364 
SOUTHEEN 
on the European seas have their representatives of the 
same geius along our own coast, and, in many instances, 
are identical on both sides of the Atlantic, The Ameri- 
can Continent is colder than Europe under the same lati 
tude ; there is a difference of from ten to tv/elve degrees ; 
we are not, therefore, to be governed in comparing the 
two continents by parellels of latitude but by the tempera- 
ture. Massachusetts possesses the temperat'ure of that ol 
Denmark; Washington, that of Bordeaux; and the Caro- 
linas, that of Lisbon, Madrid, &c. The fishes of com- 
merce are about equally distributed in the seas of both 
continents; according to the above temperatures. On 
the coast of Great Britain and the North of Europe 
the principal species of the fisheries are the Herring 
(^Clupea kerang'us), the Mackerel (^Scomber vulgartis), 
the S'had {Alosa jinta and Aloso. commiis), the Mul- 
let {Mugil eapito), the Sole {Solea vulgaris), the Turbot 
{Rliombus maximus), the Lamprey marinus), 
the Halibut {Hippoglossiis vulgaris), the Haddock {Morr- 
hua csglefinus), the Pilchard {Clupea pitckardiis) a small 
species of Herring — usually about 7 inches in length. It 
requires from 2,500 to 3,000 grown fish to fill a hogshead. 
Yarrell mentions (vol. 2nd, p. lOG) that in one case 
2,200 hogsheads were captured in one haul of their im- 
mense sea seines, and Borlase records another instance 
where 3,000 hogsheads were taken. The Sturgeon Aci- 
penser siurio). The roe of this fish is greatly sought after 
by the Italians. The Cavear or Kavia is prepared from it. 
It is used as butter in Muscovey and Holland. The greatest 
Sturgeon fishery in the world is in the mouth of the Volga, 
in the Caspian Sea. The Salmon {Salmo salar), the Sal- 
mon Trout ; to this might be added the 
Flounder and Plaice {Plaiessa vulgaris), 
and a few others. It should be observed that thei’e are 
several species in each of the several genera to which 
these species belong. Nearly all of these fish, with the 
exception of the Salmon and the Trout, deposit their spawn 
in the waters (more or less deep) of the ocean. They are 
furnished with a great abundance of eggs, which require 
no protection from man. Black counted five hundred and 
forty thousand ova in a female Mackerel. The numbers 
in these several species although they have declined in 
some years, and on some of the fishing grounds, have in- 
creased in others. The products of the ocean appear in- 
exhaustible, and their multiplication is not dependent on 
the artificial aid of man. 
It is far different, however, with the Salmon and the 
Salmon Trout. These ascend rivers for the purpose of 
spawning, and, being valuable fishes, their numbers were 
reduced by the cupidity of man, and now, by artificial 
means, they are re-stocking their rivers, which, we be- 
lire, will result in success. 
Let us now come nearer home and take a passing glance 
at our own fisheries and fish on this side of the Atlantic 
From the United States census we learn that our country 
employs 9,025 men engaged in the fisheries, and that in 
addition to the immense consumption in America, our ex- 
ports in fish for 10 years down to 1853, amounted to 
;$7, 002,227. 
We have, in America, the Herring, the Mackerel, the 
Cod, the Haddock, the Shad, and, indeed, are represented, 
although in different species, by all the genera that con 
stitute the fishes of commerce in Europe. Their Salmon 
are more abundant than ours. Our Shad are infinitely 
finer and more plentiful than theirs — in Mackerel and 
Herrings, the two countries are about equal. Our Cod 
are more abundant. Of the flat fisii — or Plaice family— 
their Turbot and Sole are superior to ours. The Halibut 
is the same species along the shore of both continents. 
The Salmon in our country is identical with that ol 
Europe. It does not exist South of the Connecticut river 
(lat. 411^), and we doubt whether it ever was found in 
CULTIVATOR. 
any quantity in the Hudson. There were no obstruction.? 
in the river and no steamboats to disturb the waters fifty 
years ago, and we never saw or heard of the Salmon, and 
we have only an account of one or two that have since 
been captured. The European rivers that abound in 
Salmon are short and their waters are fresh to the ocean, 
admitting the Salmon to find a ready access. The Hudson 
is saltfor a hundred miles from the ocean and the tide rises 
for 150 miles. From this cause, or from its being already 
too far to the South, Salmon are not found in its wafers. 
In the Connecticut River, the Salmon is becoming scarcer 
every yfear, in consequence of the erection of weirs and 
mill-dams and other obstacles to its ascent in the spawn- 
ing season; and the New York market is supplied with 
Salmon principally from the Kenebec River, in Maine. 
Salmon spawn might easily be transported from the Kene- 
bec River to the upper waters of the Hudson. The possi- 
bility of success is at least deserving of a fair trial. With 
a little attention and judicious laws, rigidly enforced, the 
Connecticut River could be made to yield a great abun- 
dance of Salmon. 
The American Shad (Alosa sapidisshna) is the most 
valuable of our spring fishes in America. It enters our 
rivers from Alabama to Maine. We believe that the Shad 
return to the several rivers vrhere they were spawned. 
Although it is the same species along our whole Atlan- 
tic coast, yet each river seems to have its variety, so 
that our fishermen speak confidently of being able to 
point out those from theEdisto and those of the Savannah 
Rivers, those of the Delaware and those that come from 
the Schuylkill. We believe that the Shad do not cross the 
Gulf Stream, which is avoided by all but cosmopolite or 
tropical fishes— that they do not migrate far along our 
coast, and that they remain in the ocean contiguous to 
their several rivers, which latter they ascend for the pur- 
pose of spawning. Neither do we believe that the ac- 
count of Herring, represented by Pennant, Anderson 
and the early writers as taking up their winter quarters in 
the Arctic Circle, then making th^ ir way first to the Shet- 
land Islands and from thence along the coasts of Europe 
and America is entitled to any credit, for the following 
reasons : 
1st. None of our voyagers could find the Herring in the 
Arctic s«as. 
2nd. There is no fishery for them either in Iceland or 
Greenland. 
3rd. They are found in deep water, at all seasons, along 
the coasts of Europe and America. 
4th. The Herrings are nearly all of different species 
along the opposite coasts. 
5th. Instead of coming from the North, both the Her- 
ring and the Shad enter Southern rivers long before they 
are heard of farther to the North. The Shad appears in 
our markets, in Georgia and Carolina, in January and 
February; in New York on the beginning of April, and 
in Massachusetts in May. 
We perceive that, by a Bill introduced into the New 
York Senate, every fisherman is required to impregnate 
the spawn of two dozen female fish with the milt of the 
same number of males, toward the close of the fishing 
season, and plant the same on his fishing ground in the 
presence of a Justice of the Peace. As this applies princi- 
pally to the Shad, they seemed to have overlooked one 
material fact in Natural History. This species spawns ex- 
clusively in fresh water. The Shad that supply the New 
York markets are at present principally taken in gill nets 
that stud the shallows and bars of the Hudson for a hun- 
dred miles. Here the water is salt The ova w’ould not 
be sufficiently matured and the whole labor of planting 
them would be a dead loss. If these legislators had gone 
higher up the river and looked out for the sj'awning 
grounds of their daily diminishing Shad, they would have 
