New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-23
ARTIFICIAL CULTURE OF FISH.

In the annual report OF the United States Com
missioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1903, which
has just been issued in pamphlet form. fact
is emphasized that has not been generally rec
ognized before. OF the eggs, fry and finger
lings" which have been distributed by the ma
tional government 9S per cent represent varie-
ties which are caught by the commercial fisher
men for the market Only per cent can be re-
garded as benefiting the sportsman exclusively.
Much greater quantities of whitefsh, cod, sal
mon and shad for instance, are supplied than
of brook trout or black bass This is a wise
policy. more generous treatment Of those
who angle for pleasure might be regarded with
favor by the majority of right minded people,
but the hypercritical would be enabled to grum-
bic at the seeming extravaganza thus displayed
About forty species are now being prOpagated
artifcially. and the aggregate number of eggs
and young fish sent out from national hatch
cries last year exceeded billion and quarter.
Yet the prime objects kept in view were the
prosperity of an important industry and va
red and palatable addition 10 the public food
supply.
If any doubt yet remains about the practical
advantages of this work, two illustrations given
by Commissioner Bowers should effectually dis
pose Of il. Twenty years ago, before much had
been done toward restocking streams with shad.
the total value of the catch along the Atlantic
OOdsI was scarcely SlS,Upb,Vb L or the ten
years ended with 1903 it averaged $4,000 600.
On the Pacific Coast 5000 lingering" sal
mon were liberated in 1896, each bearing tiny
tag for future identification. In the next four
years $50 of them were caught, and altogether
they weighed 10000 pounds. Inasmuch as il
costs the government 81 thousand to hatch
nnG distribute these fish, and the market price
of salmon is often five cents a pound, the pecun-
| larry return may sometimes be a hundred times
as great as the investment. An additional rea-
son for raising salmon in this manner has re
Gently been discovered. No fish of that species
comes back a second time 10 spawn. Under
natural conditions the increase. is limited.
| Hence the wholesale netting which is now prac-
| tised on the North Pacific Coast would soon
exterminate this valuable food fish altogether If
| no provision were made for stocking the rivers
herewith.
A notable feature of the recent work con-
| Quoted by the commission relates to the intro
| ductiOn of numerous species of fish where they
| are not indigenous. An elaborate attempt Is be
| ing made, for example, TO find an oyster which
will thrive on the North Pacific Coast and
there is reason TO think that a variety which
las been brought from Japan will grow in that
| quarter of the world. The experiments made
with shad and striped bass in Californian waters
have already proved remarkably successful. So
| abundant have the shad become that the fisher
| men are cOnspi-ing 10 limit the supply Whole
sale rates often drop TO one-third OF n cent a
Found Two small lots of bass were placed in
| The Straits of Carquinez over twenty years ago
| and now fully a thousand tons are marketed
| regularly every year, and many specimens
| weigh from thirty-flve 10 forty pounds each
| Great as are the benefits derived from restOcl.
ing streams and lakes that have been depleted
this invasion Of new regions materially enlarges
| the usefulness Of the commission.