Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-12-21

tube that enters the can is plugged with
| a bit of porous wood through which the
air enters the water of the can in several
small streams. If such term is allowable.
causing perfect aeratfon and permitting
the TRANSPORTATION of the fish for hun
dreds of miles without changing the wa
| ter. so long as the air pump is not al
lowed to stop and no food Is put into the
cans to contaminate the water. Ice is
| used in large quantities to keep the tenn
perature of the water in the cans just
right.
| Salmon are never fed in transportatio ton
and will stand journey of n week with
out suffering. On the other hand. bass,
will at the end of three days without
food begin devouring one another.
The crew of the car live aboard il, eat
| ing and sleeping there, the bcrths being
arranged above the lockers the whole
| being a comfortable place in which to
| live
While some ponds and lakes in the
country We're stocked before anvthine
! any real successful method of transport
| ing live fish overland in large numbers
had been devised, no attempts at stocking
lakes and waters of great magnitude
We're made. And while the United States
| today has one of the most complete
equipments in the world for TRANSPORT
| ing live fish, large and small. the equip
! ment would be of but little value did the
| hatcherieS scattered about the country
not exist. 1t is equally true, of course
| that without the transportation facilities
| the hatcheries would be of no real worth,
| for by the primitive methods formerly
| used to stock waters of the country il
| would take altogether too long a time to
| secure load for one of the cars.
| At an early date persons interested in
| fish and fishing became aware of the fact
| that it would be a great benefit if some
means of artificially cultivating fish could
be known. Perhaps il would be better to
| say that if some method by which the
young fish could be given the constant
care from the day of hatching until they
were capable of caring for themselves
that would produce the minimum resuitc
would be better than artificial propaga-
ton. The propagation is surely the work
| of nature assisted, SO far as possible, by
| the hand of man. These men, many of
| them well versed in the sciences and
| knowledge of nature studied on the sub
| ject not for days and weeks but for
| months and years until eventually the
problem was solved.
| In the work of cultivating fish the first
| step is to gather the. eggs from the fe
males. This is done in practically the
same way at all hatcheries Nets or
Seines, forming pounds, are strung in
some favorable locality and the fish are
| taken out and to the hatchery. Here the
| females are picked ont and stripped of
| the eggs-that is, the eggs are removed
| from the fish. The operation is about as
| follows:
The spawn-taker, clad in waterproof
clothing and wearing Woolen mittens sits
| on stool and on box in front of him
| is clean tin pan holding about 10 quarts.
| \ female nsh is dipped from one OF the
| float ting pens in which the fish are con-
fined and brought TO the operator who
! SeiZes her by the tail with right hand and
places the head beneath his left arm,
| with the back uppermost. the head high
| est and the vent directly over the pan.
| The eggs flow out into the pan in con-
| tinuous stream. Toward the end the flow
slackens and the operator must assist
| nature by slight pressure of the left
| hand. The number of eggs secured from
| a single fish is large. sea salmon often
giving as many as 5000 to 20,Oo0 eggs.
The work of stripping the fish is done
in the fan. and the eggs are kept in the
| hatcheries all winter, being carefully
| watched and do not hatch until March or
| April After the eggs have been removed
| from the female fish male is captured
| and milt deposited ON them, after which
| they are taken to the hatchery to be
cared for during the winter. This caring
| for means the constant watching for and
removal of dead eggs and otherwise see
| ing that the eggs are not spoiled.
| The matter of food for the young fish
| is an important one and requires much
work and careful attention. Chopped liV-
| er forms one of the universal foods for
| the young fish. but different hatcheries
use different foods.
| After the fry has hatched it is neces-
sary that they be given the best OF care.
| for therein depends the success Of the
! fish culturist's work. If the young are
neglected, but a minimum number reach
maturity. Willie good care brings the
| ma ximum to the age where they can be
| liberated in the waters Of lakes and
ponds. To accomplish this it is neces-
sary to have large volume of fresh.
pure water. highly areated. that is. wa
ter containing great amount of air.
That is why it is always arranged to have
the hatcheries located on the banks OF
rapidly running streams, and the troughs
are so arranged that the water in pass
ing from one to the other always makes
a small waterfall The reason is that
rapidly running or falling water gathers
a greater amount of air than does water
that is still
one of the most important branches of
the work of the men of the fish hatch |
cries is that of securing the fish from
which to take the eggs for the purpose of
fish culture. As already stated this is
done by string seines in some favored
locality. This is true of the hatcheries
that raise iandlocked salmon. togue and
trout, but the hatcheries wherein are Sc
cured the eggs Of the Atlantic sea
salmon. the king Of game iish, have to
| secure theirs in a different manner. The
method employed at Craig Brook hatch
| cry is to arrange with the weir fisher
| men along the shores of Penobscot bay
| to take a certain number of fish during
| the fishing season for the hatchery, the
| government paying the men for the fish.
These fish are placed in wells in boats.
where they get a constant supply of ever
changing water and the boats are towed
| around to Orand by small steamer.
| At high water the boats, or ears. as they
are called. are hoated through the locks
| in the dam and taken up Dead River to
| the pens where they are to be kept until
| it is time to remove the spawn from
| them.
| The same method Of Transporting the
| live fish is employed at the inland hatch
cries when the fish are taken at some
distance from the hatchery.
| There are in Maine several hatcheries
where inland fish are cultivated wholly.
While many pond and lake in Maine |
has been stocked with the lighting black |
bass; and many people suppose that they
are cultivated in the same way as salm-
on and trout. such is not the case. 1t
is. all authorities agree, a practical
impoSSibility to get a female bass To give
her eggs as does the salmon. trout and
other fish. But the fish culturiStS en-
ployed by the government are Skifu |
men, and recognizing the fact that the
bass was one of the gamest fish of inland |
waters. they knew that h. would be
wanted to stock these waters, they |
| have arranged to capture the fish and !
place them in artificial ponds at the sta |
| tions. These ponds are made as near to |
nature as possible. In them the fish |
| spawn and the young are hatched and |
| carefully reared until ready to be liber- |
| ted in snme lesirahle laEe nnmd 50 |