114 FISH FARMING : 



eggs from wild trout is considerably facilitated if the fish are 

 caught from properly protected redds, such as I have already 

 described. The work of obtaining salmon suitable for spawn- 

 ing purposes is still more difficult " Collecting salmon eggs," 

 wrote the late Sir James Maitland, " will remain a difficult 

 business until fishery boards sufficiently understand the true 

 interests of their districts and build proper ponds in which to 

 retain the gravid fish until ripe." He goes en to mention 

 hoiw it took five days' netting ait the mouths of the Almond 

 and the Earn to obtain 175,000 salmon eggs, while, on the 

 other hand, from, his ponds at Howietoun, he obtained no less 

 than 600,000 trout eggs himself in one morning ! The enor- 

 mous difference in cost is made clear from tlie fact that the 

 expense of collecting salmon eggs ranges from ten shillings to 

 fifteen shilling's per thousand, which is more than treble the 

 keep per annum of mature trout in stock-ponds per thousand 

 eggs produced at spawning time. 



Undoubtedly, the most valuable trout for spawning pur- 

 poses are " wild " fish, and it follows that they are most easily 

 and most economically netted from protected redds. If wi'd 

 fish aore not available or not obtainable of sufficient size, an 

 alternative method of getting good spawners is to rear some 

 fish from known, and consequently suitable, parents to the 

 yearling stage (not beyond), turn them into waters at that 

 stage, and allow them to run " wild " until they approach the 

 completion of their fourth season, when they may be netted 

 or caught out, transferred to proper stock-ponds or fenced-off 

 lengths of river or stream, and thereafter kept in confinement 

 and used for spawning purposes in due season. In some cases 

 spawners reared in the latter manner are actually to be pre- 

 ferred to absolutely wild fish, especially when the wild fhh 

 are of small size. Artificially reared fish, and by this I mean 

 fish which have been kept in confinement from the time of 

 hatching, are not to be recommended for spawning purposes, 

 but, nevertheless, they are, in some cases, not to be entirely 

 condemned. It would appear that where such fish have the 

 opportunity of getting a plentiful supply of natural fo-cd. 



