Evening star., 1899-07-08
American Fish Have Already Become
Very POPULAR
THEY THRIVE REMARKABLY WELL
Other Nations Appreciate the
Good Work We Are Doing.
ADDS TO THEIR RESOURCES

The waters of the world are beginning to
TEEN with transplanted American fish. The
rivers and bays of far New Zealand are
alive with myriads of fiourishing steel-head
salmon, the progeny of salmon taken from
our own Columbia river. The streams of
France abound in fine American black
bass. The swirling mountain torrents of
Switzerland are bountifully stocked with
the gamey American rainbow trout. There
are American brook trout in the clear, cold
creeks of Russia and Finland. American
landlocked salmon disport in the lakes and
rivers of Scotland. Fish of American an
cestry are to be taken from the mountain
streams of numerous South and Central
American countries. The fishermen of
Japan entrap American whitefish in their
own lakes English anglers take American
rock bass from English rivers. The Ger
man Rhine and the Austrian Danube yield
fighting American fish to their fishermen,
and it is said that the shadows of the
''arrowy Rhone are now the hiding places
of glorious American muskalonge. In BRIEF,
there are few civilized countries in the
world in the rivers, streams, lakes and
bays of which an American traveller with
a penchant for angling cannot successfully
bait his hook for one or other of the spe-
cies of fish peculiar to his own land.
The foreign countries whose waters are
thus stocked with the superb food fish of
the United States are not slow in acknowls
edging their Indebtedness to the United
States fish commission. They cannot fail
to be grateful to an American institution
that has substantially increased their COM
mon revenues. The fishermen of many of
the countries whose waters through the
open-handedness of the United States fish
commission abound in the toothsome fish
native to this land are making money
from their sale, and in several European
countries particularly there is a strong ap-
probation of the commercial value of
American fish. American tourist epicures
have of recent years, since the United
States fish commission began to supply the
world with essentially American varieties
of fish, fallen into the habit, in travelling
through certain countries of continental
Europe of asking for American fish on
hotels the demand is promptly met AL
though several varieties of American fish
have become plentiful in European waters,
the hote- keepers charge their American
patrons as much for them as if they were
specially imported, packed in ice, from this
country.
A Novel Attraction.
"If gratuitous distribution of fish fry
and spawn to European countries continues
much longer" said an official connected
with the fish commission thezother day, Il
wouldn't be surprised to see the European
bonificaces including in their advertise
ments the remark, American fish plentiful
in the streams and lakes herea bouts, thus
making this neighborflood doubly attrac-
tive to American anglers. "
1t was about twelve years a go that the
United States began to distribute fish eggs
and fry for the stocking of foreign waters
The fish commission undertook the work
for experimental and scientific purposes,
solely to ascertain if American fish would
thrive if removed from their native waters
and to observe the changes, if any, which
the change of environment would produce
in the transplanted species. The first ex-
of trJrea do J.,
American landlocked salmon, considerable
quantities of the fry of4which were sent
across the water to be placed in the in
land waters of Scotland. The fry quickly
developed into fine fish, every whit as re-
sourceful and desperate in combating the
hook as their American ancestors. Not
only did they thrive, but, when they had
attained their full growth and strength
they began to give battle to the Scotch sal
mon. Being larger, stronger, craftier bet
ter stayers and better fighters in general
they soon brought their finny Scottish cou-
sins to terms and thus achieved genuine
Yankee conquest in the waters of the land
O. cakes and of Bruce and Wallace. They
established strict territorial limits, to which
the Scotch salmon were compelled to yield,
and reserved for themselves and their pos
terity the monarch's share of the choicest
inland waters of Scotland. There were not
lacking many Scotchmen who kicked fren-
Zfedly over this state of things when it be-
gan to be observed how thoroughly the
American salmon were uSurping the an
cient waters, but the enthusiastic Scotch
salmon anglers Gncluding Scotland's most
devoted amateur angler, William Black,
the late novelisD did not object to this vic
tory of the American landlocked salmon.
On the contrary, the anglers highly ap-
proved of 1t, for, with canny foresight,
they quickly recognized the superiority of
the American salmon over the fish of the
same tribe indigenous to Scottish waters.
Black Bass I'm France.
This was the beginning. Then the fish
commission of France, which, like the fish
commissions of nearly all European coun-
tries, is. moribund dry-as-dust institution
compared with the active, up-to-date and
practical fish commission of this country,
intimated that it would highly appreciate
the gift of a few thousand specimens of our
black bass fry with which to stock French
rivers, Just to observe how the transplanta-
ton would work The United States fish
commission generously sent the French
icthyologists a shipment of several thousand
hrst-rate black bass fry. They fourished
in the French streams like Newfoundland
pups on milk diet. SO that today in some
of the markets of provincial France, it is
said that American black bass is sold for
about the same figure that the black bass
brings in the markets of the United States.
On the bills of fare Of many Partisan res
taurants the item American black bass
catches the eye of the American traveller.
Perhaps not more than one Of these Amer
lean travellers out of twenty knows that
the American black bass is taken from
French streams.
Abou; ten years ago, when Japan, perky
and ambitious, was in the full tide of its
drift toward Americanization, the Japan
ese government organized an excellent fish
commission, modelled upon that of this
country. In truth, the Japanese fish COM
mission Is said to be the best-managed in
sttution of the kind in the sHorld, always
excepting the United Estates fish commits
sion One of the first official acts of the
Japanese fish commission vast convey the
assurances of its profound ,6steem to the
fish commission of the, United States; and,
by the way, would our fish commission be
good enough to send ever a few thousand
specimens of it's fresh water fish, so that
science might be made oclearras to whether
a mere difference in hemisphere made any
par.snar nar f difference as in the raising of GER
In Japan and England.
Our fish commission responded by send
ing to the Japanese archaeological institu-
ton about 10000 eggs of she American
rainbow trout and the American lake
whitefish. together with ar few hundred
adults OF each tribe to properly superin-
tend the Matching of the eggs. The result
is that now the globe-trotter from Chi
laf frntf ID t.