Evening journal., 1900-07-05
PROPAGATION
IS NECESSARY
To Perpetuate Sturgeon Fish
ing in the Delaware
50
FISH. As VALUABLE As SEAL
And They Are Also as PerilOuSly Near
Extinction All Over the
Country
FISH. As VALUABLE As SEAL

A special despatch from Pennsgrove,
N. j., says that Unless propagation is
resorted to- sturgeon fishing IN
the Delaware Bay and river
viii soon be thing Of the
past. Such is the opinion of the stur-
geOn fishermen who have for several
years past been engaged in the stur-
geon fishing business
The number of sturgeon caught and
shipped from Greenwich Piers and
Bayside is said TO be less than 1000 as
against over 2,l0O during the season Of
1S99 while the number of kegs of
caviar from these two points this year
was about 800, and last year over COO"
1t may surprise some persons to
learn that a full grown female sturgeon
is as valuable a creature as the fur
seal. Yet this is a fact. 1t may also
interest and surprise many to be told
that more than a million dollars are in
vested in the sturgeon catching indus
try in the Delaware river alone, and
that more than seven-eights of the
caviar sold in this country as Rus
sian caviar is made a few miles below
this city from eggs Of the sturgeon
caught in this vicinity. Yet both these
things are true also. The slaughter Of
the fur seals in Bering Sea, and their
threatened early extinction by Cana
dian pOachers. produced at one time
widespread excitement throughout the
country, and for a while caused decid-
edly strained relations between the
governments of the United States and
England. The sturgeon is as perilOusly
near extinction as the fur seal. At the
rate this valuable fish is disappearing
and unless something is promptly done
to prevent it, in five years there will
be none to catch To show how rapidly
the sturgeon are passing away it is only
necessary to refer to the report of the
Pennsylvania Fish Commission Ac-
cording to that document, between the
year of 1880 and 1889 II was not un-
common for 1000 sturgeon to be seen
on the dock at Bayside as the result
of one days catch. In the latter named
year the fish began to decrease in
number rapidly The average catch to
a net that season was 60; in 1891 about
55; in 1892 it was 49, in 1893 it had
fallen to 80; in 1894 down to 26 in
1895 the average to a net rose to 80,
but in 1896 it fell to 81; in 1897 the
average was %; in 1898 it fell to 10,
and in 1899 it sank to s. In 1898 the
total catch of sturgeon in the Delaware
bay and river was over 5000. Last sea-
son it was 2.510. 1t cannot take long at
this ratio to bring determination.
Caviar, which is only cleansed stur-
geon eggs submitted to a picking pro-
cess and dried, used to realize to the
concerns making it from Sc to IS a keg
of 1876 pounds; now it brings from S110
and upwards to a keg. and when in
shipping it the duty and other charges
are added the cost Of the caviar before
it is offered to the consumer is over
$3.50 a keg, or nearly 81 a pound. In ad-
dition to this there is the flesh Of the
fish. which when smoked brings high
prices. Male and female sturgeon
yielded the fishermen in 1899 in both
eggs and flesh on an average of $40
each, and specimens Of the femalealone
have been known to bring nearly SlO0.
The story of the rapid disappearance
Of the sturgeon in the Delaware is the
story told Of every other water in all
parts of the country. The industry has
gone from the Chesapeake and lower
Susquehanna, and the catch is decreas-
ing in the Great Lakes in the same pro-
portion as in the Delaware. It IS the
same all along the Atlantic and Pacific
coasts It is not So. much needless
methods of fishing or the ruthless de-
sTuction Of the young that is causing
this rapid determination OF the stnr.
geon-f0r the fishermen are thoroughly
alarmed at the situation and are doing
what they can to preserve the younE
from harm-as it is the phenomenallI
increased demand for the caviar ant
flesh.
Both the United States and Pennsyl
vania Fish Commissions have had thei
attention called to the danger whicl
threatens the industry. and strong ap
peals have been made to them to under
take artificial propagation, but owinl
to the parsimony Of Congress and tn
Legislature of Pennsylvania neithe
can yet see its way clear to do so. TIL
mere work Of taking and Matching tn
eggs is comparatively an easy task. bu
the cost is very great. Still, there is n
doubt of the necessity of some aetiO
being taken, and IL might perhaps b
well If the United States and Pennsyl
vania were to join forces in sturgeo
Matching.