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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commen^ant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 & partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 4 5 6 Ott /^ F^ \rA.\n rj)'{{] FISH CULTURE IN CANADA BY PROFESSOR E. E. PRINCE Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries, Ottawa. FROM TRANSACTIONS iW TIIK Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society Read March 2j. /oov t FISH CULTURE IN CANADA. By Professor K. E. Princk, Doaiixiox Co:\rA[issioNT:R of Fisheries, Ottawa, Prksidknt of run vSocikty. (Read March 23rd, 1900) Fish-culture is, at once, one of the most ancient and one of the most modern of human pursuits. It is one of the most ancient, for the Chinese at a time so remote that it cannot l)e determined. are known to have reared fish, not only as (juaint ornamental pets, but for use at table; and wp know that the (ireeks and Romans fully appreciated the utility of the artifical culture of fish. Lucullian feasts would have been impossible, but for the fish-pond's ample supplies. The ancients, says one authority, "were not .satisfied with .stocking fish-ponds which they had con- structed for the purpose, but carried their foresij^ht to the point of filling lakes, formed by nature, with the spawn of fish which they threw into them," (Columella, De Re Rustica Bk. viii., Sec. 16). In Christian times, fish-culture was not ne.i^lected and the mediaeval monasteries were always provided with a fish-pond, ensuring .suitable fare for Friday feasts. A fish-pond was re- garded as necessary, no le.ss than the buttery, the l)rewhouse,and the kitchen. Protection of adult fish and systematic fattening were the main features of old-world fi.sh-culture, but the Chinese as the French Jesuit, Jean Baptiste Duhalde, has recorded, procured the eggs of fishes, and cared for them in hatching tanks. The Romans, as we have seen, adopted the Chinaman's plan to some extent. . Modern fish-culture, to adopt a Hibernicism, has taken a great step in advance by taking the process a .step further back, and by manipulation of the parent fish .secures the ripe eggs, controls their fertilization, and incubation, and rears the fry, when hatched, to a more or less advanced stage of growth. 164 TRANf.ACTlONS .i899-'oo A I'ivirIi monk, Doni riiulion. has Ikvu credited with first accoiiiphshiiiy:, in the fifteenth century, th.e artificial fecuudation of trout t'KRs; hut coni])ctent authorities are of opinion that lie simply collected naturally impregnated ej^j^s. It was not until 1747 that a \Vest])halian ofTicer, Lieut. Ludwi^ Jacobi experi- mented with the e^gs of fishes, 1)\- actually minj^lin^ the milt and eggs, and carrying out fish-culture from the fecundation of the ova to somewhat advanced stages of the liberated fry or young brood. He reared trout until they were six months old, and founded modern fi.sh-culture in the true sen.se of that term. The importance of his work was fully recognized, for his memoir was printed in Paris ii'. 1770, and King George the Third, granted him a life pension in (he following year. Karl Lund, iUvSweden, followed close in the wake of Jacobi, In Italy, Rusconi (either in 1834 or 1835), and in vSwitzerland, Agassiz and Vogt, about 1836, minutely investigated the early stages of the eggs and yoiuig of fishes, while John Shaw, in the year of tlie Queen's Coronation, Knox, Young, Boccius, and others, from 1840 to 1850, added considerably to our knowledge of the larval de\'elopment of the salmon and othtr species of fish. Reuiy and Gchin, two French fishermen of La Rresse, a]ipear to ha\e practised fish culture in France in 1842, and the subject was brought to the attention of the public by the notable treatises of de Ouatrefages and of Coste, the latter organizing in 1850, a large fish-breeding establi.'^hment with the authority of the Minister of Agriculture. France has ever since maintained a high place in the world of aquaculture. f It was not until 1853, .so far as I can ascertain, that any attempt was made upon this continent to artificially breed fishes. Dr. Theodatus Garlick of Cleveland. Ohio, was the pioneer. He obtained parent brook-trout in Canada, taking them across from Port Stanley in Ontario, to his establishment in Ohio. He was an enthusiast, and his exhibits of young fish, hatched from Canadian trout-eggs, were a feature for many years at Agricul- tural Exhibitions in the various States bordering on .tlie great lakes. Canada .soon followed suit. The initial attempts were, of cour.se, largely experimental. The late Mr. Samuel Wilmot claimed to have originated fish-culture in Canada ; but I find the claim to be di.sputed, and with justification, by a venerable i899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 165 I •k and respected citi/.cii of Ottawa, Mr. Ricliard Wttlc. vStiniu- lated no donbt by recollections of fanions streams in his native Devonshire Mr. Nettle, as early as 1856 or 1S57, l)e);an the incubation of salmon and trout Q^i^s for purposes of artificial stockinjT, in hatchinj; tanks in the City of Ouel)ec. Ik- tlis])nted the accuracy of the claim fre(inently put forviinl on hulialf of Mr. Wilmot. The Hishop of Ottawa, (Dr. Hamilton) incident- ally confirmed the claim of Mr. Nettle in a recent conversation, his lordshi]) informinj^ me that he himself saw the young fish and the hatchinjjj arranj^ements about