CULTIVATION OF MARINE ANIMALS IN JAPAN 715 



"sake" eggs, besides a much smaller number of trout ("masu") 

 eggs. All the hatched fry are liberated in the Ishikari River 

 system. 



Besides the central hatchery at Chitose, there are seventeen 

 smaller hatcheries scattered all over Hokkaido, maintained by 

 private fisheries associations with some Government aid. All of 

 these hatch between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 eggs, while the largest 

 of them, at Nishibetsu, may go up as high as 8,000,000. We may 

 therefore assume that something like 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 eggs 

 - being 37,000,000 in 1903 -- are annually liberated in Hokkaido. 



Besides those in Hokkaido there are some five hatcheries on the 

 main island - - Honshu supported by the five northern prefectures 

 (Nigata, Akita, Miyagi, Awomori, and Ibareki). All of these estab- 

 lishments, however, are small, the largest (Niigata) hatching only 

 a little over 2,000,000 eggs. 



At Chitose and Nishibetsu, in Hokkaido, a small number of the 

 "masu" (0. kisutch) are hatched, and on Lake Shikotsu, near the 

 Chitose hatchery, there is a small branch hatchery. Here the eggs 

 of the land-locked "beni-masu" (the Ainu "kabacheppo" -land- 

 locked 0. nerkaf) are hatched. This fish was originally found in 

 Lake Akanka, in the eastern part of the Hokkaido; from there 

 transplanted to Lake Shikotsu, mentioned above; from there again 

 to Lake Onuma near Hakodate, and still farther to Lake Towada, 

 in the Akita Prefecture on the main island. 



There is one interesting fact which is perhaps worth mentioning. 

 Of the salmon-fry that were liberated in the spring of 1896, 30,000 

 were marked by cutting off the operculum. Of these some are said to 

 have come back in the winter of 1901-02, and two grown to the size of 

 2.3 and 2.4 feet are specially mentioned. In the winter of 1902-03 

 some twenty (according to Mr. Fujimura) were heard from, and 

 five specially recorded. In the winter of 1903-04 some forty (accord- 

 ing to the same authority) were heard from, and several were no 

 doubt specially examined, but the records are not just now available. 

 Thus the salmon liberated in one single year are returning during 

 several years in succession, the earliest recorded being five years 

 and a half after being set free. In the years 1897-1901 a certain 

 number of the young fry were marked by cutting the adipose fin, 

 and these are already being reported. All the certain recorded cases 

 have come back to the same Ishikari River system. 



I need hardly say that salmon- and trout-culture is still in its 

 infancy in Japan. The dog salmon is considered by the Americans 

 as not delicate in flavor, and we should not confine ourselves to its 

 cultivation, but should make efforts to introduce the finer salmon 

 and trout of America. At the same time we should undertake the 

 culture of other members of the Salmonidse native in Japan, such as 



