FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 1 93 



studio in New York City by Mr. James B. Johnson. In 1865, the first successful 

 attempt to hatch codfish eggs was made in Norway, and two years later the Seth 

 Green shad hatching box' was invented; and thus the list of fishes with different 

 breeding seasons and with eggs of a different character hatched artificially continued 

 to grow. The trout (except some species in Western United States that are spring 

 spawners) and salmon are fall spawning fishes, with heavy non-adhesive eggs ; the 

 codfish a winter spawning sea fish with floating eggs, and the shad a spring spawning 

 fish with semi-bouyant, non-adhesive eggs. As the eggs of these fishes required 

 each a different treatment to hatch them successfully, great progress was made in the 

 science of fish culture in a few years. 



Chapter 285 of the Laws of New York for 1868, is entitled: "An act to appoint 

 Commissioners of Fisheries, for the State of New York." This was passed April 22, 

 and the first Fish Commission in this State was created. Under this act ex-Governor 

 Horatio Seymour, Seth Green and Robert B. Roosevelt were appointed Commissioners 

 and the first report made by this Commission was issued in March, 1869. 



In the light of what has been accomplished in this State to increase the supply of 

 food fishes by the Fish Commissioners and their successors the Fisheries, Game and 

 Forest Commissioners since the date of the first report, it is of interest to read that few 

 shad were taken in the Hudson River when the Fish Commission first examined the 

 river, and that the retail price of the few rarely fell below seventy-five cents each. 



On one portion of the river " the fishermen did not average four fish a day and on 

 another portion the seines were not taking over one shad to a haul." 



The Commissioners estimated the shad crop in the Hudson River to be worth 

 $7,000 in 1869. 



In 1895 the shad taken in the Hudson River weighed over 4,000,000 pounds and 

 at ten cents each for buck shad and twenty cents for roe shad the catch was worth 

 $184,897.60 — nearly four times as much as the entire annual expenses of the Fisheries, 

 Game and Forest Commission for fish propagation and distribution. 



In 1870, the Deutscher Fischerei Verein was established, an organization which 

 has had a powerful influence in piscicultural matters in Europe. Different States in 

 the United States and other countries in Europe than those mentioned had not been 

 idle during the years already mentioned. Italy, Bohemia, Austria, Switzerland, 

 Finland, Belgium, Holland, Russia and Canada had been making progress in fish 

 culture and had established fish breeding establishments, and the States of 

 Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine, 

 California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Alabama had organized Fish Commissions 

 and constructed fish hatching stations that were hatching fish and planting them in the 

 public waters of the respective States. In 1870, an organization was formed (the 

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