1016 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



inland markets. Let us hope that they will do this and do it soon. At 

 the present time Berlin would be thankful for every pfennig taken 

 from the price which the railroads charge for transporting a pound of 

 fish. 



Gentlemen, it gives me special pleasure to be able to inform you that 

 yesterday the board of directors of the North German Private llailroad 

 have taken the first praiseworthy step in this direction. 



At a conference to which I and Mr. landenberg, a wholesale dealer 

 in fish, were delegates from the German Fishery Association, they unani- 

 mously passed a resolution to reduce the charges for shipping fish on 

 their lines to the amount which they had allowed five years ago at the 

 urgent suggestion of our association, but in consequence of the hard 

 times had again been raised. 



This reduction amounts for Berlin to two to three pfennings per pound, 

 a diflerence which will be greeted with joy by the lower classes of our 

 large jiopulation. 



It is a pleasant duty for me thus publicly to express in the name of 

 our association our best thanks to the board of directors of these rail- 

 roads for the kind manner in which they have met our wishes. 



Besides those fish which are caught in the ocean, where of course 

 there can be no attempt at pisciculture, where man reaps without sowing, 

 the fresh-icater fishj of such vast importance for Germany, must not be 

 forgotten. How could we forget our Lake of Constance, the Madue 

 Lake, the Schaal Lake, the 500,000 acres of lakes which the one province 

 of Prussia contains, our numberless rivers and ponds ? Modern civili- 

 zation has done much injury in this respect, an injury which can scarcely 

 be remedied. 



To-day it is my chief object to speak to you of the migratorij fish, which 

 open by far the largest and most important field for our piscicultural 

 efforts, as long as these fish, impelled by an irresistible natural desire, 

 leave their pasture-grounds in the ocean and ascend into our rivers and 

 into our nets. 



Has the quantity of fish in the ocean decreased since those times 

 when, according to well-authenticated reports countless schools of salmon 

 ascended our rivers ? Has the desire to migrate diminished in these 

 fish ? No ; man's greediness has prevented the fish from ascending to 

 their spawning places, or poisoned the water, or ruthlessly caught the 

 young fish ; but I will not call to mind these evils, but too well known. 



Piscicultural efforts must therefore be directed to the migratory fish, 

 and then to the fresh-water fish. 



Allow me to tell you what during the last few years has been done 

 in this direction in North America. The words with which Mr. Eobert 

 Eoosevelt, commissioner of fisheries of the State of New York, opened 

 the meeting of the fishery association are indicative of the results which 

 have been obtained in America. He said, " It gives me great pleasure 

 to see that there is everywhere a constantly increasing interest felt in 



