THE SUN-PERCH AND THE CATFISH 



States, with a climate rather like our own, and we 

 thought we should be safe. There, the authorities, 

 who had specialized in fishery work, were getting ex- 

 cellent results with a certain number of species they used 

 for the purpose. We thought, if we imitated them, we 

 should get the same results. We sent for eggs and 

 fry. And now, thirty years afterwards, we know where 

 we are. The results obtained vary; there are both 

 gains and losses. There have been gains so far as the 

 general principles of pisciculture are concerned, but 

 we common or garden fishermen have decidedly suffered 

 as regards the most highly valued joy of all, fishing in 

 waters free to all. 



" I remember all the heated discussions, the argu- 

 ments of all sorts that were bandied about. Each 

 species proposed became the object of relentless criti- 

 cism; it was praised to the skies at one time and 

 abused at another. Each suggestion was absolutely 

 and thoroughly sifted. In this water at our feet, where, 

 like the rest, I took a hand in the matter, I can see all 

 those species again. Some have disappeared; some 

 only survive because they are given continual attention. 

 Others, like the sun-perch, have definitely settled down 

 and established themselves. 



" I remember that glorious salmon 1 with which we 

 hoped to make good the gradually increasing losses in 

 the native salmon 2 of our rivers. It came from Cali- 

 fornia, whence its eggs were obtained, and it was called 

 after the country of its origin. It abounds there, and 

 every year at the appropriate season, thousands of 

 individuals band together, leave the sea, and go up 

 the rivers to spawn. We hoped to have the same 

 success, so much the more as the species, which is a 

 strong one, easily accommodates itself to the confined 

 life in the breeders' pools. But our hopes were vain. 

 We secured suitable fish to breed from and got spawn 



1 Oncorhynchus tschawytscha, the Quinnat or King Salmon. 



2 Salmo salar. 



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