FEDERAL FISH FARMING 



435 



the cultivation of the cod and the lobster 

 many years ago, it proceeded on the prin- 

 ciple that the effects of the fishermen's 

 improvidence could be counteracted by 

 artificial propagation. The ultimate suc- 

 cess of cod and lobster culture on the At- 

 lantic coast was therefore confidently ex- 

 pected, and the expectations have been 

 more than realized. Practical results 

 of an unmistakable character were first 

 manifested nearly twenty years ago, since 

 which time a very lucrative shore cod 

 fishery has been kept up on grounds that 

 were entirely depleted or that had never 

 contained cod in noteworthy numbers in 

 the memory of the oldest inhabitants. 



There is much unsolicited testimony on 

 this point from many people who have 

 profited from the operations of the Maine 

 and Massachusetts stations. The bene- 

 fits have not been confined to the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the hatcheries, but have 

 extended westward and southward along 

 the Middle Atlantic coast and eastward 

 along the whole coast of Maine. 



The benefits of lobster culture have 

 been slower in appearing, owing, in part 

 at least, to the less extensive operations 

 and the excessive mortality to which the 

 young are liable ; but from all parts of 

 the New England coast there are being 

 received reports of more lobsters, par- 

 ticularly of small size, than have been 

 seen for many years, and there is reason 

 to believe that the long-continued decline 

 of the lobster fishery may have been ar- 

 rested. 



PROFITABLE FISH IMPORTED FROM 

 EUROPE 



Economic results of great value have 

 come from the transplanting of native 

 aquatic animals into waters in which 

 they are not indigenous and from the in- 

 troduction of fishes of foreign countries 

 into the United States. The supply of 

 food and game fishes of every section of 

 the country has thus been increased and 

 enriched, fisheries of vast extent have 

 been established, and the pleasures of 

 angling have been greatly enhanced. 



As this phase of the work has recently 



been set forth in detail,* it need not be 

 dwelt on here, and it will be sufficient to 

 note that the acclimatized fishes taken 

 and sold in this couiUry now have a value 

 of fully two million dollars a year. Much 

 more important results, however, are seen 

 in the tremendous quantities of such fish 

 annually caught by anglers and for home 

 consumption, whose money value cannot 

 be reckoned. The aggregate results of 

 acclimatization up to the present time, so 

 far as fish caught and sold are concerned, 

 represent at least twenty million dollars 

 to the fishermen and a fifty-fold return 

 on the government's investment. 



By far the most important of the ex- 

 otic fishes is the German carp, of which 

 in 1908 nearly forty-three million pounds 

 were caught in public waters by profes- 

 sional fishermen, and sold for over a 

 million dollars. These fish were the 

 progeny of carp imported by the bureau 

 many years ago and presented in small 

 lots to farmers and others in all parts of 

 the country for the stocking of private 

 ponds and reservoirs. By the overflow- 

 ing of these waters or the breaking of 

 dams, streams and lakes have become 

 planted with the carp, which is now the 

 most widely distributed fish in the United 

 States. 



HELPING THE SHAD FISHERIES OF NORTH 

 CAROLINA 



The long-continued and systematic field 

 and laboratory work of the bureau has 

 resulted in a most thorough knowledge 

 of the distribution, abundance, habits. etc.. 

 of the fishes and other creatures of the 

 interior, coastwise, and offshore waters of 

 the United States, Hawaii, and Porto 

 Rico — a knowledge which is indispen- 

 sable to the government in its fish-cul- 

 tural work and to the various states and 

 insular authorities in their legislative 

 efforts to preserve their fishery resources. 

 The practical results of this work are ap- 

 parent in numerous specific instances. 



* Our Fish Immigrants : The Acclimatiza- 

 tion of Native and Foreign Water Animals in 

 the United States. By Hugh M. Smith. Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine, June, 1907. 



