Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-04-09
Regarding Fish.
COMMUNICATED

A recent conversation with gentle
man well posted upon the subject has
suggested the following ideas regarding
fish. 1t seems TO the writer that very
large portion of the money an
nually appropriated by the various
states and by the government, to pro-
pagate fish and stock the streams and
lakes of the country, is wholly wasted.
The gentleman referred to gives it as
his opinion that at the very least 80 out
of every 100 fry placed in waters con-
tanning larger fish are consumed as
food by those fish, and that the aggre-
gate increase is scarcely perceptible.
This is certainly providing very ex-
pensive diet for the larger fish, and
ought to be in some manner remedied.
Fish, more than any other living species
possessing value as food, possess won
derful fecundity, being able to repro
duce thousand fold, and as no epidem-
ic of disease ever decimates them would
undoubtedly fill the waters in which
they exist TO overlooking in very
brief space of time were it not that
they are compelled to devour each 9TH
er in vast numbers to sustain life
Were they domesticated- it is be-
lieved they are fully capable of domesti-
cation-=and supplied with what food
they require, there would seem to be no
good reason why every egg of the spawn
should not produce fish suitable for
the table. In order to achieve this,
however, it would be necessary to sep
arate the several species-the pike by
themselves, the pickerel, the bass, and
others, and in addition separate the
various sizes so that no fish capable
of swallowing another be permitted to-
gether. Then, if fed sufficiently, they
would undoubtedly be gradually weaned
from their cannibalism-or at least
those of the blunt-nosed kinds, like the
brook trout, bass, etc. The pike and
pickerel may possibly occupy the same
relative position to the piscatorial world
rs the wolf, lion and panther to the
animal kingdom. and be by nature in
capable of domestication, like wild
cattle, wild horses. wild sheep, etc.
The theory is, that the amount of wild
game sustained by, say GAO acres of
uncultivated wilderness, is Infinitely
less lin pounds of merchantable meat)
than the same number of acres would
produce when cultivated and stocked
with domestic cattle Nobody ever
seems to think that fish requires food.
or of the terrible devastation it must
create among its species in prolonging
its life to the extent of five years. Let
u small lake be drained; perhaps a
wagon load of fish will be found, but
not an ounce of food; yet that wagon
load of fish would undoubtedly consume
100 pounds of solid meat. if it were af-
lOiuCu lttl4, DCiOtt tnCit 6Uulu
be appeased, and that only one meal!
The theory that fish extract sustenance
from the water they breathe is largely
moonshine. Human beings, who breathe
air, probably extract fully as much
sustenance from the atmosphere In
some instances, undoubtedly, the stock
ing of streams and lakes has been of
perceptible benefit, but in the great ma
jority of cases the money expended for
fry would have produced better results
invested in cheaper food for the fish al
ready in the streams.
Fish-raising as an industry is now in
its infancy. but there are those sanguine
enough to predict that it will yet become
one Of the most extensive in this and all
other countries.