1160 REPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [22] 



those animals which are grouped by zoologists in the class Pisces. 

 *' Fishery " is now understood to signify the exploitation of all products 

 of sea, lake, and river j the capture of whales, turtles, pearls, corals, 

 and sponges, as well as of salmon, mackerel, and sardines. The pur- 

 pose of fish culture, or aquiculture, as it is in France more appropri- 

 ately named, is to counteract by reparative, and also by preventive 

 measures, the destructive effects of fishery. 



By public fish culture, or modern Jish culture, I mean fish culture carried 

 on at public exi)ense and for the public good. Public fish culture, to be 

 efficient, must be conducted by men trained in scientific methods of 

 thought and work. 



The distinction between private and public fish culture must be care- 

 fully observed. The maintenance of ponds for carp, trout, and other 

 domesticated species, is an industry to be classed with poultry raising 

 and bee keeping, and its interest to the political economist is but slight. 



The proper function of ])ublic fish culture is the stocking of the 

 public waters with fish in which no individual can claim the right of 

 property. 



The comparative insignificance of the private fish culture of Europe 

 is perhaps what has led to the recent savage attack upon fish culture 

 in general by Professor Malragren, of the University of Helsingfors, 

 in Finland, which has caused so much consternation among continental 

 fish-breeders. European fish culturists have always operated only with 

 small numbers of eggs. The establishment of Sir James Maitland, at 

 Howieton, near Stirling, Scotland, is the finest and largest private es- 

 tablishment in the world, and yields a handsome addition to the revenues 

 of its proprietor. A description of this hatchery is published as one of 

 the conference papers of the International Fisheries Exhibition, and 

 that the distinction between public and private enterprise in fish culture 

 may be understood, it should be compared with the following statement 

 by Mr. Livingston Stone, the superintendent of one of the seventeen 

 hatcheries supported by the United States Fish Commission, that on 

 the McCloud River, in California : 



"In the eleven years since the salmon breeding station has been in 

 operation 67,000,000 eggs have been taken, most of which have been 

 distributed in the various States of the Union. Several million, how- 

 ever, have been sent to foreign countries, including Germany, France, 

 Great Britain, Denmark, Russia, Belgium, Holland, Canada, New Zea- 

 land, Australia, and the Sandwich Islands. 



"About 15,000,000 have been hatched at the station, and the young 

 fish i)laced in the McCloud and other tributaries of the Sacramento 

 River. So great have been the benefits of this restocking of the Sacra 

 mento that the statistics of the salmon fisheries on the Sacramento 

 show that the annual salmon catch of the river has increased 5,000,000 

 pounds each year during the last few years." 



