Smyrna times., 1930-01-22
UNITED STATES FISH SENT To
NINETEEN FOREIGN NATIONS
BUREAU OF FISHERIES DIS
TRIBUTED 8,191 ,525 EGGS
U. S. Has Four Times as Many
Varieties of Fish as Europe;
Look to u. S. For New Stock

] U. .. bureau OI ISuSIl6S TSpOTlS
8,191, ,525 fish eggs and 40,525
young fifish shipper abroad since
1928. North America is especial
ly rich in fish species" says a bull
letin of the National Geographic
Society from its headquarters in
Washington, D. c. The United
States, for example, has four
times as many varieties of fish as
Europe, so it is understood that
other nations look to the United
| States for new fish stock. Long
before the term Good VIII AM
| bassador' was invented the United
States Government, established
the practice of sending abroad
Representatives that have won the
friendship of fishermen on every
continent The y. S. Bureau of
Fisheries supplies the eggs or
young fish free of charge from its
hatcheries; foreign governments
pay the cost of transportation. So
far as the Bureau can learn the
American trout, bass, white fish
and salmon have won favor every
where The only exception is
Argentina, one of whose citizens
wrote a caustic letter to the effect
that the American trout and bass
had thrived so well that there
were too many of them. American
game fish have proved most popu-
lar. The Rainbow Trout of the
Western States now has an inter
national reputation. The sport of
the Rockies is now the sport of
New Zealand, Switzerland, Germ
any, Italy, France and other coun-
tries. Japan seeks American spec
les in order to increase the food
supply of her people. In 1926 and
1927 Japan transported total of
4,7OO,000 eggs of the delicious
Great Lakes White-fish across the
Pacififc to be introduced in Lake
Biwa and Lake Chuzenji. Anoth-
er American fish, very small and
insignificant top minnoW breed,
has gone abroad on a different but
even more important mission. At
the request of the Red Cross ship
ments of Gambusia were sent to
Spain and Italy in 1921 to fight
the Misunderstanding mosquito
Those dispatched to Italy died in
transit but Gambusias placed in
ponds near Madrid, Spain. thrived.
Spanish American Gambusias
were sent to Italy the following
year and introduced to the Cam
pagna around Rome. Malaria has
been blight on the Campagna
for centuries. There the Anopheles
mosquito has killed Italians by
hundreds and wiped out prosper
Gus towns. Gambusias placed in
the Lagodi Porto soon cleared the
swarming waters of the multitud-
es of mosquito larvae. From Spain
and Italy the Gambusia has gone
on to conquer new marshes in Ger
many, Russia, Jungo-slavia, Syria
and Palestine. Certain American
communities take pleasure in the
knowledge that they have sent
gifts in the name Of the United
States which will be appreciated
by whole nations as long as rivers
run. Orangeburg, S. c., collects
and sends the Gambusia crusaders.
Bozeman, Montana, shipped $4,000
Rainbow Trout eggs to Honolulu
in 1925 while Meadow Creek, Mon
tana, bestowed $4,000 similar eggs
on grateful Netherlands. Forty
thousand Rainbow Trout eggs col
lected by the hatchery at White
Sulphur Springs, West Virginia,
were sent to the German Govern
ment Bureau of Fisheries which
distributed them to Prussia, West
phalia, Oldenburg, Thuringia, Ba-
varia, Wurttemburg, Baden and
Austria. Salmon, trout. whitefish
and other varieties, the eggs of
which take long time to hatch,
can be transported overseas in the
egg. The usual practice is to wait
until the eggs are eyed out that
is, the formation of the eyes can
be discerned. But with pond fish;
bass, crappies, rock bass, and top
minnows, species that hatch in
few days, the young fifish must be
shipped in buckets or tanks. The
U. S. Bureau of Fisheries has
studied and refined the methods of
shipping live fish until it can now
carry them long distances and
through tropic waters with small
loss. Two Bureau men went as
'nursebaids' to shipment of
young bass and crappies destined
for Gatun Lake in the Canal Zone.
They regularly aerated the tanks
with fine streams of air from the
ships air compressor, and by the
time the vessel reached Panama
they had used four tons of ice to
keep the bass and crappies cool.
Only 38 out of $3.50 young fish
died. The development of air
transportation. particularly the
prospective Zeppelin trans-ocean
service OpenS I'm uew posoihiIitiae