the time referred to. Mr. Nettle was then vSuperintendent of Fisheries for Lowrr Canada. From a report by the late Mr. Wilmot. dated Dec. 31st, rSjS, it appears that he conunenced experiments in fi^h-hatchin};' in 1865, eight or niie years later than Mr. Nettle's experiments, and he carried it on as a ])rivate enterprise until tlie Dominion Oovern- ment took the work over and gave M . W'ihnot an ap])ointment as a Government official. In iS6f) Mr. Wilmot acted as a fishery officer, with authoritv from the Oovernment of r]i])er Canada, and on Ma\ 3f)th, 1868, he became an officer under the Department of Marine and Fisheries ; but it was not until eight years later (1876) that he became vSuperintendent of I'ish Breeding. For his initial experiments he was paid, in 1S69, the Sinn of $2,000 by Order in Council. Thus fish-culture in Canada, at first a private enterprise on a small .scale, received a kind of .semi -official sanction, Init in 1868 it became distinctively a branch of the Dominion Govern- ment .service, the Newcastle Hatchery, |K).sses.sed ])y Mr. Wilmot, being transferred to the Department of Marine and FivSheries. This hatchery, Mr. Wilmot affirmed, in his report dated Feb. 3rd, 1875, " has been the nucleus from which all of the National and vState fish-breeding establishments in Canada and the Unii..d States of America have taken their rise." Ad- ditional hatcheries were soon built, the famous Restigouche Sahnon histitution in 1872, (twice rebuilt ), and the Miramichi Hatchery in 1873. In 1874 the Gaspe Hatchery was com- menced, and in 1875 a large mill was purcha.sed at Tadoussac and converted into a fish-breeding establishment, supplanted by a new building later. The work expanded, so that Mr. Wilmot, in Feb. 1875, was able to speak of five hatcheries in Canada, four of them in full operation. 166 TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo Muth interest inttirallv iciitrc-s in the Newcastle Hatchery on Lake Ontario, where thirty-five years ago the work coni- nieticeu. 'l*lie huildin).',, enhirvred and improved, is situated on a small stream at the head of a small creek or marsh openinj^ into the lake near IJowmanville, and ahont thirty-five miles east of Toronto. A sheltered md seeluded valley of jj^reat sylvan beauty encloses the site, hut the work has always been handi- capped by its distance, both Irom good spawning grounds, and from suitable areas for |)lanting the fry. .Mr. Wilmot erected the hatchery, as was natural, near to his own residence, and at a time when salmon freijuented Lake Ontario, and resorted to the creek in (juestion for purposes of spawning. For many years salmon have been jjractically extinct in these waters, and the hatchery failed in its original purpose of keeping up the supply of Lake Ontario salmon, which Mr. Wilmot claimed to be indistinguishable from the sea-going Atlantic Salnmn. From 1868 to 1873 over a million fry were sent out from this parent hatchery (an average of 2ix>, 000 i)er annum. ) A small private hatchery was also carried on during these earlier years of Canadian fish-culture, by the well-known salmon fisherman and merchant, the late John I lolliday. .Mr. Ilolliday was born on the banks of the famous salmon river, the vScottisli Tay, and was .stimulated, no dou1)t, Ijy the salmon-culture work at Stor- monthfield, in Perthshire, conunenced in 1853 In* the proprietors of the salmon fisheries on the Tay. He built a hatching establish- ment on the Moisie River ( north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence), which has continued its operations to the present time. Messrs. Brown and Co. , also erected a trout hatchery at Gait, Out., and, in 1868 had no less than 10,000 parent trout impounded in one of their ponds for the purpose of taking spawn for hatching purposes. Other hatcheries privately conducted with zeal and success might be named, such as the Credit Forks Hatcherv carried on l)y Mr. Chas. Wilmot, the Silver Creek establishment near Toronto and others. In the United States, it was not until 1871 that fisU-culture became a recognised department of work under the auspices of the Federal government. Previous to that year individual States had made attempts in this direction, indeed. New Hamp.shire in 1865 had commenced fish-hatching operations, and agents were sent to i899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 167 t the rivers of Canada, where they were i)ermilte(l 'as Mr. Charles O. Atkins tells us) to take salmon iVoin tlic spawning; ht-ds, and were thus enabled to seeure some hundreils of thousands of v^i;<>, which were "hatched with a measure of success," Pennsylvania and the vState of Connecticut followed in i.S6(). In 1.S67, 186H, 1869 and 1870 the States of Maine, New York, California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, severally hcKan fish-culture in their respective territories. In Canada the salmon and brook-trout naturally claimed first attention ; but in 1867 and again in 1868, whilefi.