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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17171-h.zip b/17171-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..365adcb --- /dev/null +++ b/17171-h.zip diff --git a/17171-h/17171-h.htm b/17171-h/17171-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b6c299 --- /dev/null +++ b/17171-h/17171-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2510 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon Fisheries in the Late 19th Century, by Various</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body {background:#fdfdfd; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + font-size: medium; + margin-top:100px; + margin-left:8%; + margin-right:8%; + text-align:justify; } + hr { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + hr.narrow { width: 50%; + height: 1px; } + hr.tiny { width: 25%; + height: 1px; } + blockquote { font-size: medium; } + blockquote.footnote { font-size: small; } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + p.footnote { margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 0; + text-indent: 0; + font-size: small; } + p.foothead { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0; + text-indent: 0; + font-size: small; } + table {font-size: medium} + table.caption {font-size: small} + p {text-indent: 4% } + p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + .ind15 {margin-left: 15em; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size:65%;} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon +Fisheries in the Late 19th Century, by Various</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon Fisheries in the Late 19th Century</p> +<p> Consisting of the following articles compiled from the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 1881-1894: Some Results of the Artificial Propagation of Maine and California Salmon in New England and Canada, Recorded in the Years 1879 and 1880; Sketch of the Penobscot Salmon-Breeding Establishment (1883); Penning of Salmon in Order to Secure Their Eggs (1884); Memoranda Relative to Inclosures for the Confinement of Salmon Drawn from Experience at Bucksport, Penobscot River, Maine (1884); Report on the Schoodic Salmon Work of 1884-85; Methods Employed at Craig Brook Station in Rearing Young Salmonid Fishes (1893); Notes on the Capture of Atlantic Salmon at Sea and in the Coast Waters of the Eastern States (1894)</p> +<p>Author: Various</p> +<p>Release Date: November 28, 2005 [eBook #17171]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW ENGLAND SALMON HATCHERIES AND SALMON FISHERIES IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Ronald Calvin Huber<br> + while serving as Penobscot Bay Watch, Rockland, Maine,<br> + with technical assistance from Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D.</h3></center><br><br> +<hr noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<center> +<h1>New England Salmon Hatcheries<br> + and Salmon Fisheries<br> + in the Late 19th Century</h1> + +<h3>A Collection of Articles from<br> + the <i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i></h3> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br> +<table border=0 cellpadding=2> +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">ARTICLE</td> +<td valign="top" align="left"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">I. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#1">Some Results of the +Artificial Propagation of Maine and California Salmon in New +England and Canada, Recorded in the Years 1879 and 1880</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">II. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#2">Sketch of the Penobscot +Salmon-Breeding Establishment (1883)</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">III. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#3">Penning of Salmon in +Order to Secure Their Eggs (1884)</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">IV. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#4">Memoranda Relative to +Inclosures for the Confinement of Salmon Drawn from Experience +at Bucksport, Penobscot River, Maine (1884)</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">V. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#5">Report on the Schoodic +Salmon Work of 1884-85</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">VI. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#6">Methods Employed at +Craig Brook Station in Rearing Young Salmonid +Fishes (1893)</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td valign="top" align="right">VII. </td> +<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="#7">Notes on the Capture +of Atlantic Salmon at Sea and in the Coast Waters of the Eastern +States (1894)</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow"> +<br> +<a name="1"></a> +<br> +<br> +</center> +<h3>ARTICLE I</h3> + +<h2>Some Results of the Artificial Propagation of Maine and California +Salmon in New England and Canada, Recorded in the Years 1879 and 1880</h2> + +<h3>Compiled By The United States Fish Commissioner</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 1, Page 270, 1881</h4> +<br> + +<p class="noindent">New Bedford, Mass May 20, 1879. + +<p class="noindent">Prof. S. F. <span class="smallcaps">Baird</span>: + +<p class="noindent">Sir: I have just +been in the fish market and a crew were bringing in +their fish from one of the "traps." A noticeable and peculiar feature +of the fishery this year is the great numbers of young salmon caught, +especially at the Vineyard, although some few are caught daily at +Sconticut Neck (mouth of our river). There are apparently two different +ages of them. Mostly about 2 pounds in weight (about as long as a large +mackerel) and about one-half as many weighing from 6 to 8 pounds; +occasionally one larger. One last week weighed 33 pounds and one 18 +pounds. The fishermen think they are the young of those with which some +of our rivers have been stocked, as nothing of the kind has occurred in +past years at all like this. