The Bureau of Fisheries 



209 



and many other species has been greatly 

 extended, and commercial fishing, as 

 well as very attractive angling for these 

 species, is now found in many regions 

 where none was previously known. 

 Eighty per cent of the catch of commer- 

 cial fishes in Colorado consists of intro- 

 duced species. 



The Carp. — This fish was introduced 

 into this country in the early years of 

 the Commission. It found a congenial 

 home in our more sluggish waters, is 

 now an abundant fish in many parts 

 of the country, and is the object of an 

 important fishery. The catch last year 

 amounted to 17,160,873 pounds, valued 

 at $407,633, an amount nearly equal to 

 the total appropriation for carrying on 

 the work of the Bureau of Fisheries for 

 the current year. A fishery which adds 

 annually that amount of food-stuff to 

 the supply and puts half a million dol- 

 lars into the pockets of the fishermen 

 is not to be ignored. 



The fact that the introduction of the 

 carp into this country has been severely 

 criticised by anglers and others is of 

 little moment. Not one of the criti- 

 cisms of the carp has been proved and 

 the majority of them have been shown 

 to be without any basis in fact. The 

 most persistently reiterated charge is 

 that the carp eats the eggs and fry of 

 the bass and other better fish. A suffi- 

 cient reply to this is the fact that in the 

 Illinois River, where the carp is more 

 abundant than in any other American 

 river, the black bass is now actually 

 more abundant than it was ever known 

 to be before the introduction of the carp. 

 Instead of the carp feeding upon the 

 bass, they furnish food to the bass. 

 The carp brings more money to the 

 fishermen of Illinois than all other fishes 

 of the state combined. 



Shad and Striped Bass. — A few years 

 ago these two food-fishes were intro- 

 duced into Pacific coast waters where 

 neither was previously found. Both 

 species thrived well, and now the catch 



on the coasts of California, Oregon, 

 and Washington amounts annually to 

 more than 2,500,000 pounds, valued at 

 nearly $78,000. This is an absolute 

 demonstration of the value of artificial 

 propagation, for it is certain that every 

 shad and every striped bass on the Pa- 

 cific coast are descendants of fish planted 

 there. 



That proportionately greater results 

 have followed the propagation of these 

 species on the Atlantic coast is not 

 questioned by any one familiar with the 

 shad and striped bass fisheries. 



Pacific Salmon Fisheries. — The salmon 

 fisheries of the Columbia and Sacra- 

 mento rivers have not only been saved 

 by artificial propagation from absolute 

 ruin, but have been built up to propor- 

 tions never known before the days of 

 artificial hatching. This fact is admit- 

 ted by every cannery man and intelli- 

 gent fisherman on those rivers. Those 

 familiar with the Sacramento say that 

 the run in 1903 was three times as 

 great as ever before known ; and the 

 oldest and most intelligent men on the 

 Columbia say that the run in that great 

 river during the season just past was 

 the greatest they ever saw. Govern- 

 ment hatcheries on these two rivers for 

 several years have been turning out 

 many millions of fry in their waters. 



The condition of the salmon fisheries 

 of Puget Sound, Fraser River, and 

 Alaska is in marked contrast. Little 

 attention has been given to artificial 

 propagation of salmon on Puget Sound, 

 the Fraser River, or in Alaska, regions 

 in which the salmon fisheries have been 

 prosecuted no more assiduously than on 

 the Columbia and Sacramento. The 

 catch in Alaska has been kept up only 

 through more persistent fishing and by 

 utilizing the inferior species not pre- 

 viously considered fit to can. The sea- 

 son of 1903 on Fraser River and Puget 

 Sound was the poorest in the history of 

 the salmon fishery of that region. That 

 the run of salmon has greatly increased 