^h were success- fully imjiregnated and hatched by Mr. W'ilmot as he tells us in one of his reports. A pioneer fish-culturist in the United 5states, Mr. N. W. Clark of the vState of Michigan has been credited with first successfully handling the eggs of the wliitefish (Co>r^oiuis clupciformis) on this continent, but the statement published by Mr, Wilniot gives four or five \ears priority to the Canadian, if, as Mr. Clark said, the first wliitefish eggs in the United States were artifically hatched in 1872 (see V. vS. I'ish Comni. Report, p xxvi, 1872-73). In 1875 a wliitefish hatchery of large capacity was completed at Sandwich, Ontario, and has carried on, with marvellous success, the incubation of the eggs of that .species on the Detroit River. Under the zealous and indefatigal)le vSamuel Wilniot, fish- culture in Canada made rai)id strides, and the Dominion has generally been acknowledged fo be in the front rank in this work. France and Germany were in advance, it is true, .so far as exact scientific methods and knowledge were concerned, and the United States has taken the lead in making most munificent provision from the public funds for pisciculture, and Great Britain has set a worthy example in priwate enter])rises and in costly expeii- ments under .skilled superintendence, witness the Stormoutlifield-'^, Howietown, Cray's I'oot, and Guildford establishments. Canadian fish-culture was no doubt conducted in a rough and ready manner, the Superintendent and his staff being practically self-taught, .so that many blunders were committed, and many erroneous methods for .some years adopted. liut the conditions were so favourable, the purity of the water and the abundance *Now supplanted by Dupplin V ^ ^ 1 68 TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo and coldiuss of the supply, the robust and healthy nature of the paretil fi^h. and similar cirtuinstances compensated for much that was lackiuK in manipulation and technical knowledge, during; the early yearsof Canadian lisli culture. "The most imi)ortant re- (piisite . . . . is ])nre water, it is indeed to a hatclury what coal is to a steam-en^ijie " said tlir late Sir James (lihson Maitland (Int. iMsheries ICxliih. I.ondoji 1H.S3) to whom vScottish fish-culture owed so much. It may be doubted whether any other country can otTir condition> .so favourable as Canada, and it is certainly remarkabk- that \\\ the vast ninnber of fry of various species, hatched year after year in the Dominion hatcheries, abnormal or deformed fi-^hes hardly ever occur. Monsters as a rule are familiar enough in the tanks of Ivuropean hatcheries, but nothing is .so rare in Canadian establishments. The following' brief nsidiic of the proi^^re.ss of fish-culture operations in Canada ^ives at a glance the stages of its advance. The Newcastle (Out.) hatchery, as already stated, came under government control in 1S6.S, or rather 1S67, and there have been hatched, since that date, Lake Ontario .salmon. Pacific spring salmon,''- brook trout, black bas.s, German carp, (treat L,ake trout, dore or pike perch and lake whitefi.sh. Ontario .sahnon became practically extinct within a few years after the hatchery was started, and Pacific salmon do not appear to have thriven, one or two questionable records only of their capture having been an- nounced, while black bass proved only partially successful and carp were a total failure. Brook trout, being mainly a game fish and of inferior connnercial importance, was eliminated in 1892, though its culture was a marked success. Thus the hatchery has confined its work to the incubation of Oreat Lake trout, the eggs being secured by government officers at VViarton, (ieorgiau Bay, and the Lake whitefish, transferred from the Sandwich hatchery, early in the year, generally February, in the eyed stage. The following table embraces details respecting the remain- ing 14 hatcheries arranged for conciseness and convenience of reference. *Professor Spence F. B;iird generously sent from the United Stntes at various times eggs of the Ouinnat or .Spring sahnon. i899-'o I SHmlwIili, Out. I ifedtonl tienr Halifax, N. S. Graml PalU, St. |.)lm R. X. H. |Gri 1*1) to 4 187S 1876 \m) ink U. I>. K. IhIiiihI 1881 Majfi'^; iifaf Sllcll)! oc/Uo, I'. Q. 18.S.' 'Svdiiev, ('ape Hieton. 18»4 Now WtslininiH.t.'r, I'laHci K . H. C !'»■ illr Saliiinn ((Juinnal and , , , Soi-keyi') rOttawH llatolieiy. Whitflihli and Ciietit LuW« , .,, - J Trull' •^ '" ^ I.uhHU ri» 6(j to 100 Whiittiah 44 to I'J Salmon i to .\ millions Salmon and Sea I rout 1 t») ij " Siiliiion and llylniil i to J '* ( )iiatianiohe Salmon I to ij " \\ liititi»li,l'IU«l'fn li or Don-U) toov'r 7ninil SaliJioii, WliitrlUh iin ears vasi^ (juantities of lobsters have l)een hatched, the annual average being no less liian 100,000,000. Dcilucting these from the total outimt, we find that the average output each year, during the last twenty years liaK been .S5 millions, mainly of the three kinds, salmon, (ireat Lake trout and lake whitefish {Conxoniis), which are all fishes of great economic value. Whatever may be said for or against the artificial hatching of fish, no fair-minded critic can doubt, that the distribution year after year, of this enormous quantity of young fish must have benefitted our waters to an incalculal)le extent. Artificially hatched fry, unlike those hatched naturally on the si)awning beds, must in the eyes of some critics, be more at the mercy of enemies when newly planted. Nothing, however, could be more helpless and unprotected than naturally hatched fry, and those turned out from hatcheries are reallN' less at the mercy of enemies, inasmuch as they are always some days old, frequentl}- several *Dunk River hatchery was destroyed h\ fire and Sydney hatchery has not been operated for three seasons pending- the completion of a new Cape Breton hatchery. lyo TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo weeks old. bei'ore being planted, and should be more sturdy and robust than the fry exposed immediately after hatching, on the natural spawning beds. Nor is the objection better founded that the fry are suddenly transferred from the warmer water of the hatchery to the colder water of the lake or river outside. Re- cords, which have been kept, show that the water flowing rapidly and plentifully through the tanks is more equable and cold than the shallow waters outside. The fry, it is further contended, are untaugiit to seek shelter, and must be gobbled up by watchful ' enemies. This cannot be so. The eggs are all taken from wild fish, and the young inherit the instincts of their parents. Hence when the fry have ])een carefully watched at the time of planting, they have been noticed to act with alertness and intelligence, and at once dart off to shelter. All the stock objections are made in ignorance of the real facts, for the facts all prove the very op- posite of the theories set forth by critics, usually arm-chair critics. ^ Fish-culture, at this late date, needs no advocacy or defence, yet recent unsolicited testimony may be adduced, sent to me as affording evidence of the success of the government hatcheries. A lake near Three Rivers, P. Q., was planted several years ago. It abounds at the present time with fine lake trout, says the member of parliament, who is my informant, although these fish did not formerly occur in it at all. A lake in Victoria county, Ontario, I have recently been informed by residents, is alive with trout consequent on being stocked by means of fry. Most visitors to the river vSaguenay know the Tadoussac Hatchery, and the small lake adjacent to the building abounds in small salmon a few pounds in weight, the result of the surplus quantities of fry plac- ed there by the hatchery officer, " On one occasion," says the officer in an official report ' ' I permitted the Bishop of Chicoutimi, to fish in the hatchery lake. He was accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Mathieu, vSuperior of the Quebec Seminary, and the Rev. Mr. Lemieux, of Tadoussac, they were astonished at the number of young salmon that could be caught ' ' A most convincing case came to my notice, however, on the testimony of a gallant and facetious member of the House of Commons, who bitterly com- plained that a New Brunswick lake, stocked with brook trout at much cost, hid receiv^^d also some Great Like trout from a i899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 171 ^ Government Hatchery. The latter have so prospered and grown in vSize and numbers, that they are cleaning out the brook trout, formerly so abundant in it. The Club who lease the lake are anxious to exterminate the hordes of huge lake trout which are the direct result of fry planted there from Grand Falls Hatchery, and the use of nets has been resorted to, enabling some fine specimens of these 'fresh-water sharks" to be captured. Deplorable as are the results from the Club's point of view, no better testimony to the success of the government's hatchery work could be adduced. J, To most people fish-culture is thought to consist in taking some ripe mature fish, just before spawning, squeezing eggs from them, fertilising them, and placing them in jars or on trays, in a current of water until the young fish hatch out. Fish-culture is, however, much more than that, it includes at least half-a-dozen different methods. Of course, one method, and that most familiar, consists in obtaining ripe living fish of both sexes, and after subjecting them to the same process of careful and gentle pressure, mingling the two products in a spawning vessel or dish, where the eggs are rapidly fecundated, and then transferring the vivified eggs to the trays or hatching jars. The parent fish, be- ing handled with care are returned to the water, with rare ex- ceptions, alive and unharmed, and in the case of salmon usually continue the ascent up-stream, which had been interrupted by the hatchery ofiicials. In B. C, it is said, the spawned fish frequently descend, but this may depend upon the sex, for Frank Buckland noticed that male salmon invariably bolt up- stream if disturbed, whereas the " hens " or female salmon bolt down stream. The fish do not die, as the signs of ripeness are readily visible to the expert officer's eye, and ripe fish are spawn- ed painlessly and with the utmost readiness and ease. It is a curious fact that eggs from dead fish may be successfully used if death is recent. Thus the distinguished Russian naturalist, Owsiannikoff, in a paper read in 1869, before the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, stated that he had fertilised the eggs taken from dead fishes, and in most cases with success. Different species also may be crossed and hybrids readily produced but there are limits to the process due, no doubt, to certain microscopic peculiarities in the structure of the egg capsule. 