Acclimatization by means of planned or sporadic transoceanic 

 shipment has been performed on a particularly large scale for oysters 

 and fish. At various times, 7 species of oysters have been 

 transplanted. Successful transoceanic naturalization has been achieved 

 for only some of them. For example, the European oyster O strea edulis 

 has been acclimatized off the Atlantic coast of America, off the shores 

 of South Africa and in Japan. The Virgin Islands oyster Crassostrea 

 virginica has been naturalized along the Pacific coast of America and in 

 Hawaii, where it was taken from California. The Pacific oyster C^. gigas 

 has been acclimatized along the east coast of America, in Hawaii, 

 France, Australia and New Zealand. As concerns the remaining species of 

 oysters, their introduction in regions not as far from their natural 

 area of distribution has been partially successful. The practical 

 significance of the acclimatized oysters has been very great: the 

 oysters acclimatized in new regions have yielded significant 

 production. For example, the annual production of the far-eastern 

 oyster in the western waters of America is 30-40*10"^ t. 



Transoceanic introduction and acclimatization of marine commercial 

 fish is, actually, of significant practical interest. These operations 

 have been performed, however, primarily with transitional (anadromous) 

 and semi transitional species, and only to a smaller extent with true sea 

 fish. One significant achievement has been the introduction of the 

 anadromous Alosa sapidisima from the Atlantic coast of America to the 

 waters of the Pacific coast, achieved by the transportation of 

 developing eggs in 1871-1886. This shad was naturalized in 1873, and by 

 1886 had become one of the most numerous commercial fish in 

 California. It extended to the north and south from its point of 

 introduction, occupying an area of distribution from Mexico to Alaska (a 

 few even reaching northeast Asia). The greatest catch, about 3,000 

 tons, was achieved in 1914, after which the catch decreased to 300-1,000 

 tons per year (Mansueti, Colb, 1953; Walford, Wicklund, 1973). 



In 1879 and 1882, fry of the semi transient Roccu s saxatilis 

 (frequently improperly called striped perch) was transported from the 

 Atlantic coast of the USA and released in San Francisco Bay. This fish 

 was naturalized in the waters of the Pacific, occupying an area of 

 distribution from British Columbia to southern California and yielding 

 commercial catches of up to 500 tons per year (Raney, 1952). 



Beginning in 1872, many attempts have been made at transoceanic 

 transplantation of salmon, particularly species of the Pacific genus 

 Oncorhynchus . Attempts have been made to introduce Pacific salmon to 

 various regions of the Atlantic Ocean, from Canada to Florida and from 

 Norway to Italy, in Mexico, Nicaragua, Hawaii, Argentina, Chile, 

 Australia and New Zealand (Davidson, Hutchinson, 1938). The Pacific 

 salmon have acclimatized (Stokell, 1955; Rodway, 1957) in a few regions 

 of northeast America (silver and humpback salmon in the rivers of the 

 Gulf of Maine, New Brunswick and Ontario), in Chile (silver salmon, 

 blue-back salmon), and the south island of New Zealand (king salmon, 

 blue-back salmon). However, the populations formed in the regions have 

 frequently gone over from an anadromous to a river mode of life, as a 

 result of which their population has been greatly reduced (Stokell, 



402 



