THE DOMESTICATION OF LANDLOCKED SALMON 

 BREEDERS 



By W. M. Keil 



Consulting' Fishculturist 



Tuxedo Park, N. Y. 



When the writer first began the propagation of landlocked salmon 

 at Tuxedo in 1899, he often wondered why there were no hatcheries 

 anywhere in the United States that had domesticated this fish. It 

 was a splendid sporting variety, and there was a steadily-growing 

 demand for the young fish for stocking purposes; yet all hatcheries 

 that handled the eggs and reared the fish depended entirely upon the 

 collection of wild eggs for their supply. At that time there was no 

 literature available on the subject, nor is there today ; and what in- 

 formation the writer has been able to procure regarding the attempts 

 of others to domesticate this fish was received through correspon- 

 dence. After twenty-two years of continuously handling this salmon 

 under domestication, the writer is no longer in doubt as to the reasons 

 for all other hatcheries giving it up in disgust after a short trial. 

 The Tuxedo Club Fishery is, as far as can be ascertained, the only 

 one in the country at which successful domestication has been carried 

 out. This has been accomplished not because the conditions at this 

 hatchery have been more favorable, nor by reason of any special 

 ability of the fish culturists, but simply through a dogged determina- 

 tion that it could be done, and a belief that through domestication 

 would come an improvement in the species. 



The fingerlings at the Tuxedo hatchery today are the fifth genera- 

 tion of domesticated fish that have never left the hatchery pools. They 

 are infinitely superior in every way to the progeny of wild fish for 

 handling under artificial conditions, and instead of deteriorating from 

 inbreeding, are improving with each generation in color, growth, and 

 resistance to disease. Our experiences in the long up-hill fight to 

 secure these results should prove interesting to many persons. 



When the writer took charge of the Tuxedo Fisheries in 1899 

 there were in the hatchery pools a few hundred undersized year- 

 ling salmon, — left-overs from the lot that had been put out the fall 

 before. The eggs from which they were hatched had been obtained 

 from the Bureau of Fisheries station at Green Lake, Maine. They 

 were a miserable looking lot of fish to hold for breeders, but they 

 were put into a small pool by themselves and special care was taken 

 of them in regard to feeding, cleaning, and frequent salt baths. They 



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