52 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Febrdarv 17, 8181 



46. Essay on tlio natural history and habits of tho herring, with 

 suggestions for the improvement of the fisheries of the same 

 in tho United Kingdom, to be considered as a source of 

 national wealth, ±"50. 

 -17. Essay on Hie hen lug net, showing. the beet mesh for the cap- 

 ture of the matured fish, and means for maims the use of 

 such mesh compulsory in Great Britain and other nations 

 fishing in the same waters, £21. 

 _ In addition to the special prizes and government medals, gold, 

 silver and bronze medals and diplomas of honor will be awarded in 

 respect of the exhibits considered most meritorious by the jurors 

 iu classes 1 to 5, and diplomas of honor only in class 6 of loan col- 

 lections of the general classification. 



W. Oldham Chambers, Hon. Sec, Lowestoft. 



THE CENTRAL FISHCULTURAL SOCIETY. 



rOONTtXlJED.] 



MR. CLARK: This experiment by Mr. Fairbank proves 

 the importance of planting great numbers unci making 

 heir presence felt by the force of those numbers. If all who 

 plant new fishes in their waters would put in a half million 

 or more, they would be able to see the result. 



Mr. Millkr : I agree with Mr. Clark on the value of 

 planting in great qnantity iu one place, and in Michigan we 

 have not done so on the salmon, although we have planted in 

 years past l,7Gi),000. Wc arc now bonding our energies on 

 the whitetish while awaiting the results on former plantings 

 o£ salmon. In this connection it, may be proper to give the 

 exact figures of our work since 1874, which are as follows: 



Planted, from IT. S. Firth Commission, shad. 40.000. 



Planted eggs from U. S. V, C, our. hatching, limd-locked sal- 

 mon, 100,000. 



Planted eggs from U. S. P. C , our hatching, Atlantic salmon, 

 220,000. 



Planted eggs from TJ. S. F. C , om hatching. California salmon, 

 l,7fii),000. 



Planted in inland lakes, lake trout, 1,000,000. 



Planted silver eels. 1,000.000. 



Planted brook trout, 500,000. 



Of the latter 64,000,000 went in the Great Lakes and the 

 Detroit River, and 16,000,000 iu the inland lakes. 



Mr.. Wklsher: I saw the salmon which my son caught, to 

 which Mr. Fairbank refers, and I saw some others. When 

 up at Geneva Lake last fall I noticed a female salmon which 

 was loo big to get up the creek: should think she. might weigh 

 twenty-live pounds. 1 also saw indications of beds iu the 

 gravel near the creek which ruus from Mr. Fairbank's ponds. 

 They were quite near the shore iu the lake, which has gravel 

 along its edges for some distance into the lake. I also have 

 some young salmon in the Wisconsin hatchery which came 

 from eggs taken from the State ponds. 



Mh. Cameron then offered a resolution authorizing the 

 appointment of a committee of three to draft a bill for the 

 protection of fish iu the Mississippi River and its tributaries, 

 aud report it back for action at the next meeting of the 

 Society. 



Mi:. Shaw : I am in favor of this resolution, and intended 

 to ask all who are interested in fish culture, especially those 

 whose interests are iu the Mississippi and its tributaries, to 

 give their views on this subject, in hope that something 

 might be brought out which would be of value. 



Mb. Miller : I would like to amend it so as to include the 

 Great Lakes. 



Mr. Cameron: I accept the amendment. 



Mr. Bai.loi; : In place of the above I beg leave to offer the 

 following: 



" WnuKKAs, The food fishes ot Lake Michigan are rapidly dis- 

 appearing : and 



" Whereas, A general law of protection should extend to all 

 fishes, as to all birds and mammals ; and 



" Wuekeak, The United States government recognizes tho juris- 

 diction of States over navigable waters within or bordering their 

 coasts, by asking permission to fortify military positions, erect 

 lighthouses, make coast surveys, remove obstructions to naviga- 

 tion and construct harbors, breakwaters, etc. 



" SesOlvect, That a committee of three scientists be appointed to 

 determine the protection, and time of the same, needed for fishes ; 



"That a committee of three from each bordering State be antnor- 

 ipective Legislature on the action of 



the 



•otitic 



littel 



"That the scientific committee confer with the United States 

 Fish ComeossiuiK-r relative to the passage of some law for the pro- 

 tection of food fishes of the great lakes and the Mississippi River.'' 