172 TRANvSACTIONS i899-'oo Two methods of fertilisation have been adopted, the wet and the dry, and the latter has almost universally superseded the former. In the dry method no water is added until some moments after the ova and milt have been mingled and gently stirred with a feather or the fingers. In the early days of Canadian fish-culture the wet method was followed, and the eggs were placed in water before the milt was added, and a propor- tion of eggs always failed to be fecundated, hence the universal adoption of the so-called dry method. Some of the different methods followed in obtaining eggs or fry may be here instanced. ( I ) The parent fish are secured some time (days or even months) before spawning, and impounded until they become ripe and swollen. Whitefish are often kept in this wa}'', and the plan has been adopted in Canada of confining salmon in tidal ponds for many months, and apparently without harm. Indeed the salt water prevents fungus, and as salmon take no food after leaving the sea, there is no difficulty in retaining them until the spawning season, and then taking the eggs and milt. After being kept from June or July until October or November the parent fish are liberated on being artificially spawned. ■' ■ (2) The parent fish are netted at the spawming time near the breeding beds. Salmon, in British Columbia, are treated in this way, also Great Lake trout and whitefish. The parent fish are rarely injured, and are thus liberated in their native waters. (3) Parent fish are captured and the eggs taken and fertilis- ed, but the fish are killed and sent to market. This is the plan adopted in some cases by U. S. fish-culturists, especially with the Great Lake trout. It is unavoidable as a rule, with black bass and sturgeon, even wiien very ripe, as they refu.se to yield their spawn. It is not adopted in Canada. (4) Parent fish are impounded in ponds or enclosures, where they deposit and fertilise their spawn naturally. The spawn is then transferred to the hatchery and incubated artifically. Bass, maskinonge, perch, carp, sturgeon, etc., have been treated in this way. (5) A similar plan to the last is followed excepting that the eggs are allowed to hatch out in the ponds where deposited. i899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 173 (6) Instead of securing the parent fish, or obtahiing the eggs after being depo-iited, tli2 small fry, incubated and hatched naturall}', are netted and used for ])nrposes of stocknig waters. Trout and black bass have been mainly introduced into new waters by this method. Black bass, when very young, devour each other, even when only a little over an inch in length, and the Caledonia (N. Y.) Hatchery officers have reported that their young black ba.ss grow so rapidly that they nuist be shipped immediatel}' after being collected in the adjacent marsh ponds. Nearly 400,000 of these fry are annually distributed from the American hatchery named. It is plain that if we can secure the eggs from the ripe parent fish, fertilize them by the dry method, and hatch them under the care of experts, the results must infinitely surpass thOvSe posi=>ible under natural conditions, where a small propor- tion only can be expected to surmount all the dangers and diffi- culties of their environment. Let me give an illustration of this waste of eggs on the natural spawning beds — a waste not con- trar}' to natural law, but obedient to the principle of compensa- tion and adjustment, universal in the world of nature. In 1895 I spent some time closely observing certain s[)awning beds of the Fraser River salmon, connnonly called socke\e or blueback. I noticed, not once, but scores of times, pairs of fish busy nesting, the male fish lingering near his partner until she shed a shower of eggs. Just as the eggs were cast into the rapid stream, the male fish had his attention attracted by a rival, and darted with lightening speed to drive him off, both male fish tearing at each other with gaping jaws, armed with formidable teeth, the teeth at this time being of abnormal size. Time after time I saw female fish wasting their eggs in this way, for the eggs deposited in the gravel by the female, while her partner was engaged in a fight twenty or thirty yards away, were unfertilized and would, of course, perish or be eaten by hungry enemies, suckers, trout, etc. , which hovered near in hordes. The curious fact repeately noticed by observers, that male salmon outnumber the female; and the fierce fights and number- less resulting deaths, may be a device for reducing the surplus number of one sex. "To me it is the strangest puzzle," said Frank Buckland, " why the male fidi always predominate over 174 TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo the female," and he asserted that frequently there occurred seven males where there might be not more than one female salmon. During the second year of the Restigouche Hatchery's work, the late John Mowat reported that the male fish were in excess of the female as two to one, and the late Alexander Russell, in his famous book " The {Salmon, " gave prominence to Shaw's not less interesting discovery, that in the young striped "parr " stage, male salmon are mature, " the male parr (alone) arrives at sexual maturity, and does and can impregnate the ova of the adult female salmon." If, to the natural loss of enormous quantities of eggs by non- fertilization, be added the depredations of ducks, loons, herons and aquatic birds, not to speak of otters and four-footed enemies, as well as destruction by floods, by mud, gravel and ice, it is easy to see how great are the advantages offered by artificial incuba' tion, and by caring for the eggs in properly equipped hatcheries^ Anglers, as a rule, favour fish culture, but there are excep- tions, and the sportsman needs to be reminded that, whereas, the fish are