580 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



killed or stunned in this manner or by the use of Cocculus indicus float on 

 the surface, the larger ones are taken out, and the smaller oues perish 

 uselessly.* Carl Vogt, the well-known naturalist, says, in his work 

 on artificial fish- breeding, t "As far as the article of food is concerned 

 which is found in our waters in the shape of fish, we occupy entirely 

 the stand-point of the hunter, or at best that of the roving shepherd, 

 who seeks safe retreats for his flocks, but leaves all the rest to nature. 

 Our fishery-laws do not even go as far as our game-laws, which at least 

 protect the animals of the forest during their breeding time." 



In reviewing all of the above-mentioned facts, we must, to our deep 

 regret, consider the reproach justified, " that the present state of our 

 fisheries and the manner in which they are carried on, are one of the most 

 unpardonable crimes against bountiful nature, against our own palpable 

 advantage, against the welfare of the nation, and the civilization of our 

 age." Men have actually, in their inexcusable blindness, done everything 

 to destroy not only the treasures of nature, but even the fountains from 

 which these treasures flow, while the means of preserving, protecting, 

 and increasing them are nowhere applied with true understanding, with 

 energy, and perseverance. 



6. — ARTIFICIAL FISH-BREEDING. 



The power of propagating is extraordinarily developed in fish. Of the 

 food-fishes trout deposit 6,000 eggs per annum; salmon, 25,000; tench, 

 70,000; pike, 100,000; perch, 200,000; sturgeon, upward of 2,000,000. 

 This circumstance, as well as the high price of fish, but more particu- 

 larly the invention and further development of artificial fish-breeding, 

 have again awakened the desire for an extensive and well-regulated fish- 

 culture; aud in spite of all the hiuderances mentioned above, which can- 

 not be obviated, and in spite of the demands for the most unlimited 

 use of the waters which navigation, industry, and agriculture are 

 making, there is a possibility of again gradually making pisciculture a 

 remunerative source of income in our country. 



It would, however, be a delusive hope if, from the " mere possibility 

 of multiplying young fish," we would at once deduct its practical real- 

 ization on an extensive scale, and expect that the artificial impregna- 

 tion of thousands of eggs, which, by means of a couple of fish, had 



* From Daubrawka, near Pilsen, in Bohemia, the "Nar. Listy" communicates the follow- 

 ing as the result of catching fish by means of dynamite : " The effect of the dynamite 

 thrown into the water soon became apparent. A large number of fish floated on the 

 surface ; these, however, were such as had only been stunned by the explosion. When 

 after the lapse of about half an hour the water had again become calm, so that one 

 could see the bottom, a large number of dead fish could be seen, which, when taken 

 out, proved useless, as they had spots and smelled very disagreeably. On the second 

 day, the place became almost impassable, because the fish had commenced to putrefy. 

 The result of this attempt was that the lessee of the fishery got about 40 pounds of 

 fish, while at least 400 pounds had been killed and become useless." 



t Die kiinstliche Fischzucht, Leipzig : Brockhaus, 1859, p. 2. * 