Mr. Fairbank: Rather than a committee of scientific men 

 I would prefer to choose the committee from among the fish- 

 ermen, the pouud and gill-net men, who would sit down and 

 talk it over, and who know exactly what they are talking 

 about and what they want ; men who know where their bread 

 and butter comes from, and who would take care that no 

 hasty legislation cut it off. They would be more apt to get 

 a satisfactory bill framed than any others. I object to men 

 who are merely t dentists, and nothing else, framing laws. 

 If you go to prohibiting fishing during the spawning seasons, 

 through a sentimental feeling that it is not right, you will 

 get uo fish to cat. The shad, the whitefish and several other 

 fishes are away beyond reach except at their spawning sea- 

 sons. 



Mis. Ballot; i My object is to prevent the wanton destruc- 

 tion of fish by taking them in the spawning season. 



In. Clark : No doubt the gentleman means well, but he 

 is mistaken in some of his facts. The whitefish spawn at 

 different times. Were you aware of that? 



Mr. Ballot; ; 1 would like proof o[ that. Who says so? 



Mu.Cljkk: I say so, and I presume that there are men 

 bW) W]iO krtC.'V,' Whether I Utivt! hat} ex]wrjt!iv;y enfiUgU to 



warrant me in speaking as an authority on the habits of white- 

 fish. 



Mr. Bootu : I am willing to accept Mr. Clark as authority 

 on this subject, ho certainly has worked with the fish long 

 enough to know their habits. 



Mr. Clark : We find that the whitefish of the Detroit 

 River, and those at Alpena and Petosky spawn at different 

 times. 



Mr. Lttlr; As late as Nov. 25 we took wdiitefish eggs for 

 the Wisconsin Commission at Escauaba and got the best 

 spawners. 



Mr. Miller : My experience bears out Mr. Clark's state- 

 ment. Wc took eggs at Alpena on the 10th of November, 

 until prevented by storms, and afterward went to Petosky 

 and took some near the middle of November, from 7th to 

 10th. Wo then obtained some from the Detroit River in De- 

 cember, being obliged to work as we could by permission of 

 the weather. I am satisfied that there is no necessity for 

 other protection than a close time when no fish are taken. 

 There is a misapprehension about nets, the pouud nets being 

 more destructive than the gill-nets, for the latter seldom take 

 the spawning fish. 



Mr. Clark : After finishing in deep water the gillers go 

 in shore. 



Mr. Fairbank : I am opposed to meddling with the laws 

 for protection, aud think we arc wasting time in discussing 

 questions of little value. 



Mh. Miller : That is my opinion also. I think we need 

 laws, but we can't get them. If the general government will 

 give Prof. Baird liberal appropriations, and our States will 

 follow the same course with their commissioners, we can 

 hatch the fish in such quantities that the stock will be more 

 than kept good, and so fish will be plenty without quarreling 

 with the fishermen about when they will catch them. 



Mr. Ma'ijiek : The last remark of Mr. Miller reminds me 

 that I have often thought that it made little difference, when 

 a fish was taken the result was the same. If you take a trout 

 in the spring of the year she can't spawn in the fall, and is 

 as much out of the way of increasing her species as if she 

 was allowed to live all summer and killed in August. A 

 whitefish taken on the spawning beds is no more of a loss 

 than if killed two months before, and that, as so many of the 

 gentlemen have said before, is the Only time to get them. 



Mis. Clark i Fishermen should be licensed, and the money 

 paid for their license should form a fund to be devoted to 

 fishculture. The fee need not be large, not large enough to 

 bear hard upon the fishermen, but the small sum paid by the 

 many individuals would swell the aggregate to an amount 

 which would pay for the stocking of the waters on a grand 

 scale. 



Mr. Booth: I believe, both as a fisherman and a market- 

 man, more in propagation than protection. We bad a pro- 

 tective society on the Pacific Coast and protected the salmon 

 in the Columbia River until we came to the end of our tether. 

 The result was that six years ago the salmon ran out. and the 

 fisheries were abandoned. Three years ago, through propa- 

 gation, three times as many were caught and the fishermen 

 have, come back. On Ibis river, which was thought depleted 

 a few years ago, until we were forced to abandon our fisher- 

 ies, we organized a company for the propagation of salmon. 

