22 REV. MOSES HARVEY ON 



without any aid from mau, by fresh arrivals from other localities. Experience has shown 

 Ihat fish in surrounding localities will not change their ground to fill up vacancies ; but 

 in obedience to the law of their existence, will continue in their own habitat. Without 

 artificial propagation therefore, when exhauf^tion is extreme, restoration is impossible ; 

 and even in cases where depletion is but partial, a lonff term ol years is needed to secure 

 improvement, which may be greatly shortened by artificial means. Besides, the question 

 presents itself, what is to become of the fishermen while the fishing-grounds lie fallow ? 

 Scienlific fish-culture presents the remedy by planting millions of young fry in the 

 depleted waters, which in a brief period, will re!^tore the exhausted fisheries. This process 

 can be continued, year after year ; and even heavy drafts will fail to bring exhaustion, 

 when the stock is in this way constantly replenished. 



The.'ïe are not mere unsupported theories. Tliey have been amply sustained by the 

 results which have attended the artificial hatching of codfi.sh in the United States and 

 Norway. The cod is the grand staple of marine industries ou this side of the Atlantic. 

 Many thousands of men and a vast amount of capital are employed in the cod-fisheries of 

 North America, the annual returns being not less than twenty or thirty millions of dollars. 

 During many years past this industry has shown serious symptoms of decline, especially 

 on the coasts of New England. In many localities where cod were once abundant, they 

 are now Scarce or have altogether disappeared. Even the great cod-fisheries, such as those 

 around the shores of Newfoundland, and at Lofoden in Norway, have, in recent years, 

 presented signs of decline which must be regarded with feelings of apprehension in 

 looking to the future. In view of these facts, the question, can science provide a remedy '^ 

 presents itself with fresh emphasis. 



In 1878, Professor Baird entered on a lengthened series of experiments designed to 

 determine the practicability of the artificial propagation of cod on a large scale. In one 

 of his earliest reports he remarked : " Whatever may be the importance of increasing the 

 suppljr of salmon, it is trifling compared with the restoration of our exhausted cod 

 fisheries ; and should these be brought back to their original condition, we shall find 

 within a short time an increase of wealth on our shores, the amount of which it would 

 be difficult to calculate." 



Great difficulties were encountered in hatching the cod ova, but they were overcome ; 

 and after the experimental stage had been passed. Professor Baird was able to report that 

 the feasibility of the artificial propagation of the cod family was fully established. "It is 

 now " he said, " believed to be possible, not only to greatly increase the supply of the 

 cod where it is at present found, but by carrying the young to new localities, to establish 

 cod-fisheries so far south as the coast of North Carolina, where the fishermen may find 

 regular occupation during the winter, now their poorest season in capturing these fish in 

 large quantities, aud supplying the adjacent markets, and even exporting them." At a 

 later date he said, in reference to the artificial breeding of marine (bod fishes : " We have 

 at our command the means of so improving and increasing the American fisheries as to 

 obviate the necessity, in the future, of asking a participation in the inshore fisheries of 

 the British provinces, and thus of enabling us to dispense with fishery treaties or fishery 

 relations of any kind with the British or other governments." 



The progress of the artificial breeding of marine food fishes since these words were 

 written, proves that Professor Baird was not over-sanguine when thus prognosticating the 



