The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-02-18
Report Of the Maryland Fish Commits
sioner to Governor Hamilton.

hC iCbOiNO vi AfIuJ''i i - = ~''D'S
a Commissioner of Fisheries of Mary
land, which has been sent to Coy.
Hamilton, is very interesting docu-
ment. The year 1880. which the re-
port covers, has, he says, been very
important one in the history of the
Maryland FL h Commission. During
the spring of 1880 there was very
decided increase of shad at points
near the head of the Chesapeake and
in the Potomac. The catch at the
head of the bay and in the Susque-
hanna from 1870 to 1881 was 6,394.-
92a. The eaten Of 1880 was GA 1929,
an increase of 96, 729 over the average
for the five preceding years, includ-
ing 1879. The work of shad- Matching
was commenced i'm 1875. and was
continued the following year, princi
ually at the head of the hay. In 1876
operation there were not prosecuted
on scale sufficient TO enable the
commission to transfer many of the
fish to the Potomac, hut the numbers
deposited in that river were increas
ed from year to year until 1850. 900
We're deposited during last season.
The Investigation of last season in
dicateS that fishes inhahitng salt
water exclusively can he rs readily
propagate Il artfirially. and increased
to us unlimited an extent as the ana
drolnnuS fishes, with whose spawn-
ing habits there had been more
thorough acquaintance, and il is quite
possible that the hay mackelel may
lr prnpagated on a yet larger scale
than has been attempted with the
sha'! itself the eggs Of the nacker-
81, unlike those OF the shad, are some
what lighter than wafer, and the
apparatus used in the cultivation of
shad cannot he efficiently employed
in their manipulation, and several
new forms Of apparatus have been
experimental with, and are found to
act most satisfactorily. The number
of mackerel has been very materially
dinin shed in the waters of the State,
and they are becoming more scarce
every year. and it will doubtless re-
quirr several years to restore them
To their former abundance and mab e
the catch plentiful enough to warrant
the establishment of Matching sta
tinn> higher up the Chesapeake bay.
II is essential to the thorough sue
cess OF the work OF shad Matching
that means he provided for the ascent
Of these fish to localities from which
they are now debarred by na,ura
and artificial Instructions. He sug-
9ests that the dam on the Gunpowder
river, a part of the Baltimore new
water supply, should he provided
with tishWa,S for the free access to
the upper waters Of The riN err ofshad,
herring and rock. The PatapSco river
is also 0bStructed 10y many dams,
none 4 which have been provided
with effective fish-ways, and many
miles of the Paluxent river, at least,
could he opened to the migra ton of
these valuable fishes.
In April last a quarter million of
shad eggs were obtained at Mnxley's
Point, Potomac river, and emptied
into the Eastern brant h of the river
at point near navy-yarl The
quantities Ob ainable at this period
could not I've handled on account OF
the lack of apparatus, hut cones for
developing the eggs were put up at
the navy-yard and over $4,000, 900
fish were produced there, IA 900 coo
being deposited in the Waters of Ma.
ryland.
The fish Matched ut the hatching-
house during 1879 had nearly all been
distributed by January l, 1880. Sixty
thousand young PenobscOt salmon
which had been Matched there were
in March and April deposited in the
upper waters of the Susquehanna,
the Monocacy and the north and
sOnth forks of the Potomac, and
25,0p0 salmon eggs from Grand Lake
stream, Me-, were from March % to
May "a deposited in the Monocacy,
Potomac, GunuOwder, Gwynn's falls,
Lake Roland, Patuxent. Bush river,
Chesapeake bay, PataDsco, &c. Two
hundred thousand California salmon
eggs were Matched and the young
fish liberated in the Potomac bet ween
the Matching station and Fort ?endle-
ton. Five thousand rece. we'd from
another source were placed in the
head.waterS of the Gunpowder, and
5000 in the Patuxent, near Savage
Station. During the two years pre-
ceeding the last a considerable num-
Der of the eggs of the brook trout
| were Matched out at Druid Hill and
distributed in the Susquehanna, Po-
tOmac and Maryland waters. Ger
man carp have also been freely dis.