 This year the fish were scarce in June, but hi July more were 

 taken than were wanted, the result of the plantings four 

 years ago. Prof. Baird had advised us to raise the means 

 and put in more fish than the people could take out. 



Mis. B-AIXotJ; I cau only say that I think that propaga- 

 tion without protection is only a half-way measure. 



Mr. Fairbank : This is a very old question, the theoreti- 

 cal man runs against tile fishermen and sometimes makes a 

 mistake. There is no doubt but the capture of small white- 

 fish tends to deplete the waters, but if a law is passed regu- 

 lating the size of the mesh so that all small whitefish will pass 

 through, then no herring are taken, and in trying to avoid 

 one evil we fall into auother, for the so-called lake herring 

 is a most valuable food fish, closely related to tho whitefish, 

 and not a true herring at all. They are a very palatable fish 

 and their numbers make their capture both profitable to tho 

 fishermen and the peoplo who cmsume them, aud I question 

 if any one has a right to destroy this fishery, even to save the 

 young whitefish, which, no doubt, are caught with and 

 sold for lake herrings. 



Mr. Mather: This subject having been argued at length 

 I call for the question. 



Mr. Cameron : Let us have the question aud bring it to a 

 test. It seems to me that we are almost unanimous on it. 



Mr. Ballou: I will withdraw the resolutions. 



Mr. Uartlett: I have been greatly intctested in the pa- 

 per read by Mr. Mather on the wonderful growth of carp in 

 this country, but notice that most of the reports which he 

 quotes come from the Southern States. My own experience, 

 which was given at the conclusion of the paper, was, of 

 course, in the warm waters of Illinois. How will this fish 

 thrive io Canada? 



Mr. Matuer: It is impossible to say how it will thrive 

 where it has not been tried. But few have been sent to Can- 

 ada and no reports have been received from there, but as 

 their summers are warm there would seem to be no reason 

 . why they would not do well there. Since the paper which 

 Mr. Bartlett refers to was written I learn that Mr. Munn, of 

 tho SebmiXjfc Alfwmaft, received carp of three inches long in 

 May and placed them iu his pond neat' New York city, where 

 - to fifteen inches long thi« summer, so that while 

 the BoUtUeW g&teS may crow H'c lQVj4t I (W N $$f wonder. 



f ul growth it is clearly established that the fish docs splendid- 

 ly in Northern waters, and as an article of food I believe that 

 in twenty years the carp will produce more tons of food, from 

 Maine to California aud fron Minnesota to Texas, than any 

 other fresh water non-migratory fish within our borders. 

 The Secretary then read the following communication: 



FISHCULTURE, FISHING TACKLE, HYBRIDIZING' 

 AND POUND NETS. 



BY SETH GREEN. 



N. K. Fairbank, Esq., President Central Fisbcultural So- 

 ciety : 



I note with pleasure that your society is to have a meet- 1 

 ing. _ I am very glad to see that you are taking steps toward 

 keeping up the interest in what I think is destined to become 

 one of the greatest improvements of the age. There is noth- 

 ing of more importance to the people than the production of 

 that article which is necessary to keep soul and body to- 

 gether. 



lam almost daily in receipt of letters showing the increase 

 of fish iu the different sections of our State, and the people 

 are more than pleased with the success of the undertaking. ' 

 The cases are very rare, where the fish have been judiciously 

 planted," that the results have uot been satisfactory. One of 

 the greatest studies of a fishculturist should lie the adapta- 

 bility of the different varieties of fish for the different waters. 

 If this subject is carefully studied the success is insured 

 from the beginning. 



During last summer and fall I made several trips to our 

 inland waters for the purpose of teaching the people the best 

 methods for taking the fish contained' in their respective 

 lakes with hook and line, in which I was very successful. 

 The principal fish which the people have difficulty in taking 

 in our inland lakes are salmon-trout and black bass, more 

 especially the former. The causes arc that they are a deep 

 water fish and the waters they inhabit are very clear and 

 bright. The tackle generally used is so coarse and rough 

 that in m my cases it is more of a scarecrow than a bait. 

