FISHERIES OF AMERICA 161 



are the only countries which take an 

 intelligent interest in fish culture as a 

 commercial undertaking. While the British 

 do nothing in this direction, America 

 hatches fish by thousands of millions. In 

 1917 the Dominion fish hatcheries dis- 

 tributed the following fry : 115 million 

 salmon and trout ; 500 million white fish ; 

 240 million herrings and pickerel ; 600 

 million lobsters. The great lakes of Canada 

 are cultivated ; the propagation of trout, 

 bass, and other freshwater fish is a State 

 undertaking. The white fish of the ocean 

 are carefully protected. The lobster fishery, 

 which was threatened by over-fishing, is 

 again an active industry ; the Government 

 collects the eggs attached to the swim- 

 merets of the female fish, which are of no 

 value to the catcher, and these are carefully 

 hatched out. Why cannot the British 

 copy these methods and re-stock the rocky 

 western coast of Scotland with these much- 

 prized crustaceans ? The ground is ideal, 

 and consequently the result of a little care 

 would be extremely profitable to the 

 natives of those regions. Before the war 

 the average price of lobsters when landed 

 ii 



