Evening star., 1920-03-05
WATERS Of PERU
HAVE ENOUGH FISH
T0SUPPLY WORLD
Curator Murphy of Brooklyn
Museum Tells of Research
in That Country.

| NEW YORK. March 4.-perus s
coastal waters are teeming with
enough fish to feed the world and her
| islands are all veritable bird sanctu-
| aries, according to Robert Cushman
Murphy. curator of natural science
! of the brooklyn Museum. Just re-
/ turned from six months exploration
| in South America with 500 photo
I graphs and 10000 feet of notion
picture film.
Mr.. Murphy said that on one island
| he found the most abundant seabird
| life on earth. as many as 1.0HU.0nt
feathered creatures Of a single Spe-
| cios.
| The fisheries of Peru. he said. are
unorganiZed and. although fish are
| pie nttful, including such edible va
rietieS as the bonitO, anchOveta, pc
| jerrey or smelt. the congri (some-
| what like a cod). the founder and
( corvcna comparable to the American
salmon). Peruvians literally go hun
| cry because of their scarcity and
! high price inland due to the probe m s
| of icing and transportation.
! Four Narietie. of Crabs.
A few miles off the coast the re-
| turned explorer said, he let down a
| net and drew it out of the sea filled
| Iicious edible crabs. These crusta-
| ccans, he said. would furnish the
baS sis for a big canning industry both
| for home and foreign consumption.
vast quantities of such food now
! BE- ing annually imported by the Unit
! ed States from Japan.
| The "Wonderful fish and bird life"
of Peru, Mr.. Murphy attributed to the
Humboldt current, cold body of
oceanic water which flows along 1.S00
| miles of the coast. He made many OBJ
servations Of this current he said.
following those of Alexander AGassZ
and DR.. Robert +. Coker of the Unit
ed States fish commission, pioneers in
such work. ! Although Peru'S proX-
unity to the equator, he said. would
cause one to suppose that ii might
have a temperature like that of Flori-
da. it's actual temperature was more
like that of Boston.
! Fish and Bird Life Abundant.
The result of the interesting corre-
IL ton between the Humboldt current
and the abundance of fish and bird
life. he said he has covered in more
than 500 pages of data He also
brought with him sixteen cases and
crates, in many of which are speci-
mems of curious marine and feathered
creatures.
Mr.. Murphy called attention to the
guano or fertilizer deposits of Peru,
which, he said. may be doubled by
the conservation methods devised by
Francisco Ballen, Peruvian. whom
nr. ues,llpcd as one Of tie most far
sighted and able economists in the
world" In fnrtherance of Mr.. Bal
lens plans, the explorer said, he ad-
vocated increasing the breeding area
of the producing birds. at
present confined to fifteen islands.
the largest of which are the Chinchi
and Lobos, and where deposits of
fertilizer $50 feet in thickness have
been found.
Valuable Gunno Deposits.
The value of the guano deposits, he
said, was also due to the action of
the Humboldt current, the cold winds
from which. blowing over the arid
land, preserved the fertilizing quail
ties of the bird lime.
Mr.: Murphy, whose work was aided
by the Peruvian government said the
islands might be enlarged by dyna-
miting the cliffs into the sea He also
urged the Stoppage of guano gather
ing during the ''courtship" of the
birds. The guano, he said, is dug by
natives in the interior of the islands
and carried in small railway cars to
the coast, where it is put aboa rd
ships. Expectation of the fertilizer.
he said. was being held up on ac-
count of high ocean freight rates.
The guano birds were enumerated
by Mr.. Murphy as the white e-breasted
cormorant commercially worth S15
a pair in Lima); the pelican and two
species of Sannet B! actual conlpu-
tation of the nests of some of these
BIRDS per meter on one of the islands
he estimated that more than 900. 900
OF that one species inhabited it,
Inenx Prized GuanO Birds.
Mr.. Murphy said the ancient Incas
of Peru highly priced the guano
hi
one who killed one. Many of the mo-
tion picture films he brought back
he said. showed the life history of the
seabirds as well as the native fisheries
and the guano industry.
In the period from 1910 to 1908. MI
Murphy said. many of the birds were
killed off. and it is only in recent
years that efforts have been made
to conserve this important resource
of Peru. President Leguia and other
prominent men, he said. have encour-
aged foreign scientific men to visit
Peru for the purpose of aScertaining
the best conservation methods. \
steam trawler and two launches were
placed at Mr.. Murphy's disposal upon
his arrival at Lima, and from these
he conducted his researches and ex-
periments. Guano. he said, is the
best fertilizer known for sugar cane
and before the war vast quantities OF
it were shipped to the United States
through Charleston, S. G. Peru her
self. he said. is now utilizing the fer
tilizer not only for growing sugar
cane but for rice and cotton.
Ocean freight rates. Mr.. Murphy said
might be affected by the competition
which has sprung up since the close of
the war. Within the last six months. he
said. eight nine steamship lines
Dutch. French. Italian. British and
Amerlcan-are now stopping at Peruvian
ports. AS an instance of recent freight
costs, Mr. Murphy cited the case of
Curtiss airplane occupying "a crate not
much larger than would be required for
an automobile ~Efld upon which the
charges were 5000.
Mr. Murphy, who is thirty -four years
oid and a graduate of Brown University.
Is director of the Explorers Club. His
expedition to Peru was aided financially
Dy the American Museum of Natural
History and the American Geographical
Society.