Corriv!:\ult, G. Wilfrid nn(l Jonn-Louis Treriblay I 



1948b Contribution a 1q biologie clu hoinnrd ( Honnr us ! 



anericanus Milne-Edwc.rds) dans In Baie-dec- ' 



Chaleurs et le golfe Sr.int-Laurent , Contrib. | 



Stat. Biol. St.-Lf.airent ¥.0, 19, 222 ppo illus. j 



(p. 37) 



I 



C« The rearing establishments and nat vira l spav/nings j 



At the beginning of the century, two events narked the history j 

 of the Canadian lobster fisheries: they were the hatching establish- 

 ments and the fitting-up of natural spai-minge These events vrere the | 

 logical and practical consequences of the recommendations of the I 

 commission in 1898, { 



6. Natural spawni ng 



The first natural hatchery v/hich had been organized v/as, acccrd- 

 ing to the annals of the period, to restore the lobster fisheries. 

 It was established at Fourchu^ Cape Breton Island, in 1903. This ^ 



natural hatchery encircled by a stone wall, had a s\irface of 63,700 

 square feet, viz^ 380 by 167 feet and it was subdivided into many 

 small pools* Small openings from one to two inches diameter, which 

 allowed a free circulation of sea Virater, were made in the wall. It | 



goes v/ithout saying that such an enclosure has not entirely the < 



characteristics of a natural hatchei'y; it was rather a large pool j 



where one was able to make observations on the biology of the 

 lobster. In the beginning 50,000 egg-bearing females were piarchased i 

 of fishermen and placed in the pool. Before putting them back in j 



the enclosure, numerous observations vrere made on each specimen: for 

 instance, one measured the length, then estimated the degree of ' 



maturity of the eggs carried by each female. One was able thus to 

 pick up the follca^ring facts: 1st, 2 per- cent nf the berried females j 

 measured 7-|- inches (19 cms.); 2d, 73 per cent from 3 to lOg- inches | 



(20.3 to 26.9 cms.); 3d, 25 per cent more than lOg- inches (26.9 cms.)j 

 4th, the degree of maturity of the eggs v/as very variable from one , 



female to another, etco Yet the Fourchu experiment did not ;-,ive the ! 

 expected results because as early as the folloT,Ting springtime one 

 realized that a great number of specimens thus shut in had died in 

 the course of the winter season. The experiment v/as continued for j 



some years with relative success. It vms in 1905 that the lagoons J 



of the Iifc.gdalen Islands had been made sanctuaries v/here all fishing j 



was forbidden, to determine the value of natural hatcheries. The I 



fishermen still spare these natixral hatcheries as the regions where ] 

 the berried femr.les remain during the hatching of the eggs. Only ' 



the seals are allowed— doesn't it seem— depredations in this shelter, r, 



It should be desirable to make a study of the relative efficacity 

 of the Jiagdalen Island lagoons as natural hatcheries; such a study 

 should complete the work done by Templeman (1935) on lobster 



34 



