40 



Part III. — Twenty-sixth Annual Report 



II.— ON SEA-FISH HATCHING. 



The Lochfynb Experiments with Plaice. By Dr. T. Wemyss 

 Fulton, Scientific Superintendent. 



(Plate II.) 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



1. Introduction, ....... 40 



2. The Sea-Fish Hatchery of the Fishery Board, . . .41 



3. The Principles of Sea-Fish Hatching, . . . .42 



4. Proofs of Results, ...... 46 



5. The Acclimatisation of the Shad in the Pacific, . . 48 



6. Special Statistics, ...... 49 



7. Special Investigations, ...... 51 



8. The Experiments with Plaice in Lochfyne, . . .52 



9. The Results, . 56 



10. Discussion of Results, ...... 59 



1. Introduction. 



It is now a considerable number of years since the artificial propagation 

 of sea fishes was introduced with the object of increasing the abundance 

 of certain species on the fishing grounds. It was first begun by the 

 United States Fish Commission in 1878, when several millions of cod 

 were hatched and turned into the sea, and it has since been regularly 

 prosecuted in America on an increasingly large scale. Later, in 1884, 

 the well-known Norwegian cod hatchery was established at Flodevigen, 

 near Arendal, and other hatcheries for marine food fishes have been insti- 

 tuted in America, New South Wales, New Zealand, England, and 

 Scotland, the latest being a hatchery for plaice at Drontheim, Norway. 



It is in the United States that the artificial culture of the food fishes 

 has been conducted on the greatest scale. According to the latest report 

 of the Commissioner of Fisheries,* the amount voted by Congress for th6 

 propagation and distribution of fish and eggs in the fiscal year, including 

 the maintenance of stations, was 275,000 dollars, while other 179,180 dol- 

 lars were provided for the salaries of employees directly concerned in fish 

 culture, the total appropriation being 454,180 dollars, or about ^94,600. 

 The piscicultural work of ihe Bureau of Fisheries is in the main concerned 

 with fresh-water forms, and there is no means of showing the amount 

 expended on the propagation of marine fishes ; but three permanent 

 hatcheries (at Gloucester, Mass. ; Woods Hole, Mass. ; and Boothbay 

 Harbour, Me.) and several temporary hatcheries are devoted to this 

 branch of the piscicultural work. In the year named the output of fry 

 from these hatcheries was as follows : — Cod, 235,422,000 ; winter 

 flounder, 178,625,000 • pollack, 86,299,000 ; haddock, 2,499,000 ; tautog 

 (a Labrid, Tautoga onitis), 450,000; lobster, 167,909,000. These 

 figures sufficiently show the extent of the work in the United States. 



The artificial propagation of food fishes is also carried on very exten- 

 sively in Canada, the amount of the appropriation for it in the fiscal year 

 ending 31st March, 1907, being 158,000 dollars, or nearly ^£33,000. t 

 Most attention is devoted to fresh-water forms, but five of the 34 



* Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries to the Secretary of Commerce and 

 Labor for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1907. 



t Fortieth Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, 1907. 



