Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-08
rIsHCULTURE.
SOME oByEcrrvE POINTS.

t"s" ciety.l
ny MARSHALL M'DoNALD.
I do not propose in this paper here
presented to the consideration Of the
members Of the american Fisheries
Society either TO describe the apparatus,
discuss the methods, or estimate the
results accomplished by the work Of
artificial propagation and planting OF
fish in the inland, river, and coast wa
tiers Of the United States.
These topics have been and will be
discussed during the progress of our
meetings by gentlemen much better
qualified to instruct and interest you
than profess to be.
Your attention is invited not to what
flshculture has already accomplished,
but rather to what remains to be done,
before we can consider its mission end
ed.
II is proposed, as briefly as may be,
to indicate the objective points yet I'M
attained, toward which our efforts, en-
ergies, and investigations should be d.
rected. and to suggest some Of the agen-
cies which must be invoked, and which
must cooperate in dealing with the i'm
portant question, How shall we restore
our inland, coast, and ocean fisheries to
their former abundance and maintain
them at maximum Of production?
Less than generation ago fishcul-
ture was an art, rude in appliances,
crude in its methods, sentimental rather
than practical in its aims, and insignif
cant in its results. To-day it confronts
us as an industrial and economical
question Of the first rank--too grave 10
its issues, too vital in its relations to
be ignored or disregarded.
In its inception the artificial propa-
cation Of certain species Of SalmOnidG,
with the view Of planting them in de-
pleted streams in which the species
and limit of fishculture as then under
was native or indigenous, was the aim
stood and practiced.
The fishculture Of to-day, broader in
its aims, grander in its achievements,
more rational in its methods, and in
finite in its possibilities, finds in the
artificial propagation and planting Of
fish but one Of the means to an end.
This resource places at our command,
in measure without stint, the seed of
the harvest. We may scatter it broad
cast in rivulet and river, in pond and
lake and tidal waters, but whether the
seed thus sown will grow and ripen to
full fruition depends upon conditions
which must be studied, interpreted,
and defined, and, where unfavorable,
modified or eliminated.
We should be prepared, therefore, to
appreciate and provide for the wide
range Of inquiry and investigation we,
as society, are called upon to sug-
gest, to foster, or to inaugurate.
PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL INvEs-
LEGATIONS.
Each species with which we have to
deal has life history Of its own. In
its manner or mode of reproduction and
development, in its habits, food, and
habitat, it is in essential relations to its
environment. Our success in repopu-
lating our rivers with species indigenous
to them, and in acclimating in new
waters species which are valuable for
food or sport, will be measured by the
fidelity and precision with which we
study, interpret, and apply the lessons
taught us by the naturalist, the biolo-
gist, the physicist, and the chemist.
1t should be the business Of this
Society to enlist in its service or to in
vite to cooperation in its work all those
whose intellectual activities find occu-
patton and engrossment in studies and
which may seem to the
casual observer to have no practical ap-
plication, but which are just as es-
Sential to the accomplishment Of the
work we have set before us as is the
artificial propagation and planting of
fish for upon the right Interpretation
Of such Investigations depends success
or failure in the practical work of fish
culture.
The biologist with his microscope is
needed to reveal to the eye and COM
prehension the marvellous story Of en-
bryonic development, and interpret and
define the conditions which are favora-
BILE or unfavorable. With the Their
mometer in hand, the physicist marks
out the paths traversed by the wander
ing schools Of fish in the painless
ocean, and circumscribes the limits be-
yond which they may not pass.
With balance and reagents, the
chemist appreciates those infnitesimal
differences of salinity or composition
which may and do determine the pre-
sence or absence of certain species in
certain areas Of water. Nearly all de-
partments of science may be, indeed
must be, laid under contribution to fur
nish us the data upon which to build
eur conclusions.
REGULATION AND PROTECTION OF
THE FISHERIES BY LAW.
Another important subject which
should enlist the attention and engage
the efforts Of this Society is the secur-
ing, through State or Federal legisla-
ton, of the enactment and enforcement
Of such laws as will regulate the sea-
sons Of fishing, the methods and appa-
ratus Of capture, and conserve, as far
as may be, favorable natural conditions
or productions.
1t is true there are upon our statute
books now laws without number seek
ing to regulate the fisheries. Usually
these laws are dead letters, mere force
less verbiage. In some cases framed
in ignorance, or dictated by the private
interest which, for the time, dominates
in the legislative assembly, they invite
the very evils they seek to remedy.
Public sentiment everywhere has
awakened to the necessity Of rational
legislation in reference to our fisheries.
The fish-cultural and .fish-protective as
socistions and the numerous fishing or
angling clubs, in organized and active
existence in all the States, are COM
posed of men who are intelligent, edu-
Gated, and interested. They largely
mould, direct, and voice the public SEN
timent which suggests and controls
legislation. 1t is the function-I may
say it is the business--of this Society,
both as body and through individual
members and co-workers, to stimulate