CHAPTER XV 



THE CULTIVATION OF SEA FISH 

 By R. B. MARSTON (EDITOR OF THE FISHING GAZETTE) 



Although some attempts at cultivating sea fish have been 

 made in this country, they have generally been on a small 

 scale, and it is not possible at present to point to much, if 

 any, success. Even in the case of the noblest of our migratory 

 fish, the salmon {Salmo salar), I regret to say that I can find no 

 satisfactory evidence that success has attended any of the many 

 attempts which have been made to increase its numbers by 

 artificial cultivation, not only in this country, but also on the 

 Continent and in America. That all attempts to stock the 

 rivers of New Zealand with salmon have failed is not due 

 to any fault or imperfection in the artificial cultivation of 

 the fish. Many thousands of salmon smolts have descended 

 the New Zealand rivers to the sea, but they never return; 

 and I believe still that the reason for this which I gave some 

 twenty years ago is the right one — viz. that the swarms of 

 voracious fish in the seas of New Zealand give the smolts 

 no chance. Although salmon have not succeeded in New 

 Zealand, trout have done so magnificently that if there were 

 nothing else to point to as a justification for the science of 

 fish-culture, the hundreds of rivers and lakes of New Zealand 

 now teeming with grand trout would be sufficient. 



Can the Sea be Fished Out ? 



Under this title I gave in the Nineteenth Century Review 

 for November, 1901, some account of the very important 



