The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-08-25
THE STURGEON,
NOBLEST FISH,
FAST PASSING
Attempts at its Culture Have
Failed. So Closed Period Of
10 Years is Urged
THEY WERE WASTED AND
DESTROYED FOR YEARS
Now Fishermen Realize the Ter.
rible and Costly Mistakes
They Made in Past

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25.-Hugh M
Smith, chief Of the bureau OF fish
cries, has recommended to Secretary
of Commerce Redfield that every
state In whose waters sturgeon exist
or, have existed prohibit their cap
ture or sale for period Of at least
10 years.
| owing to the defamation OF the
schools of breeding fish and to pecu'
liarities In spawning habits 1t has
been found impossible as yet to In
augurate sturgeon culture any
where In this country" said Commits
sioner Smith. Attempts at artif-
cial propagation have proved utter
failures wherever tried. The ex-
penditure OF considerable money has
batch Of eggs suitable for incuba'
ton.
"A possible relief may be afforded
through the transplanting In our wa
tiers of young sturgeon from other
countries. A supply Of young fish OF
a very desirable species inhabiting
the Danube and the Caspian sea has
been offered by the Roumanian gov
eminent.
These large and inoffensive fishes
of our seaboards, coast rivers and In
terror waters were for years consid-
cred to be not only valueless but nuts
ances, and whenever they became
entangled in the fishermen's nets
they were knocked on the head and
thrown back into the water. Even
in the present generation We have
seen the shores of the Potomac river
In the vicinity of Mount Vernon lined
with the decomposing carcasses OF
these magnificent fishes. witnesses to
the cruelty, stupidity, and profiigacy
of man. The same thing has been OBJ
served everywhere In the country.
when fishermen awakened to the
fact that the eggs OF the sturgeon
were valuable as caviar and the flesh
as food another senseless chapter In
the history of this fish was written.
There followed the most reckless and
senseless fishing imaginable. with the
result that in comparatively few
years the best and most productive
waters we're depleted and what
should have been made permanent
fishery Of great profit was destroyed.
Even after the great value OF the
sturgeon began to be appreciated by
everyone the immature and unmar-
ketable fish incidentally caught In
seines, gill nets and pound nets re-
ceived no protection whatever In most
waters and were ruthlessly destroyed
as nuisances, the decline of the stur-
geon being thus doubly accelerated.
"For example, on the Atlantic coast
the catch OF sturgeon fell from. 7,000,-
/ 900 pounds to less than 100000 In
Is years. On the Pacific coast q
catch OF over 100000 pounds annual
ly In the early nineties was followed
by few hundred thousand pounds In
later years OF the same decade, with
no Improvement since that. On the
great lakes the yield declined more
than 80 per cent In IS years. In the
American waters of the Lake OF the
Woods, one of the most recent
grounds for the exploitation of stur-
geon, the catch decreased over SO per
cent In 10 years notwithstanding q
more active prosecution of the fish,
ing.
The sturgeon f1shery In american
waters as a whole reached Its climax
about 1890. For two or three years
the annual catch was 12,000,000 to
100000 pounds. At the present
time. the annual yield does not ex-
coed 100000 pounds. and every
where there Is steady downward
trend In the catch. The scarcity OF
sturgeon and the demand for their
flesh and eggs have run up the price
to an extraordinary figure never at.
tanned by any other fish, either In
America or elsewhere. A mature fe-
male sturgeon often brings the fisher
man $3.50, and 1t Is poor fish that
cannot be sold for $40 to $50 on the
rivers Of the east coast"
In London, 20 per cent of the days