22 
Fisheries in Newfoundland remarks in his Report for 
1895, a great increase of fish after such a short trial of 
artificial hatching. A Cod fish requires four years to 
reach maturity. A vast number of the young Cod fish 
planted must perish from natural causes, and only a 
small percentage can be expected to grow up and form 
marketable fish. 
The increase to a fishery can, therefore, only be gradual, 
and time is required to determine the value of this im- 
portant experiment. I may add that it may well be that 
a fishery which is not increasing is still greatly benefited 
by the results of artificial hatching. On the other hand, 
I think it quite as unreasonable to attribute any marked 
increase of fish in a district entirely to the hatching 
operations, unless it can be definitely proved that the 
young fish caught are the produce of the hatchery. I 
agree with Mr. Fryer that, in the case of the reported 
increase of Cod in the neighbourhood of Dildo during 
1895 (and again in 1896), it is at least as reasonable to 
attribute the early catch of the fish to natural conditions, 
such as the increased temperature of the water, as to 
claim it as a result of the artificial hatching of a few 
million of Cod eggs at that place in 1890 and 1891. The 
careful observations of the Fish Commission have estab- 
lished the fact that the Gulf Stream fluctuates considerably 
from time to time in its extension towards Newfoundland in 
the north, and we now know that the tile fish (Lophola- 
tilus chameleonticeps) is influenced in its distribution on 
the east coast of North America by the condition of the 
Gulf Stream. The Cod, and other fishes, are probably 
also affected in a somewhat similar manner. But all this 
is absolutely no argument against artificial hatching. 
Natural circumstances will be sometimes with us and 
sometimes against us, and when they are with us they 
