EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LI 



be improved. The legislation required consists in the enactment of laws 

 for the iutroduction of fish-ladders, by means of which the spawning-fish 

 can reach the headwaters of the rivers ; in a prohibition against dis- 

 charging sawdust, gas-refuse, chemicals, &c., into the water ; in a limi- 

 tation as to the pounds, number, and size of mesh of nets, and especially 

 in the establishment of close seasons during the week, during which 

 the capture of fish by nets shall be forbidden, and an absolute prohibi- 

 tion of their capture aft^r a certain date in the year. These dates will 

 necessarily vary with the kinds of fish to be protected. 



8. — MODE OF JNOREASING THE SUPPLY OF FISH. 



Even, however, with all these regulations, supposing them to be thor- 

 oughly enforced, there remains much to be done. Our rivers, capable 

 of accommodating very many tons offish, must be restocked, or there 

 will be no result from our labors. This is not to be accomplished by 

 the transfer of the i^arent fish from one i)oint to another, especially as 

 the shad and alewife will not survive a few moments removal from the 

 water. It is through artificial propagation that the restoration of cer- 

 tain species of fish to their former x)lace of abode, and the introduction 

 of fish to waters where they were before unknown, is to be accomplished. 



Fish-culture and fish-rearing, in a certain sense, are nothing new. The 

 Chinese and other Oriental nations have practiced a form of the art for 

 ages. In Europe it has been j^rosecuted for centuries. The transfer of 

 fish from one sea to another was accomplished by the Eom ans of old. The 

 bringing of fish into restricted waters, where they are supplied with, 

 food and allowed to grow and multiply, or even the gathering of eggs 

 after they have been laid and impregnated by the fish, represents the 

 so-called fish-culture of China. The young fish hatched under favorable 

 circumstances are sui)i)lied with food and reared carefully, sometimes 

 even in tubs or jars, and in the course of a few years furnish a remu- 

 nerative return to their owners. Such nurture or maintenance of fish, 

 under circumstances when they can multiply and attain their growth, 

 is, however, not fish-culture x^roper in its modern sense. This is based, 

 upon the artificial impregnation of the fish and is practiced by stripping 

 the eggs from mature females ; by fertilizing these eggs by the milt of 

 the male ; by placing the eggs thus fertilized in a condition favorable 

 for their development, and by the protection of the resultant fish until 

 they are able to take care of themselves 5 they may be then kept indefi- 

 nitely in ponds or turned out at once into suitable waters. It is this 

 operation which has constituted the basis of recent effort, and which 

 has been crowned with such triumphant success. 



At first sight it would seem impossible for man with his limited op- 

 portunities and means to compete with or even to supplement nature in 

 the process of maintaining or increasing the supi)ly of a certain species 

 by artificial imiDregnation, but a consideration of the subject will show 

 what really can be claimed. The process of natural impregnation of 



