XXIII.— RAISING SALMONOIDS IN INCLOSED WATERS. 



By Director Haack.* 



[From circular No. 1, 1880, of the Deutsche Fisclwrei-Yercin, Berlin, February 12, 1880.] 



It is a fact often deplored by the friends of fisheries and pisciculture 

 that the finest of our streams, the beautiful mountain brooks, which, 

 clear as crystal, merrily leap from rock, to rock, are, from year to year, 

 less and less suited to fulfill their original purpose, viz, to form the 

 habitation of fish and other aquatic animals. 



The water of most of our mountaiu streams in these days only serves 

 as the motive power of turbines, as the means for washing cotton goods, 

 bleached with chlorine, as the purifier of printed cotton goods after hav- 

 ing been treated with phosphoric or hydrochloric acids, as the receptacle 

 for all sorts of chemicals from dye-works and chemical establishments; 

 in fact, it serves for everything imaginable, with the exception of its 

 original purpose, viz, to be the habitation of fish. 



Wherever any water-power can be discovered we shall soon find a dam 

 by which the whole brook or river is hemmed and its water led into some 

 channel where it serves some industry. The manufacturer, of course, 

 does not care whether there is enough water left in the river to allow 

 fish to live and flourish. All this is very much to be deplored, but in most 

 cases it can scarcely be changed ; for a factory employing hundreds of 

 men and putting millions' of money into circulation certainly does more 

 for the general good of mankind than a few trout or salmon. 



Even tbe most enthusiastic friend of fish and the fisheries will have to 

 familiarize himself with the idea that in course of time our small mount- 

 ain streams will contain but few or no fish, simply because the large 

 factories have driven them away. If, consequently, we do not wish to 

 lose entirely the highly esteemed inhabitants of our mountain streams, 

 the trout and similar fish, ways and means will have to be found to pre- 

 serve these fish. This may be done by raising salmonoids in inclosed 

 waters. 



Besides the brook- trout, the lake-trout and the saibling are particularly 

 suited for raising in inclosed waters; but all these fish are excelled by 

 the bastards of trout and saibling. Such bastards outgrow the fish of 

 a pure breed very considerably even when they are raised under exactly 

 the same conditions. Besides rapid growth, such bastards possess 

 another advantage in their exceedingly delicate flavor, combining the 

 excellence of the saibling with the peculiar flavor of the trout. I must, 



* Herr Direktor Haack : "Einiges iiber die Zuchtder Salmoniden in gesclilossenen llau- 

 men." — [Transited, by Herman Jacorson. ] 6 -c 



