XV.—REPORT ON THE CONDITION OF PISCICULTURE IN FOR- 
EIGN COUNTRIES FROM DOCUMENTS COLLECTED AT THE 
INTERNATIONAL FISHERY EXPOSITION AT BERLIN, 1880. 
3y M. C. RAVERET-WATTEL.* 
THE UNITED STATES. 
To this day pisciculture has nowhere produced results which can be 
compared to those obtained in the United States. In no other country 
has this industry attained to the same degree of development, perfec- 
tion, and success. Butit must also be said that perhaps no other nation 
has so fully understood the great importance of pisciculture, and that 
in no other country have such great efforts been made. Nowhere, cer- 
tainly, has so much been accomplished by private enterprise ; nowhere 
has the government given so much enlightened care to the rational cul- 
tivation of the waters, and afforded such efficient protection and gener- 
ous encouragement. 
At present thirty-six States or Territories of the Union have each an 
official piscicultural organization, called a State Fish Commission, gen- 
erally composed of three members, whose services are, in nearly all 
cases, given gratuitously,! and whose authority is generally limited to 
a period of three or four years. These Commissioners may, however, 
at the expiration of their term, be reappointed for another term; and 
their official position somewhat resembles that of the commissioned In- 
spectors of Fisheries of Great Britain. Their authority, however, is in 
no case very great. It is their duty to instruct fishermen, to stock the 
waters with young fish from the State piscicultural establishments,’ to 
act as experts for the government, to point out desirable changes in 
legislation, to repress abuses, to adopt protective measures,* introduce 
*Rapport | sur la | situation de la pisciculture a Vétranger, | d’aprés les documents recueillis 
a& V Exposition internationale | de produits et engins de péche de Berlin | en 1880, | par M. C 
RAVERET-WATTEL. | Bulletin mensuel | de la | Société nationale | d’acclimatation | de 
France, | 3¢ série, tome ix, | No. 2, February, 1882, | p. 69.—Translated from the French 
by HERMAN JACOBSON. 
1They are only reimbursed for their traveling expenses, and for expenses incurred 
during scientific researches or technical labors performed by them. 
2The management of each establishment is generally confided to a superintendent, 
who draws a salary, and who is responsible for his administration. 
3In the United States legislation affecting fishing differs in the different States. In 
the Northern States it generally resembles, more or less, the English legislation. Nearly 
[1] A477 
