Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1873-03-28
The Preservation of Fisheries.

that receives far too little attention. Fish
cries have hitherto been conducted upon
one simple and comprehensive plan; dur
ing the fishing season, the extent of which
in this and other States is regulated by
law, catch the fish whenever and by what
means you can. Themigratory fish, which
comprise the most valuable kinds, find
their way up the streams to the spawning
grounds INSTRUCTED by nets spreading in
every direction, SO that only small per
centage of the fish reach the spawn beds,
and were it not for their extraordinaryife-
cundity. an early extinction of the fisher
les would follow. As it is the supply of
valuable kinds, such as the shad for in
stance, is gradually diminishing in the
streams and rivers where they were once
abundant, and without the adoption of
preventive measures total extinction will
ensue before many years.
Fortunately, by the adoption of proper
methods, it is easy to maintain at an in
significant cost regular and abundant
supply. AS fisheries are now conducted,
it is simply the old system of hunting,
which necessarily fails as the objects of
pursuit are frightened away or become
killed off; the adoption of a system of pis-
ciculture is analogous to the systematic
raising of stock for the purposes of food
supply.
As regards the respective cost of fish and
animal food. the report says: "Cattle are
only raised and fattened at high expense
to the resources of the world, requiring
large expenditure of human labor, and
wasting heavy proportion in the opera
ton, whereas fish, is left to themselves, or
properly fed, would only consume what
costs nothing in itself, and what could not
otherwise be utilized. They should direct
ly or ultimately Craze the meadows of the
sea, the production from which is ordina-
rily left tof destruction and waste, and is
not at present. turned to mans profit. Nor
is the flesh of the inhabitants Of the water
less valuable when obtained, than that of
the Of the beasts upon earth. Pound for
pound, it contains the same amount of nu
triment and will sustain human life equal
ly well, while in certain particulars it pos
sesses superiority. tsupplies phosphor-
Gus to the brain and nerves, an element
which is not obtained from most kinds of
food, but which is as. essential to perfect
health as gluten and starch, while at the
same time it is so much more digestible
than the meat of terrestrial animals or
fasting, and at certain seasons of the year
is more wholesome than grosser food. A
wise economy of the resources ofthe world
will therefore, as population increases,
compel attention. to this easily secured
harvest of the sea-"
By an unerring instinct migratory fish
always return to the streams in which they
were Matched, when, having come to ma
turity during their stay in the ocean, they
come back to spawn. Upon this charac-
teristic the systematic culture of shad de-
ponds. It is simply method by which
the eggs are protected while they are be-
ing Matched. Of the eggs that are depos-
tied in natural. way it is estimated that
not more than one in a hundred escapes
destruction and produces fish, whereas
by the artificial method, from ninety to
ninety-fve are saved. These fish escaping
TO the sea return in three or four years as
the full grown shad. The dangers from
which the eggs are to be protected are, the
deposit ofearthy matter upon them which
will kill them, the force of the current
which ordinarily sweeps many of them a.
way, and the ravages of many species of
small fishes. Matching boxes. of simple
construction have been invented, that pre-
vent loss from these causes. The process
is thus described in the report: r5|
The moment the seine is hauled, the contents
of all sorts is ladled with scoop-net into q
boat, and while it is being set again the fish
are handled. The manipulation has in front of
the thwarts tin pan containing little water,
and taking FISH after fish he holds it over this
with one hand and gently presses its belly with
the other. The ready performance of this is
a matter of practice, and if the eggs and milt
are ripe they will exude under Slight pressure.
As fast as the fish have been stripped, males
and females being used unfortunately, they
are thrown into another boat being subsequent
ly sold in market for about the same price as
the unstripped shad.
When the fish have all been stripped or the
pan is full, it is kept in gentle motion for fifteen
minutes, after which the water is changed, and
the gentle motion and changing of the water
alternated until the eggs swell, become hard
and distented, end the impregnation is perfect
ed.
ain the course of the first fifteen minutes the
temperature of the water falls some ten degrees,
and the eggs become so hard that they feel to
the touch like shot; although when first drop
ped into the pan they can hardly be felt at all
This is repeated as often as the net is hauled,
and when no more spawners can be caught, the
the pans are carried to the Matching boxes and
empted into them. These boxes are covered
with coal tar to prevent the wire rusting on the
bottom and the growth of animal matter, and
have along the sides sticks of wood acting dis
foates, and presenting the wire screen at such
an angle to the current that the eggs are kept in
a perpetual boiling motion. The boxes are
fastened one behind the other by ropes fastened
to the floats, and need little or no care except to
be occasionally stirred at sacktide The eggs
exhibit life in twenty-four hours, and hatch in
from four to ten days, according to the heat of
the water, and then the boxes are towed into
the middle of the river, and the living fish are
turned out and left to care for themselves; and
by this simple and inexpensive continuance they
are saved from all the dangers which surround
them in their embryo state, by far the greatest
they encounter; for when they are once born,
ms met teaches them to guard themselves a.
gainst the ordinary risks incidental to their ex-
istence."
By means of this process seven Million
four hundred and ninety-eight thousand
shad were last year successfully hatohed|
end turned loose in the Hudson and otherI
rivers Of New York. Such q large addi-
ton will greatly increase the yield of the
fisheries of that State. The subject is one|
that should receive the attention of curl
Legislature, as such method will have to
be adopted at some time, and an early use|
will obViate greater expense when, by Eea
son o. the diminution of the supply, extra
ordinary measures will become necessary.