The Washington times., 1901-06-30
PROFIT In Fish CULTURE.
Threatened Scarcity OF Sea Food
Developing New Industries.
The Famous Terrnpin of Maryland
and Virginia Not Well Protected
by the Game Laws-Steps Taken TO
Prevent Violations of the statutes.

and virginia Not wen PrOtecteu
by the Game Laws-Steps Taken to
Prevent Violations of the Statutes.
Chester *. Green, Superintendent OF the
fish lakes in the Monument lot, said re-
Gently that despite the efforts of the Fish
Commission the supply of fish in the
streams and lakes throughout the coun-
try is growing less and less every year.
The scarcity of sea food is beginning to
inspire and develop new Industries Soon
er or later the lakes and the streams and
the sea will be cultivated like the land,
and we will be buying and selling broad
acres of water farms as we now do land
farms.
The census shows that the fisheries of
| the United States already produce food to
the value of S45,0O000O, which can be in
creased up into the billions in few years.
Already the oyster industry has reached
colossal proportions and the raising of
terrapin is an established industry, al
though an expiring one, through the fail
ure of the Maryland State Government to
protect it. Maryland is the home of the
terrapin. Formerly on the Eastern Shore
of the State terrapin were SO plentiful
that a good-sized turtle could be bought
for % cents, now it costs IS TO get as good
n one. They were so plentiful up to the
time of the civil war that they were the
principal food of the slaves IN the BLACK
counties along Chesapeake Bay. Now
the terrapin is so scarce that the Legis-
lature of Maryland has recently passed
law for their protection. The law pro-
hibits people from catching the terrapin
during the breeding season, which begins
April 1 and extends to the 1st of Novem-
Der.
But already is there an organized eva
sion of the law, which imposes a penalty
of $40 for every turtle caught or offered
for sale in the State during the breeding
season. Like most game laws they are
not operative to the extent of their inten-
ton owing to the lack of uniformity in
the game laws of other and especially
neighboring States. AS in The case of
Maryland it is demonstrated that the law
will not accomplish its purpose unless the
Virginia Legislature makes a similar en-
actment, for the Maryland fishermen,
when they get a boatload of terrapin,
land on the Virginia side of the river and
ship from that State instead of from their
own.
The little town of Crisfeld, on the
Eastern Shore of Maryland, is the centre
of the terrapin trade and James G.
Tawes. Maryland State Fish Commission
er, has moved down there, to remain dur
ing the breeding season, to see that the
new Law is enforced. Terrapin begin TO
deposit their eggs about the middle of
NAV. The female seeks a sandy spot
and scratching a hole in the sand lays
from twelve to twenty eggs in 1t. These
she covers over carefully with sand. and
goes her way, leaving the heat from the
sand to hatch out her brood. The eggs
hatch in about thirty days. The young
turtles, as soon as they emerge from the
SHE'LL begin to scramble to the surface.
When they are first Matched, they look
not unlike the little oyster crab, and are
about the same size. They are not guard
ed by their parents, and must shift for
themselves without aid or a eommissary
department to provide sustenance for
them.
The young terrapin has to forage IN
dependently for his food, and lives on in
sects, the flesh of fish, crabs. and what
ever morseIs he can pick up. Their
growth is rapid When cold weather
comes the little fellows burrow down I'm
the mud and hibernate there all winter
until April comes around, when they
crawl out, three or four inches long. 1t
is one of the mysteries of nature that
Wnlie IN tnlS dormant or nlDefndllH8
state. the terrapin eats nothing, and yet
grows to a number of times his size at
the time he entered his winter quarters.
An interesting expsriment vas tried at
the Agaziz Museum at Harvard, which IL
lustrates the ability of turtles to grow
and take on weight without eating. An
ordinary turtle was captured and evils
cerated, the entire digestive tract, in
cluding stomach and intesiines, was re-
moved, and the turtle placed in a small
pool near the museum building. The tur-
tie was weighed after the operation and
watched carefully during the summer
months. In the fall it was taken out of
the pool and again weighed, when it was
found that not only had there been an
increase in dimensions but in weight
also. The terrapin viii grow to be six
inches long during the second year. and
when in the third year it reaches seven
inches or more it is ready for market
Terrapin culture is carried on ia several
sections of Maryland, and is becoming a
profitable business owing to the nigh