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Recent Reports of Fishery Authorities. 



The Scottish, Newfoundland, and United States Reports. 



By 

 J. T. Cunningham, M.A. 



(1) Thirteenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, being for the year 

 1894. Edinburgh, 1895. 



(2) Annual Report of the Newfoundland Department of Fisheries for the year 1894, 

 St. Johns, N.F., 1895. 



(3) Report of the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for the year ending 

 June 30th, 1893. Washington, 1895. 



Artificial Hatching of Fish Eggs. — The Scottish Keport, whose 

 title is given above, is stated to refer to the year 1894 ; but as a matter 

 of fact, a great deal of the work recorded in it was carried out during 

 the earlier portion of 1895. This is the case with the operations of 

 the Dunbar Hatchery, described by Mr. Harald Dannevig, the ^Manager 

 of that establishment. We find that 4-4,085,000 eggs of plaice were 

 collected last spring, and from these 38,615,000 fry were obtained, and 

 liberated in the sea. This shows a loss of only 12 per cent, in the 

 process of hatching. But large as the numbers appear, it should not 

 be forgotten that the above number of eggs represents the produce of 

 only 220 female fish, reckoning 200,000 eggs to each, which is a low 

 estimate, for it has been proved by Dr. Fulton that the larger female 

 plaice produce each from 300,000 to 500,000 eggs in one season. 



It is, I think, interesting to consider, from various points of view, 

 the proportion borne by the artificial hatching operations to the natural 

 propagation of the fish in the sea. We have not at present ascertained 

 approximately the number of females which spawn in the sea in one 

 season, but we have some data concerning the number of mature 

 females taken out of the North Sea, in one year, by the fishermen. 

 According to Mr. Holt's statistics, which were very carefully collected, 

 the number of mature plaice, over 17 in. in length, lauded at Grimsby 



