ex GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 



The subject offish-culture and the fisheries continues to 

 increase in importance, and in view of the economical value 

 of the products of the sea and the interior waters, and in 

 the amount of capital and effort directed toward their acqui- 

 sition, this interest is amply justified. 



Several exhibitions during 1873 have been made of fishery- 

 products and interests, the most important being that at Vi- 

 enna during the j^ast summer. Legislation has also been in- 

 itiated or continued looking toward the judicial determina- 

 tion of the rights of the general public and of the individual, 

 the most important step in this direction being the decision 

 of the Uliited States Supreme Court in reference to the obli- 

 gation of the corporation controlling the dam across the Con- 

 necticut River at Holyoke to construct a suitable fish-way. 

 This river in former years abounded in shad and salmon from 

 its mouth to its sources, and furnished a vast amount of ex- 

 cellent food to a large population. The erection of dams 

 along its course obstructed the upward movement of the 

 anadromous fish, with the result of finally exterminating the 

 salmon, and of reducing the supply of shad to a minimum. 

 The most considerable of these obstructions, and the first 

 met with above tide-water, was the great dam at Holyoke. 

 An Act of the Massachusetts Legislature, authorizing the Fish 

 Commissioners of that state to require the construction of 

 a fish-way over this dam, was resisted by the company, and 

 the case carried successively to the Supreme Courts of Mas- 

 sachusetts and of the LTnited States, judgment being given 

 by both tribunals against the company, which was thus 

 obliged to yield. A fish- way was constructed during 1873 

 upon the plan of Mr. E. A. Brackett, of Massachusetts, which, 

 it is hoped, will answer the purpose in view. 



In no country, however, has the subject of the fisheries 

 and their legal relations been more thoroughly considered 

 than in Germany ; and a very elaborate system of regula- 

 tions is now under discussion, which, it is expected, will be 

 the most complete in existence. 



The number of states havins; Fish Commissioners for the 



CI? 



improvement and regulation of the fisheries within their bor- 

 ders has been increased during the year by the addition of 



