Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-03-04
MISSOURI STATE NEWS.
Fish Commission Report.

Ioi:, the loilowing extracts are taken in q
condensed form: In the first place the Com
mission issued circular to the people of the
State, calling attention to the laws which re-
late to the protection Of the finny tribe, for
the purpose of stopping. as early as possible,
the illegal and unnatural methods OF fishing,
which have reduced our waters, once teem-
ing with fine food fish, to their present eX-
hausted condition. Secondly, to advertise
the wants of the Commission for a suitable
location for fhe Statehatchery Aftera tour
for this purpose the Commission held a
meeting in ST. Louis, September &c, 1879, and
unanimously agreed not to erect a hatchery
during 1879, but to have our Matching for
this winter done, on the most economical
terms obtainable, at some of the
hatcheries in adjacent States. at the same
meeting the Chairman was instructed and
authorized to procure by purchase, or other
wise, the eggs or young fry of choice food
fish adapted to our waters, the total ex-
penditure for the above purchase not to ex-
coed twelve hundred and fifty dollars. The
Commission say, in regard to varieties for
Missouri, the first consideration should be
given to the fish native to our streams, as,
for instance, the several varieties of bass;
the many varieties of perch; the several
members of the catfish family; numerous
suckers (the most important of which is the
buffalo fish,; the pike perch, known in diff
ferent localities as the wall-eyed pike, glass;
eyed pike and jack salmon. The Commits
sion here adds the advise that the gar-fish
should be exterminated.
The subject of artificial propagation is then
discussed, and is defined as follows: BY ar
tificial propagation is meant the capturing
of the male and female fish when they are
about to spawn, collecting the female eggs in
proper vessels, and fertilizing or impregnat-
ing them by adding and mixing them with
the male principle, and afterwards Matching
them out in troughs or other forms of hatch
ing apparatus. This system, however, is
exclusively confined to bass, perch and pike.
Experiments will have to be made in order
to decide what new varieties Of foolish,
outside of those native to the streams of the
State, can be advantageously and profita-
bly, introduced. Migratory fishes, it
is thought, may be found suited
to the waters of the State. The
report further states that California salmon
is able to live and prosper in the waters of a
higher temperature than the Atlantic SAL
mon. He is known also in California to
pass through several hundred miles Of warm
and muddy waters to reach his spawning
grounds in the cold mountain streams, near
their sources, notably in the Sacramento and
San Joaquin Rivers. Col. John Reid, Of
Lexington, Mo-, who was Fish Commission
er in 1S7S'79, and also a member of the pres
ent Board, deposited 10000 California SAL
mon fry in our waters, principally i'm Mera-
mec River and in the tributaries of White
River, having their sources in the Ozark
Hills, or mountains, in the south and south
western portions of our State. He also
placed portion of them in the tributaries
of the Arkansas River, which rise in the
Ozark Mountains and drain a portion of
Southwest Missouri. On the 18th December,
1879, our Commission placed 100000 Califor-
mia salmon fry in these same streams, viz:
The Black, Current, st. Francis and the Ar
kansas tributaries Of Lawrence, Barry and
Jasper Counties. Ten thousand 0,O0O) were
also deposited in Saline River, a tributary of
the Mississippi, in Ste. Genevieve County.
This fish, however, has not returned from
the outlets of the rivers to any great extent
up to this time, owing, possibly to its slow
development; but it is expected that il show
itself in due course of time. Two hundred
and fifty thousand shad fry were placed in
Missouri waters in 1879. OF the above
number 1000 were placed in the Meremec
River, in Franklin County; $4,000 in Black
River, in Wayne County; so, 900 in st. Fran
els River, in Madison County; $4,000 in the
James River, tributary of White River, in
Greene County. 1t is confidently predicted
that speckled trout fry, already
placed in clear brooks, will have de-
veloped themselves during the coming year.
It has also been satisfactorily proven that |
California red -sided trout will live in waters |
which are from five to ten degrees warmer |
than waters which the Eastern speckled |
tgout demands. The German carp is said by |
the most competent authority to be the COM
ing fish for the sluggish and muddy waters |
of the Missouri and the whole Mississippi |
Valley. He is vegetable feeder, grows |
rapidly, and will thrive in any waters which |
do not actually dry up in summer or freeze |
to the bottom in winter. He grows, under |
favorable circumstances, from two to three |
pounds each year; his flesh is delicate and |
tender, and in Continental Europe he is said |
to rank rs food fish with the trout; Of this |
fish 240 Of the young have been placed in the |
ponds of Forest Park, st. Louis. |
1t is said that this carp can be raised with |
as much certainty and economy as pigs and
poultry. Our German population know and
appreciate this food fish, and through them
it is hoped to rapidly disseminate practi-
cal knowledge of carp culture throughout
Missouri. The carp is not a game fish, like
the trout, and will not afford much sport to
anglers. He is nearly allied to the sucker
family. As to tish-ways or ladders over
mill dams, the Commission regard the pro-
visions of our present fish laws as very de-
fective. 1t requires no argument to demon
strate the necessity of tish-ways over all dams.
In fact the stocking of our streams |
with migratory fish, which must go
to the ocean and return to us
again, will necessarily be a failure, unless
these Instructions can be easily passed up
and down. The same facts hold true i'm the
of our streams with native fish.
In conclusion, the Commission report that
by economy it has saved from the appropria-
tion for 1879 nineteen hundred dollars
Isl ,90O). They have not built hatchery,
and consequently did not employ Superin-
tendent, only hiring temporary assistants
when needed. The above amount added to
an appropriation of three thousand dollars
($3, 900 for 1880 will enable them to build
when they have decided upon
a proper location. The report Is signed by
Messrs / G.. W. Steedman. John Reed Silas |