 Fish are gifted with more intelligence than they are given 

 credit for, and many an angler would have returned home 

 with a better basket of fish taken by his own baud and not 

 been obliged to stop at the fish market and have it filled had 

 he stopped to consider that he is dealing with creatures who 

 are as capable of detecting fraud in their element as man i, 

 in his. When the people learn how to take fish with hook; 

 and line the tendency will be to stop netting, which is doing 

 so much to devastate our comparatively small waters. Once 

 get the belter class of people interested in the waters in their 

 vicinity, aud let them see that a mess of fresh fish can be had 

 for the taking at their door most any day when they feel dis- 

 posed to have a fish dinner, and they will take active mi 

 tires toward protecting their wipers from the depredations of 

 a lot of individuals wlio at best can make a living 1ml a Tew 

 months in the year and the rest of tho time cause' thcmsel 

 and families to live in groat privation. 



There is no deed of charity that the rich can do for the 

 benefit of their poor neighbors than to keep our waters well 

 stocked and protected from wholesale slaughter and during ; 

 their spawning seasons. 



No waters can be depleted by hook and lino fishing alone. 

 The attention of fishcullurists have been of late called to the « 

 subject of hybridizing. We have made several attempts at 

 the New York State hatchery with several different varie- 

 ties. I will give you the results of two experiments that are ■ 

 the most fully developed. 



Four years ago tikis last fall we crossed the male California i 

 salmon with the female common trout. But a small percent- 

 age of the eggs were impregnated. They hatched in about 

 fifty days. The young fry "were healthy, and we have sue- 1 

 cecd' d in raising between seventy-five and one hundred up to 

 the present time. 



During November, 1879, I observed that they showed 

 signs of spawning. I watched them carefu'lyand discovered 

 that there was either no males among them, or they were 

 not far enough developed to assist in the process of incuba- 

 tion. To overcome this difficulty I placed in the same pond 

 with them several male brook trout. November 28, 1870, ] 

 we took from them a few T hundred spawn. It was found in 

 attempting to take the spawn that the vent was too small for 

 them to pass their eggs, and we were obliged to enlarge the l 

 aperture to obtain the spawn. The eggs were nearly the t 

 size of salmon trout aud the fish had brook trout vents. " We 

 used brook trout milt on them, but none were impregnated. 

 The largest of these fish will weigh nearly a pound. They i 

 resemble both parents. A good many of them are deformed 

 in some way and they are an extremely shy fish. 



The result of the other experiment I have recently written 

 for the papers aud append the article as published : * 



At the New York State Hatchery we have a pond containing sixty 

 hybrid trout, the cross is malo salmon trout with female brook 

 trout. They are now three years old, aud will average one-half 

 pound each in weight ; the largest will weigh three-fourths of a 

 pound. They resemble both parents, but are a little inclined the 

 most toward salmon trout. November 1 thev commenced spawn- 

 ing for the first time, and continued until November 12. Wo 

 succeeded in obtaining 19,400 spawn. A remarkable fact concern- 

 ing the spawn is that they are fully two sizes smaller tliau brook 

 trout spawn. It may be necessary for me to state, that salmon 

 trout spawn are twice as large as brook trout spawn. One would 

 suppose that the spawn would be in size between salmon front and 

 brook trout, but instead they are smaller than either. The eggs 

 are perfeetin shape, and a cood percentage arc impregnated and 

 doing well. The formation of the tisli in the egg can at present be 

 seen plainly. They commenced to spawn just after the salmon 

 trout had stopped spawning and just before the brook trout had 

 fairly commenced. It is my opinion that they will make a fish 

 well adapted to either lakes or streams. They are a well- formed 

 and handsome fish, and the prospects are that they wUl bo a Vi 

 able addition Io our better class of food fishes. 



Wo also crossed a few hundred hybrid trout eggs with male 

 brook trout ; a good percentage are impregnated. 



All of the tish at the hatchery am looking exeoertinglj well. Wo 

 shall fake a large supply of brook trout spav.n, also California 

 mountain trout spawn : tho breeders of this varietc arc in iino con- 

 dition, and we shall be able to furnish all parties in this State de- 

 sirous of procuring them for public waters with a good supply of 

 young fry. 



Improvement iu fishing implements are keeping pace with 

 all other inventions. The pound net is one of the great in- 

 ventions for taking fish and they will deplete any waters 

 where they are used unless the mesh is made large enough, 

 so that thev will let the young fish through. If the mesh is 

 made so large that any fish weighing less than one aud a 

 half pouuda"oan go through the fishermen will in three years 

 from now take nearly as many fish an they do now, and in 

 point of weight tho increase would be many fo'd creator. 

 They will take just aj mo,iiy [ftrgi " i| •• M ■■ ■ i • 