liberated strong and uninjured after being artifically spawned, those taken by the angler's line shortly before the breeding season, are killed and prevented from fulfilling their task of peopling the waters with young brood. It is easy to hatch 90% of salmon eggs in a hatchery, waereas, Sir Humphrey Davy estimated that not six per cent, of the eggs deposited on the breeding grounds, come to perfection, and Stoddard held that only four or five fish fit for the table were the result of 30,000 ova on the spawning beds. The take of salmon in a single net may sufiice to furnish enough eggs to keep up the supply of young fish, and it is the rule at the Government nets to liberate all fish not required, and these are allowed to ascend to the upper waters. Thus at the Tadoussac nets in 1889, 559 salmon were taken for the hatchery, but 310 of the largest were sufficient, and the remaining 249 were turned into the river again. This is frequently done. In most of the hatcheries reliance is placed upon the Departmental nets, managed by the hatchery officers. In these neis fish are trapped, and after being spawned are set free. In some cases parent fish are bought from local fishermen by special arrangement, but the plan has, on the whole, proved uncertain, as the fishermen asked exorbitant »> l899-'00 TRANSACTIONS 175 prices, or ignored their apreenient and shipped the fish straight from their nets to the markets, leaving the hatchery officers in the lurch. Many parties have entertained an ignorant prejucUce against artificial hatching cf sahnon, not fishermen only, but men of education and social standing. Thus the lessees of certain rivers in Gaspe, refused to allow any salmon to be taken for hatchery purposes, and anglers who- have been known year after year, to kill hundreds of salmon in famous pools, really spawning grounds, have declaimed against the inhumanity of taking the spawn from the small number of parent fish, which are ample for supplying a salmon hatchery. Frank Buckland has truly observed that ' ' the success of salmon egg-collecting depends upon very small circumstances, and he specifies seven necessary provisions to be made bv the " spawner," viz, : a water-proof suit, spawning pans of large capacity, a long, shallow basket to hold the fish under water until wanted, hose flannel in yard lengths for wrapping the struggling fish when spawning, dry towel • to wipe slime off the hands, moss and trays, and lastly, nets. In a report published in the Marine and Fisheries Blue Book, 1896, I described all the types of fishes' eggs known to scientific experts. I grouped them under seven heads, accord- ing to their special features, and I pointed out that they varied in shape, size, external structure, etc. The smooth, spherical, pea-like eggs of the salmon, trout, whitefish, and the like, are far more favorable for artificial incubation than slimy eggs, eggs clinging in bunches, eggs in gelatinous strings, eggs covered with spines, oval eggs, and other varieties. The eggs resembling peas vary in size in different species. A quart measure is frequently used in counting eggs on account of its convenience. The measure holds 57.75 cubic inches, and has been found to be capable of containing 3,300 land-locked salmon eggs ; 4,272 Atlantic .salmon ; 3,696 Pacific salmon ; 5,525 Great Lake Trout ; 8,311 to 9,935 English Brown trout ; 12,063 to 13,998 American brook trout • 24,363 striped bass ; 28,239 shad ; 36,800 lake whitefish ; 73,938 maskinonge ; 152,292 pike, perch or dore ; 233,280 tomcod ; 335,000 cod ; 496,000 smelt. In diameter the eggs vary from I4 of an inch in the Atlantic salmon, and 3/16 of an inch in the brook trout, to 1/30 176 TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo of an inch in the tomcocl {Gadus tonicod, IWiib) or i 25 of an inch in the silver hake {Aferlucius). When the ripe female fish is being spawned by the hatchery operator, the eggs run freely in a stream into tlie pan or dish, previously rinsed in clean water, the operator gently pressing the abdomen with one hand, while with the other he holds the fish firmly in the region of the anal fin, the head of the fish being secured under the armpit, if a large fish like a salmon. A male fish is then treated in the same way, the milt flowing into the spawning pan amongst the eggs, and the eggs are stirred with a feather, thus securing fertilization. After ))eing washed, the eggs are placed either upon black Japanned tin trays, 15 in. x 10 in. X J/^in, perforated with small holes and holding about 2000 salmon eggs, or they are placed in glass vases 20 in. x 6 in. in diameter. The former are more suital^lc for salmon and trout, the jars being best for whitefish. Zinc trays are found hurtful to eggs, the officer at the Miramichi hatchery reporting in 1874 that a large number of salmon eggs were poisoned from this cause. The eggs, being alive, require abundant oxygen, hence a continuous stream of water must pass over them day and night until they hatch out. Under natural conditions river- water, of course, pours over the eggs, but fish culturists are agreed that spring-water is preferable for hatching purposes, not only because the temperature is more equable, but is purer and more free from debris and vegetable matter. In 90 to 120 or 150 days, the young fish burst from the eggs; shad, however, take only from two to five days, and cod hatch in ten to thirty days. Most of the valuable fresh-water species, like the trout and whitefish take many months. In special cases where the hatching of sturgeon and shad has been attempted as in Chautauqua Lake, N. Y , hatching boxes with double wire screen, top and bottom, have been placed in a running stream, or if containing maskinonge eggs, have been sunk at a depth of four or five feet in the lake. The fry are transferred to large tanks for periods of a few days or a few weeks, and are dis- tributed in large cylindrical cans, nearly two feet high and^ twenty inches in diameter, the narrow neck of which is devised to hold ice in hot weather, in order to keep the water cool.