CHAPTER XXV. 



PROGRESSIVE FISH CULTURE. 



THE entire number of fishes inhabiting the waters of the United States i? some- 

 thing over 1,400. More than 300 of these have a recognized economic value. 



The first attempt at artificial fish culture in the United States was made by Dr. 

 Theodatus Garlick in 18-51. 



Massachusetts established the first board of fish commissioners in 1856, to con- 

 sider the practicability of artificial propagation. 



The era of practical fish culture was inaugurated in 1864. by Mr. Seth Green. 



New Hampshire appropriated the first public money for fish cultural purposes 

 in 1865. Massachusetts organized the first state fish commission in 1866. 



The United States Fish Commission was established in 1871. 

 The American Fish Cultural Association was established in the same year. 



Fish hatching was first publicly shown at Coup's Aquarium by Fred Mather 

 in 1875. 



The first exhibition of fishing appliances was made by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion at Philadelphia in 1876. 



Carp were introduced in 1877, and since then have been planted in 20,000 locali- 

 ties in different parts of the country. 



Floating hatcheries were introduced in 1877. 

 The propagation of marine fishes was first undertaken in 1878. 



In 1880 the grand prize of the International Fisheries Exhibition at Berlin was 

 awarded to Prof. Baird as "the first fish culturist in the world." 



The steamer Fish Hawk was built for the U. S. Fish Commission in 1880. 



The steamer Albatross was put in commission in 1883. 



Thirty states and territories now have fish commissions. 



The total amount of public appropriations by the United States and the several 

 state commissions up to the present year has been fully $2,500,000. 



The weight of edible fish taken from the' waters of the United States is two 

 thousand million pounds annually, or about forty pounds to each inhabitant. 



The value of the annual fish product is $45,000,000. 



The number of persons dependent on the fisheries is one million. 



About 12 per cent of the whole number of fishermen are foreign-born. 



The principal commercial fish products are : Oysters, cod, salmon, whales, men- 

 haden, fur seals, mackerel, shad, alewives, herring, sardines, clams and quahogs, 

 whitefish. lobsters, sea otters, halibut, crabs, haddock, sturgeon, mullet, shrimp and 

 prawns, eels, sponges, abelones, seals and sea elephants, hake, scallops, red snappers 

 and groupers, smelt, turtle and terrapin, mussels, flounders, swordfish, sea weed, 

 sea salt and Irish moss. 



In the days of the early beginning a few varieties of fresh water and anad- 

 romous fishes were hatched in rude hatching troughs in small hatching houses, with 

 primitive waterworks of insufficient volume, by Lyman, Green, Ainsworth, Slack, 

 Stone, Atkins, Brackett, Mather and a few others, but in 1877 the United States 

 Fishery Commission practically took the whole matter of fish culture under its 

 charge as a national enterprise. While it eagerly availed itself of all the knowledge 



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