The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-10
FISH CULTURE.
Matching OF Eggs for the Restocking OF
Rivers.
New York Herald.


The Matching of shad, which is carried
on here under the joint auspices of the
United States government and the State
OF Maryland, has just come to an end
The season, which began IN Albemarle
Sound a5out the 1st Of April, has been
prosperous. With the slight and mex.
pensivc but very perfect machinery used
Dir. Ferguson, to whose ingenuity the
completeness Of this machinery il large.
ly owing, and who has been for some
years at the head of the MARYLAND
Fish Commission, as we'll as an
assistant of Professor Baird, of the
United States Commission, has been able
to hatch out over fifteen millions of shad
eggs, of which large quantity has been
distributed to { 1erent rivers, the remain
der being used to stock the Susquehanna
and also the North Carolina rivers emp
tying into the Albemarle Sound.
The shad Matching operations have
been carried on at Spesuite Island, near
liavre de Grace, at the mouth of the
Susquehannah River, for four or five
years, and there is already evidence in
the greater abundance Of shad this year
and of the great value of the artificial
Matching. Fishermen know that there
are years of abundance and years of
scarcity in the fisheries, and they say
here that herring and shad are usually
abundant or scarce in the same year.
Now the present year has been one of
scarcity for herring, and should, in the
natural course of events, have been one
OF scarcity for shad, but the catch of shGd
mas been uncommonly large, SO great in
TACT, that the fishermen complain that
the price of shad has run down to point
where 1T is no longer early as profitable
as formerly to take tn m. Moreover, it
was noticed during this season that the
shad once more appeared in abundance
III one or two of the minor tributaries of
the Lower Susquehanna, where or some
years they had been so scarce that fish,
ing stations established there had been
given up; and this is accounted for by
the fact that Mr.. Ferguson several years
ago took pains to scatter some of the
young shcd which had been hatched out
IN these streams, to which they are now
for the first time returning in the shape
of marketable fish.
iHe snau requires four years from the
time he is Matched to become full grown
fish. AT three years he is large enough
to eat at four years the female shad be-
gins to spawn, and during the present
year the results of the Fish Commission
erss operations have made themselves
felt in the greater abundance of the fish
through the return of those hatched out
III these waters to spawn.
MATCHING OUT THE EGGS.
Simple as the operation of Matching
out the eggs of the shad seems to the Wis
itor, it is the result of good many years
of patient experiment. Formerly the
eggs OF the shad, after they had been
mixed with the milt of the male fish,
we're placed in boxes, long succession of
which, fastened together by cords, were
anchored in the tideway, the. object be-
!rEg. lng to S;6a,p. keep the eggs in running water
the current of water running through the
boxes had tendency to concentrate
the eggs in the farther I'd of each
box, where by the pressure many
eggs perished, and only a comparatively
small number were Matched out. More
over, storm or change in the current
dcranged the boxes and did still further
damage. This plan worked sufficiently
well for small operations, but something
different was seen to be needed for the
wholesale and extensive operations con-
templated by the United States Fish Com
mission under Professor Baird and his
able assistants. Mr.. Ferguson, q young
Maryland man, being placed at the head
of the Fish Commission of that State
cooperating with Professor Baird, origi-
mated and, in 1877, perfected the plan
which is now used and by which millions
of shad are Matched out at small expense
with but trifiing loss of eggs or fish.
THE PRESENT SYSTEM.
AS the system is perfected near this
place the Matching is carried on in scow
or fiat bottomed vessel, which contains q
small engine. The shad fishery, which
is a very large business here, is piled
only after dark, the fishermen going out
i'll their boats with their seines and gill
nets, and taking their catch during the
night. MIR. Ferguson has steam launch
and number Of small boats. These are
out every night to gather the supply of
eggs. 1t is not every female shad taken
that can be used to furnish eggs for artifi-
cial Matching. The shad must be "s;pe,"
as il is called-that is TO say, she must be
in that condition in which she is about
to spawn, and is taken by the fisherman
in the act, Us il were, and with the eggs
running out of her. She is then called a
ripe shaG. By an arrangement with the
Fish Commission, whenever one of the
fishermen in the bay takes such shad
in his nets he hcists light or shouts,
and immediafely one OF the Commission s
boats comes to him and strips the shad OF
her eggs, strips male shad of the milt,
puts these in proper vessel, returns the
fish to the fisherman and gives him a yell
low pasteboard ticket, which is afterward
and Mt his leisure redeemed by the Com
mission with fifty cents. This is COM
monty called fiat shad, and it differs
from Mr.. Ewine's and Senator Jones' col
ehrated fiat money in this important par
ticular, that while it is not legal tender
it il redeemed on demand in money.
At headquarters on the scow regular
account is, of course, kept Of the num-
Der of ripe shad procured each night
and it strikes the visitor curiously that
out of the thousands Of shad caught ev.
cry night not more than from fifteen to
twenty are useful for the purposes of the
Fish Commission. A female shad con.
tains from 10000 to 10000 eggs. Fif-
teen would at this rate yield from 800
600 to 400, 900 eggs in night, and under
Mr.. Ferguson's system the loss in this
number is but very trifiing proportion
less than ten per cent.
PROCESS OF HATCNTNG.
The small boats carry the eggs collec.
ted to the steam launch, which in turn
takes them in to headquarters at the scoS
where they are to be Matched. Here they
are placed in large tin cans, which have
bottom of fine gauze, the openings in