XVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES 



Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Lou- 

 isiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, 

 Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Utah, Nebraska, Colo- 

 rado, and California ; while other States, as Alabama and Arkansas, 

 which have not been the actual scene of the operations of the Coinniis- 

 sion, have been indirectly benefited by the introduction of fish into their 

 waters at points outside of the State limits, thrty-three States and two 

 Territories in all. The extension of the work to other States and its 

 amplification in all is only a question of time. 



The operations of the Commission have, it is believed, given entire 

 satisfaction to the people at large, as shown by the general popularity 

 of the measures adopted, the great interest excited in the subject 

 throughout the country, and the appointmeut of State fish commissions 

 in nineteen States, in most instances for the purpose of directly co-oper- 

 ating with the United States Commission in its efforts to secure from 

 the waters their fullest yield of animal food. This has rightly been con- 

 sidered an object of the greatest importance in view of the rapidly-in- 

 creasing population of the United States and the almost corresponding 

 diminution in the average yield of vegetable food by the farming-lands, 

 and it is not considered exaggeration to say that the water can be made 

 to yield a larger percentage of nutriment, acre for acre, than the land. 

 A further evidence of the importance of this effort is shown by the 

 fact that China, with its enormous population, greater to the square 

 mile than that of any other part of the world, derives the largest por- 

 tion of its animal food from the interior waters of the empire, the meth- 

 ods of fish-cultivation there being conducted in a very efficient manner, 

 and every cubic yard of pond and stream thoroughly utilized. 



It is well to bear in mind that the work prosecuted by the United 

 States Commission is in no case that which would be carried on by 

 State commissions or by private enterprise. The States of Iowa, Min- 

 nesota, Ohio, or Pennsylvania would not find their advantage in going 

 to any great expense in the way of stocking their streams in view of 

 the fact that the fish, when mature, would, on their return, enter the 

 mouth of the Mississippi and traverse all the intermediate States before 

 arriving within their borders, with the certainty that a large portion of 

 the catch would be secured by citizens of other States. On the other 

 hand, the young and immature fish, requiring the cold upper sources 

 of the streams as their home, will not find in the great waters of the 

 more Southern States the proper conditions for their preservation and 

 growth. Furthermore, the primary outlay for securing the eggs of such 

 species as the California salmon, &c, is greater than single States can 

 meet, while the cost of obtaining a supply for the entire country at a 

 siugle establishment is much less proportionately than the aggregate 

 cost of separate effort. 



The plan as regards the propagation of shad is to establish hatch- 

 ing-camps in March on the southernmost streams on the Atlantic 



