visible last summer, and were very lively but they
left for the early last fall, TO reappear as
grilse and in due course salmon.
Considerable space is given in the report to the
extensive salmon breeding operations at Bucksport
the past season, under the direction of Mr.. c. G..
Atkins of Augusta, and an interesting letter pro-
duced from Mr.. Atkins, butw we have given the facts
to the readers of the Journal in previous article
We may state, however, that the whole product of
the establishment at Bucksport 10 l5u0 900, to be
divided between the subscribers TO the fund, viz:
The United States the States of Connecticut, Mas.
sachusets, Maine Rhode Island, and one private
gentleman, Mr. William Cliff of Connecticut; each
taking portion according to the relative amount
of their subscription. The United States Commits
sioner has expressed the intention Of presenting
the State Of Maine the greater part of his share;
this will make the portion of our State several hun.
dred thousand The Maine Commissioners have
made the promise and perfe ted the arrangements,
to hatch and distribute in our rivers all that are
placed in their keeping.
In view Of the inerea ed and constantly increas-
lug price of living the Commissioners argue that
the products OF the water should be increased
and food that is now confined to the tables ofthe
rich, should be afforded the poor at cheap price.
great wrong was done the people when the salm
on, shad and alewives were excluded from our
rivers. Fishways must be constructed over every
dam and make accessible to every species of MI
gratory fish and the construction fthese fishways
will not detract an iota from the value of the water
power, but will ensure to the prosperity Of the
manufacturer whose interest it is 10 have cheap
food. So vital is this point that the Commission
ers procured a letter from Prof. Baird of the
Smithsonian Institute, aud Chief efthe L. S. Bureau
Fish and Fisheries, in which he expresses the
opinion that something of the oldtme experience
can be regained, when the streams and rivers q
New England emptyiug into the ocean were almost
blockaded, at certain seasons, by the numbers Of
shad, salmon and alewives seeking to ascend for
the purpose of deposit.ng their spawn. At that
time the deep fisheries OF the coast also of
great extent aud value. Now, however, things are
entirely different. The erection Of impossible
dams has preS vented the upward course OF the fl h
and they have dwind!ed away. With their decrease
there has been a corresponding dimnution in the
numbers Of the cod and other deep-sea species
coasts but il was not until quite recently that
the relationships between the two series Of phe-
nomena were appreciated as those of cause and eff
feet. Halibut can be reduced in abundance by
over fishing with the hook and line, but expert
ences in Europe AID america coincide in the con-
frmaton of the opinion that none Of the methods
now in vogue for the capture of fish of the cod
family Including the cod haddock, pollock, hakc,
ling, etc } can seriously affect their numbers. Fish,
the females of which deposit from one to two mill
lion of eggs every year. are not easily eXtermnate1
unless they arc intefered with during the spawn
ing season, and as this takes place in the winter
and in the open sea, (the spawn floating near the
surface of the water there is no possibility Of any
human Interference with the process. Still, how
ever, these fish have become comparatively very
scarce on our coast so that our people are forced
resort to far distant regions to obtain the supply
which formerly could be secured almost within,
sight OF their homes.
1t is now well established fact that the move
ments of the fishes of the cod family are deter
mined; first by the search afer suitable places for
the deposit of their eggs second by their quest of
food. Thus the cod as a summer fish, is compar-
atyely little known on the coasts of northern Eu-
rope but as winter approaches, the schools begin
to make their appearance on the northwestern
coast of Norway, especially around the Lododen
Islands, arriving there finally in so great numbers
that the fishermen said to determine their pres
ence by feeling the sounding lead strike the
backs of the fish. Here they spend several months
in the process of reproduction, the eggs being de-
posted in January, and the fishery being prosecut-
ed at the same time. Twenty five TO thirty thousand
men are employed in this business for several
months; at the end ofwhich the fish disappear and
the fishermen return to their alternate occupations
as farmers and mechanics. The fish arc supposed
to move off in n body to the Grand Banks, which
they reach in early summer, and where they fatten
up and feed until it Is time for them to return again
to the northeast 1t is believed that the great at
traction to the cod on the Banks, consists in great
part of the immense schools of herring other
wandering fish, that come in from the region Of the
Labrador and New Foundland seas, and which
they frequently follow close in to the Shore so that
they are easily captured. The anadromous fishes
OF the coast bring the cod and other fishes of that
family in upon our shores and it is therefore safe
to assume that the Improvement of the line fishing
along the coast of Maine is closely connected with
the increase in number of alewives, shad and sal.
,ol-1,