The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-08-08
Fish Culture in the United States.

Few persons are aware what efficient
efforts are now making toward the dis
tribution and propagation of food fishes
in American lakes and rivers. The pro-
cess of restocking our waters with edi-
BILE varieties once abundant, but now
relatively scarce, has for some years
been actively furthered by the Legisla-
lures of several of the States, and more
recently the General Government has
co-operated in the undertaking through
so-called Fish Commission, from
whose lately published report we obtain
some interesting particulars.
The original object of the act Great
ing this commission was to investigate
the diminution of food fishes, and the
proper methods of restoring their sup
ply. Such an inquiry requires thor
ough knowledge of all the conditions,
physical and biological, of the waters
and their inhabitants, together with &C
curate statistics, covering term of
years, as to the catch in a given stream.
We may mention that similar researches,
commencing at. about the same date,
1871, have been carried on by the Ger
man Government, but neither in Ger
many nor here have the data for a final
decision been attained, although large
amount of information, theoretically
and practically important, has been col
lected. 1t appears, too, that, notwith-
standing the attention which the art of
fish culture has received in Europe, this
country has had little occasion to adopt
foreign processes. On the contrary,
continual applications are making for
descriptions, drawings, and models of
American apparatus.
In the second year of the new COM
mission an additional feature was in
grated, namely, of the actual multiple
cation of edible fishes by means of artii-
cial Matching, and their introduction
into depleted waters. The propriety of
such a function being assumed by the
General Government is, of course, ques-
tionable enough; but there is no doubt
that the work so far accomplished has
had the effect of exciting wide interest
and increased activity on the part of
the States and private associations. 1t
appears that an enormous and constant
1y growing correspondence is maintain
ed by the central bureau with all parts
of the country, embracing applications
for young fish, inquiries as to the right
manner of stocking certain waters, the
arrangements necessary for the safe
transfer of the fry, and their introduce
ton into suitable localities. This i'm
plies a very considerable and onerous
amount of Office work, while the fed
work of the commission, which was
formerly confined to the summer, now
covers almost the whole year-the
Matching of shad, for instance, employ
ing the months from March until Au-
gust, while the propagation of Califor
MIA, Penobscot or the so-called "land-
locked' salmon, and of whitefish occu-
py the remainder of the year.
1t seems that at the outset of its oper-
ations the Fish Commissioner and his
assistants were accustomed to make
their own selections of fitting places for
the deposit of young fish. With the
rapid expansion, however, in the num-
Der of State Commissioners the respons-
Utility has been shifted, the eggs being
now forwarded directly to the latter
persons from the United State establish
ments, and Matched out at the expense of
the State or private subscribers. A GER
tain amount of distribution i, perform
ed by members of Congress, especially
in those districts where fsh-culture is in
its infancy. From a table published in
this report, and showing the number
and object of applications during sever
al years, it appears that the California
salmon is in greatest request, and next
the shad. So far the operations of the
commission have been almost entirely
confined to the so-called anadromous''
species, or those fishes which, although
born in the upper waters of rivers, re-
ceive there but a small part of their
growth, and after a few months So
journ descend to the ocean and there
remain until maturity, term in most
cases covering four years. After this
they return to their starting point, SOLE
ly for the purpose of reproduction, and
it is worth noting that they rarely take
any food during this period. The
writer of the report explains the occa-
sional failure to introduce the edible
species at designated points, When de-
posts have actually been made in the
same waters nearer their source. 1t is
not generally understood that the great
er the amount of runway between
the place of deposit and the ocean or
Gulf of Mexico, the better it is for the
fish, since in the upper portion of
streams the water IS generally cooler
and more free from destructive species,
that act unfavorably upon the fry after
introduction. Thus the citizens of Mas
sachusetts and Connecticut are better
served by the planting Of salmon or
shad in the waters of the Connecticut
River, within the States of Vermont and
New Hampshire, than they wou d if the