* *Fry are conveyed up some salmon rivers in floating crates or perforated boxes, and 25 miles of a river can be planted in a day. i899-*oo TRANSACTIONS 177 . The young fish carry beneath the body a small bag of food yolk, and require no other food until it is used up — a few days sufficing in some s]iecies, a few weeks in others. If possible, the fry should all be planted before the store of natural food is exhausted. In stocking lakes or rivers it is best to select inshore shallows not frecpiented by large fish, or rocky ridges and banks far from shore. The fish travel by rail or team for long distances without serious harm, if i( e is used with care. Short di.stances are, however, best ; indeed, Mr. Sanmel W'ilmot urged the establishment of small supplementary lu.tcheries, where the advanced eggs could be -ent just liefore luitching. and the fry more safely distributed fn^m them. " This system of carrying, or rather trying to carry, young fry to distant ])oints (particularly where no .speedy means of travel by railway is to be tound) should be discontinued (said Mr. W'ilmot in 1S77), because the time almost invariably sjjcnt in fnntless journeys oi this kind, could be .so much better and more ]>rofitably applied at nearer points, where the safety of the young salmon in the transit could be relied upon." At times a few thousands of fry have been kept until they are four or five months old ; but con- stant care is necessary, and a large ]->roportion as a rule, die when the fry are kept out of their natural habitat in lakes or rivers. The feeding of fry is not easy, as the quantity and kind of food require regulation, or tiie results may be fatal. In 1887 eight or ten thousand young salmon were retained in a pond at the Restigouche hatchery, and were fed during the sunnner, " yet they did not seem to thrive well, as but few were seen in October when the pond froze over (as Mr. Alex. Mowat re- ported) .... I have very little faith in the attempt to grow salmon fry with artificial foods, with a view of realizing any benefit from the proceeding. ' ' Last year Mr. Mowat again kept some salmon fry (about 10,000) in outside tanks with an amj)le stream of water plassing through. Mr. Mowat is one of the best practical fish-culturists living, and this experiment was a success owing to special attention, the fry growing satisfactorih- until the}' were nearly six months old. The food consisted of finely ground raw fi- li and liver; but quite as important a matter was the intelligent manipulation and care of a zealous officer in charge. The fish were well fed, yet not overfed, and kept perfectly clean, by the re- moval of dead and decayed matter, especially waste food 178 TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo particles. Many of this batch of fiiiRerlings measured fully three inches in length. The growth of fishes, especially young fishes, varies ext.eniely ; thus brook trout are usually two inches long when four months old ; three inches when eight or nine months old, and five inches when a year old. Lake trout are six inches long at the end of the first year, and black bass at the same age are four to six inches. Salmon, when confined in ponds, are often stunted in growth, thus 3,000 salmon fry were planted in a small lake near Louisburg, Cape Breton, in 1888. In 1889 they were three or four inches long, and in 1891 (in their third year) some were caught with the fly, but were not more than eight inches in length. A similar experiment at the Restigouche Hatchery, resulted in producing young .salmon, .seven inches long in the third year, and ready to descend to the .sea. M i Discretion is not always shown in the planting of fish suited to the waters .selected. Carp have been a questionable benefit, black bass in som^ waters have been far from a blessing, and that splendid game fi.sh, the maskinonge, proves to be a veritable fresh- water shark in .some lakes. ' ' If planted in many of the small inland lakes (says Mr. Annin, jr., Supterintendent of N.Y. State Hatcheries) the result will be that perch, pickerel and bass fi.shing would be greatly damaged." If predacious fi.sh abound, it is useless to attempt stocking with a better class fish. The fry are inevitably exterminated. In Chautauqua Lake, N.Y., the U. S. authorities wisely decided to clean out that voracious ganoid, the bill fish {J^epidosk'us), and in two .sea.sons over 4,000 of these useless fi.sh were captured in .seines, pounds and traps, such extermination being often necessary before stocking begins. For some years the pike perch or dor<^ {Lncioperca or Stizostedioti) were hatched at Sandwich and at Ottawa. The first batch, about one million, were hatched in 1881, but partly on account of difficulties in securing ample supplies, this species