72 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



SOME RESULTS OF ACCLIMATIZATION. 



The supply of shad on the Pacific Coast, to which attention has been 

 drawn in several reports of the Commissiou, continues to increase, and 

 the augmentation in the catch has been attended with such a marked 

 reduction in the price to the consumer that the fish has been placed 

 within the reach of every one, the retail vakie being much less tlian on 

 the Atlantic Coast. Within a few years the shad has thus not only 

 been acclimatized along tlie entire coast soutli of Alaska, but has become 

 one of the cheapest fish of the region. The inquiries of the Commission 

 disclosed a catch of over 700,000 pounds in 1892, having a value to the 

 fishermen of over $20,000. 



Over 50,000,000 shad fry have been planted in the streams of the 

 Mississippi Valley without producing any marked results. The waters 

 of this region are not so well adapted to shad as those of the Atlantic 

 and Pacific coasts j the rivers are usually extremely muddy and subject 

 to heavy freshets; the headwaters of the main streams are too remote 

 from salt water to permit the shad to make the annual migration which 

 occurs in the coast rivers; and except in the shorter rivers of the Gulf 

 Coast, the shad would have to remain permanently in the streams. 

 Instances of the capture of full-grown shad in some rivers of the Gulf 

 Coast have from time to time been recorded. Two additional references 

 may be mentioned: Under date of March 2, 1893, Mr. B. F. Sutter, of 

 Montgomery, -Ala., wrote that he had a shad, taken in the Alabama 

 Kiver, weighing 4^^^ pounds; that the shad were planted in the river 

 about six years before and are growing very fast; and that they are 

 finely flavored fish. Mr. S. D. Ingram, of Pass Christian, Miss., stated 

 in a letter dated June 3, 1893, that some shad had been taken near that 

 place in the spring of that year. 



The increase in striped bass in California is relatively as great as 

 that in shad. The fish is now one of the most highly esteemed products 

 of the west coast fisheries, and the high prices which prevailed a few 

 years ago have been so reduced by tlie larger catches that the fish is 

 generally available for food, although still ranging much above salmon 

 in value. The distribution of the striped bass is still restricted to Cali- 

 fornia. The yield in 1892 was about 50,000 pounds, valued at over 

 $6,000. 



The following brief account of the history and results of the intro- 

 duction of shad and striped bass to the Pacific Coast was prepared by 

 the present writer, with the Commissioner's approval, and printed in the 

 issue of Science for August 18, 1893. The catch shown, embodying 

 the preliminary returns, differs somewhat from the actual figures given 

 elsewhere : 



FISU ACCLIMATIZATION ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



Few expcrinicnts in fisb-culture have been ecouioiniciilly more important and snc- 

 cessfnl than those which have been conducted by the Unitinl States Fish Commissiou 

 with reference to the Pacific Coast. Coincident with the propagation of native lishes, 

 the introduction of non-indigenous species has been undertaken, with results that 



