The herald., 1895-06-03
HOW UNCLE SAM
CATCHES FISH AND WHAT HE
DOES WITH THEM

| One of the most enjoyable features OF
the Brooklyn meeting of the American
| Association for. the Advancement of Sci
ence was the excursion on the fish
| Hawk at the close of the sessions in the
Polytechnic institute, says the New York
| World. Seven members of the associa-
| tion were taken on BOARD the steamer as
| she lay in the East river on the afternoon
| of August 22d and at O'Clock the vessel
| weighed anchor and proceeded up the
| river on her way to New London. where
the rema ming members of the PARTY CT
scientists were gathered up. The host of
| the occasion was Colonel Marshall Nc
| Donald, the comm issioner of fish and
fisheries, and he was ably seconded by
Lieutenant II. Pratt, commander uf the
Fish Hawk Ensign W. S. Dodd, the ex-
ecutive officer; assistant Ensign G. W.
! Dyson, and Mates ]. A. Smith and G. III.
| cleveland. All the officers bear COM
missions in the United States navy, but
are detailed to the present work.
| The Fish Hawk was the first vessel
ever built by any government expressly
| for fish culture. and the other work of
fish commission. The forward half of the
main deck is fitted with tables, cones,
water pipes and other apparatus for car
! ing for the fish spawn, Matching the Try
on board ship and taking care OF them
until they are ready for deposit in the
ocean or for shipment to some other To-
cality. When built the steamer was pro-
| vided with thlrty-six Matching cones,
capable of Matching 10000 shad at a
time. A seven-foot beam trawl used on
! the A. A. A. $. excursion. is of the style
in common use by the fish commi ission.
1t consists of long, tapering bag OF fish
net of rather small mesh, attached to a
rigid frame in front, seven feet wide.
| which keeps the mouth open. Other sizes
| have the horizontal beam nine, eleven or
seventeen feet in length, while the bag
is from fifteen to forty feet long. The
apex of the bag is tied together when III
! use, but when haul has been made the
| lashings are loosened and the contents OF
| the trawl are easily discharged through
the open bottom onto the deck or into
the table sieve. The trawl skins along
over the bottom gathering into it's ca
pacious nav whatever loose material
happens to be in its way. This imple
ment, together with small towing nets
| for surface and Intern ediate depths set
| lines for large fish and hand apparatus
for shore work, bas been the mechanical
means used by the scientists OF the
| United States fish commission in inves.
tlgating the cause of and the remedy TO
the diminution in the supply OF food fish
along our coast
Seven members of the A. A. A. S. had
come 10 New London from NewYork and
+, were taken on board the Fish Hawk for
the day. About o'clock the order was
given to weigh anchor After two hours
| delightful sailing Captain Platt an
nounced that they were about six miles
west of Plum Gut. All was sbustle then
on the part of the strangers to see what
comprised the actual operations OF dredg-
ing. FIRST Of all came the sounding.
which was done by means of large lead
snker. The nature of the bottom is
learned by the particles that stick to
some tallow placed in the bottom of the
lead. The temperature OF the surface and
boptom water must be taken. A thor
oughly protected sef-regist erins thermou
| eter is attached to the sounding line Just
above the sInker and is kept in all up
right position by spring clamps. The
ships exact position was then located on
her chart. Meanwhile her crew had low
cred the seven-foot beam tTawl. An ac
cumulator spring between the boom and
the pulley through which the trawl cable
passes relieves the etrawl OF sudden
wrenches.
The engines are slowly backed while
the ship is dredging, and after fifteen or
twenty minutes the trawl is hauled up,
its contents are deposited on the main
deck and we all strive to get what inter-
ests us most out of the halt bushel or
more OF kelp, algae, sponges, startish.
brittle stars, fish, etc., resulting from the
haul. Alter several casts at the first To-
cality in about eight fathoms OF water, the
steam er proceeded to q position nearer
Plum Gut. where the deepest hole i'll
Long Island sound is situated. Here the
depth of at least tifty-five fathoms has
been found, but the discovery is SO recent
that the place is not indicated on oven
the latest charts. A practical illustra-
tion of the high pressure prevailing at
great depths was given in the pollock
and otner fish brought up at this station,
for when emptied on to the deck the bel
lies of these fish and the membrane over
their eyes were greatly distended on ac-
count of the reduced pressure at the sur
face. The tropical seaweeds known as
gorgoniash have been found in the warm
waters of these holes.
While most of us were busy over the
material brought up in the trawl and
dredee, the microscopists of the party
We're dragging tow-rets of very fine mesh
Tor minute swimming organisms. An.
other fruitful field for these gentlemen
was the water squeezed out in cleaning
the sponges. One of the enthusiasts over
the microscope, a well known physician
OF this city, remarked that he had OBJ
tanned enough material on the trip to
keep HIM busy for three months. He car
ried it home in his vest pocket.