was, after ten or eleven years, no longer embraced in the Government opera- tions. Black bass too, for a time, were hatched at Newcastle, and German carp were also included, for one or two seasons, under the mistaken idea that it would introduce " into ponds and waters (to quote Mr. S. Wilmot's report) now depleted a highly esteemed description of food fish hitherto unknown in our country. ' ' A thousand young carp were, with the late Prof. Baird's 1899-00' TRANSACTIONS 179 consent, brought from Washington to Newcastle in December, 1880. Some were planted in ponds in Manitoba, but apparently without result. Pacific salmon have also been introduced into . the waters of the eastern provinces. In October, 1873, 20,000 Quinnat or spring salmon eggs were generously donated to the Newcastle Hatchery by Prof. Spencer Baird ; they hatched out in December, and were planted in April following. In 1874 a second lot was sent, and in Oct., 1875, a third consignment of 80,000, (of which half were sent to Tadoussac Hatchery ), and in 1876 a further batch of 40,000, and in November a further ship- ment of 80,000. Other lots of many thousands were kindly given by the U.S. authorities, but the results appear to be decidedly inconclusive. A fish, 15 inches long, was described by Mr. Wilmot as being captured near the Newcastle Hatchery in 1876 in the creek there and regarded as a Quinnat. "It was totally unlike the ordinary grilse or smolt of the stream, and was a male with matured milt," .said Mr. Wilmot. and he added, " The first lot of California eggs was received at this place in the fall of 1874 ; this salmon must, therefore, have been two years old from the egg." In July, 1877, several more, it said, were taken. The officer in charge of the St. John River Hatchery, N. B., reported in 1885 that there were groiuids for regarding the planting of Pacific salmon (Quinnat) in 1881, as a success. He reported: "Just as .soon as the fishermen set their nets in spring they began to capture a strange, and to them, |)eculiar species of salmon with which they were unacquainted. This gave rise to enquiries and investigation, which resulted in the fact that they were California salmon, averaging some seven or eight lbs in weight. Con.sequently they must have been some of the identical salmon that were hatched in the Rapide des Femmes Hatchery and put into the St. John River, four years ago last March." In March and April, 1881, 35,000 young California salmon had been sent to this hatchery. lyobster hatching had been tried in Norway by Capt. Dannevig as early as 1885, and three years later Mr. Adolph Nielson commenced operations in Newfoundland. The United States also carried an artificial lobster hatchery. A fine build- ing, 75 feet by thirty-five feet broad, was erected at Caribou Harbour, near Pictou, N. S., and began work in 1891. A I So TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo duplex pump atul twenty horse-power steam engine, draw salt water from the l)ay, and a wharf ruiminj; out to 20 ft. de|>th of water, enables tuj;s to come alonj^side with supplies of lobster eg>;s obtained by the hatcher> officers at the camieries. The l^^ts, it may be mentioned, arc carried attached to the swinuncrets in bunches, under the Ijody of the fenuUe lobster. Ripe and well- developed cgj;s are selected, and are known by their paler colour as compared with the deep green or black of the newly extruded eggs. With a spoon, the hatchery operator .scrapes off most of the eggs, leaving some still adhering, including some that are unavoidably crushed or burst. .Having visited several of the lobster canneries, and picked out egg-bearing lobsters sufficient to give him an ad([uate supply — the lol)Sters, of course, being alive and newly brought in from the trapi)ing groinids — the operator at once conveys the eggs in buckets on board a tug to the hatchery, places them in upright jars or vases, slightly wider than whitefish jars, where they are kept rollinjj^ about by rajndly circulating .sea water until they hatch. At a temperature of 56° or 5s to three weeks old ). This is unavoid- able when vast quantities, tens of millions, are handled. Reten- tion of the fry would involve great expense and serious loss by death, and all the applications could not be filled. It is hardly open to dispute that the planting, year after year for over 30 years, of countless numbers of young fr>' of valuable economic fishes must have vastly benefited the waters of the Dominion. The hatching of cod, mackerel and other marine fishes has not so far been attempted in Canada. The eggs and fry of these fishes are not so favourable for the methods of artificial culture, and the vast numbers produced by each spawn- ing female (a single cod shedding 9 to 10 millions of eggs each season), the extremely delicate pelagic character of the eggs, and the futility of handling successfully the fry, are the reasons which 183 TRANSACTIONS i899-'oo have deterred the government from taking up this work. If Canadian fish-cultnre is doing anything to keep up the suppHes of fish in our salmon rivers, our great lakes and inland streams, it is doing much. I3y introducing western sixicies into eastern waters and vice versa, it may do more, and we may therefore be content to permit the illimitable ocean, open to all the fishing fleets 6f the world, to be recuperated by the unassisted methods of Nature herself. If es iS, rn be !tS of