150 SEA FISHERIES 



will re-establish the equilibrium. From the social point 

 of view it appears as a remedy destined to cure the evil 

 caused by the small fisherman ; that is, as a means of 

 subsistence for those very men. The more the larvae 

 are kept in aquaria, says M. Fabre-Domergue very truly, 

 the greater is the economy as compared with natural 

 production. If, in nature, 6,000 fertilised eggs are indeed 

 required to produce one single larva 15 days of age, 

 it is manifest that the artificial production of larvae will 

 represent, not an equivalent number of larvae, but a 

 number proportional to that which would be necessary 

 to assure the survival of our larvae up to the day of their 

 release. In other words, by rearing a single larva for 

 15 days the naturalist will compensate nature for the 

 loss of 5,999 larvae ! 



This is mere reasoning ; it is not an experimental 

 result. Let us put the question : Yes or no, has marine 

 piscifacture resulted in more plentiful catches in any 

 given region formerly deplenished ? It is difficult to 

 answer precisely. Captain Dannevig, Director of the 

 Laboratory of Flodwig, in Norway, declares that from 

 1883 to 1898 1,800 millions of cod fry were thrown into 

 the fjord, and that the annual expenses of the station 

 amount to 612 for an annual production of 412 millions 

 of fry, or 2,700 fry for each penny expended. And he 

 also states that, according to the statistics, " the cod fishery 

 is developing rapidly on the Norwegian coast, and the 

 largest catches are made in the neighbourhoods which 

 have been supplied with fry." But what grounds of 

 error are there not in the evaluation, apparently so 

 simple, of a phenomenon in reality so complex ! It is 

 true that 412 millions of fry from '2 to '4 of an inch in 

 length are released in the sea each year. But what do 

 they represent among their fellows born among natural 



