Evening star., 1927-05-15
cenc Beauty Adds Pleasure of Washington Fishing Trip

not rare, and sometimes they tip the
scales at 20 and even 80 pounds.
10
WITH all the intense interest Law.
w ished by anglers upon the sport
of catching fish with rod and tackle,
there is another angle to fishing that
is, no doubt, more important. at least
from the material standpoint, and
that is the commercial fishery which
supplies a large part OF the worlds
food product.
Where the angler and the CONNER.
cial fisherman clash is upon the TAX.
ing with nets of those fish, which,
because of certain inherent attributes
of courage and pugnaciousness, are
characterized as game fish, and which
are held to be the sacred quarry OF
those who fish for pleasure.
Since the earliest days of history,
men have fished for their food in seas,
| lakes and rivers. and today the catch
OF the fisherman appears on the din
ing tables Of every country of the
world. The "toilers of the sea" have
ever been famed for bravery and
hardihood. They venture in small
craft over the widest oceans. while,
at home. their womenfolk wait with
anxious heart and straining eyes for
their return. with the certain knowi.
edge that each season the ocean must
take its toll of those who go down to
the sea in ships"
The principal fish taken off the New
England coast are cod. haddock, mack
erel and pollock, together with hake,
cusk and halibut. Cod fishing is excep-
tionally perilous. Early in April large
fleets of fishing smacks make their
way to the banks off Newfound.
land. Whether the fishing Is done
with nets or by the batting of count.
less hooks, the work is performed by
men in small, flat-bottomed rowboats,
called "dories." usually with two men
to boat. Sometimes, in a sudden
fog, the boats cannot find their way
back to the schooner; sometimes they
are driven far out to sea by storms.
and sometimes. when overloaded with
big catch, they are swamped.
The most important fish in world
trade, exceeding even the cod. is the
herring. The leading herring fisheries
today are in Norway, Sweden. France
and Scotland, but the industry Is
growing rapidly on this side of the
Atlantic. Herring constitutes rs per
cent of the yield of European fish
cries. Large quantities of young her.
ring are packed and sold as "sar.
dimes" although the baby menhaden
and the European pitcher sometimes
share the same fate.
An idea of the importance of fish
to man may be gained from statistics
showing the annual harvest gathered
by the workers with trawl and line
to approximate in value $500. 900 900.
without including the catches Of India
and China. In this the United States
leads, with Great Britain taking sec
ond place.
The fish canning and preserving In
dustry supports upward of 500 estab.
lishments in the United States, in
cluding Alaska. with an annual prod
uct valued at more than $100. 900 900.
Salmon leads the canned fish with
a value in excess of $50 ,000. 900.
A conception of the Alaskan fish
showing that the catch for a single
year. IL loaded on one train, would
require about 10000 cars. and the
train would stretch out distance Of
100 miles.
BECAUSE of the importance Of the
= fishing industry the Government
has operated in washington since
1871 a Bureau OF Fisheries whose
business it is to play 'nursemaid" to
ture in the business OF propagation
and conservation with a view to pre-
venting depletion of this important
food product, or the complete exter.
mination, as Is sometimes threatened,
of certain species.
The bureau now maintains about
so main and auxiliary fish hatcheries,
situated in all parts of the United
States, which distribute every year
more than 5,000.000,000 young fish
and fertilized eggs of the various
valuable species.
The fish eggs in the hatchery Of a
fish cultural station are contained in
long rows of tanks and Jars, and
through these 'incubators" a con.
slant stream of water is kept run.
ming.
Young fish are carried in tanks, in
specially constructed railway cars, to
all parts of the country and liberated
in waters appropriate to each kind.
The eggs can be sent long distances
packed in moss and ice.
Salmon canning establishments are
taxed by the Federal Government, but
the tax is remitted when thousand
FRY" for every 10 cases of salmon are
returned to the waters. AS a result
Of this practice some canneries operate
ONI IldlCUcIlSS anu TeluIH All
enormous total of fish to the rivers.
More than $4,000 species of fish
have been classified, ranging from
tiny minnows to the giant Port Jack
son shark. which sometimes attains q
length of so feet. They are all shapes
and hues, the coloring usually cor.
responding to the lights and shadows
of the waters they inhabit Here It
is that nature shows her high develop.
ment in the art, newly known to man.
of camoufiage.
But nearly every variety of fish
preys upon some other variety and
the eggs of all fish have countless
foes. If it were not for another pro-
vision of wise old Mother Nature, the
fishes that swim in the waters would
soon suffer the fate that befell the
"Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat"
They would eat each other up. This
provision gives to fish the ability to
lay countless eggs. so many in fact
that If they all Matched and lived,
there would be no room in the ocean
for water. An idea of the number OF
eggs spawned by fish can be gained
from the fact that a single cod has
been known to contain 10, 600, 900 roe.