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">John H. Thomson</span>. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 1, Page 271, 1881</h4> +<br> + +<p class="noindent">New Bedford, Mass. June 1, 1879. + +<p class="noindent">Prof <span class="smallcaps">Spencer F. Baird</span>: + +<p class="noindent">SIR: I received yours. I have examined carefully +since your letter, but +no salmon have been taken. The run was about the two first weeks in May +and a few the last of April. Mr. Bassett had about 30 to 35 from the +trap at Menimpsha, and 10 or 12 from Sconticut Neck, the mouth of our +river. Mr. Bartlett, at his fish market, had about one dozen; 12 from +the traps near the mouth of Slocum's River, six miles west of here, and +I have heard of two taken at mouth of Westport River. + +<p>As to the particular species, I do not get any reliable information, as +so few of our fishermen know anything about salmon, and in fact the men +from the traps on Sconticut Neck did not know what the fish were. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">John H. Thomson</span>. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent">FISHING ITEMS. "A ten-pound salmon and +seventeen tautog, weighing over +one hundred pounds, were taken from the weirs of Magnolia, Thursday +night. This is the first salmon caught off Cape Ann for over thirty +years. On Saturday morning three more large salmon were taken and 150 +large mackerel. The fishermen are highly elated at the prospect of +salmon catching." (<i>Cape Ann Advertiser</i>, June 6, 1879.) + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent">[Postscript to a letter from +Monroe A. Green, New York State Fishery +Commission, to Fred Mather, June 9, 1879.] + +<p class="noindent">"P. S.--Kennebec salmon caught to-day in the +Hudson River at Bath near +Albany weighing twelve and a half pounds, sold for 40 cents per pound. +The first that have been caught for years." + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">State of Maine, +Department of Fisheries</span>,<br> +Bangor, August 25, 1879. [Extracts.] + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Professor</span>: We +have had a great run of salmon this year, and +consisting largely of fish planted by us in the Penobscot four or five +years ago, so far as we could judge; there were a very large number, +running from 9 to 12 pounds. The east and west branches of the Penobscot +report a great many fish in the river. On the Mattawamkeag where we +put in 250,000 and upwards, in 1875 and 1876, a great many salmon +are reported trying to get over the lower dam at Gordon's Falls, +13 feet high. These fish were put in at Bancroft, Eaton and Kingman, on +the European and North American Railroad. The dam at Kingham is 13 feet; +at Slewgundy, 14 feet; at Gordon's Falls, 13 feet and yet a salmon has +been hooked on a trout fly at Bancroft and salmon are seen in the river +at Kingman, and between the dams at Slewgundy and Gordon's Falls. The +dealers in our city have retailed this season 50 tons Penobscot salmon, +and about 3 tons Saint John salmon; it all sells as Penobscot salmon. +Saint John salmon costs here, duty and all included, about 14 cents per +pound. Our first salmon sells at $1 per pound, and so on down to 12½ +cents the last of the season.' + +<p>Salmon at Bucksport has sold to dealers here at 8 cents. Two tons taken +at Bucksport and Orland in 24 hours. Average price at retail here for +whole season, 25 cents. + +<p class="noindent">Truly, yours, + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">E. M. Stillwell</span>. + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">State of Maine, +Department of Fisheries</span>,<br> +Bangor, October 4, 1879. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Professor</span>: My +delay in replying to your kind letter has been from +no want of courtesy, but a desire to send you the required "data" you +asked. Neither myself nor Mr. Atkins have been able to procure them. The +weir fishermen keep no records at all, and it is difficult to obtain +from them anything reliable; while the fishermen above tidewater are a +bad set of confirmed poachers, whose only occupation is hunting and +fishing both in and out of season. They are always jealous and loth to +let us know how good a thing they make of it, for fear of us and fear of +competition from their own class. + +<p>Four or five years since I put in some 300,000 salmon fry into the +Mattawamkeag at Bancroft, Eaton, Kingsmore, and at Mattawamkeag village. +There are three dams between Mattawamkeag and Bancroft--none less than +12 feet high. About six weeks since Mr. Nathaniel Sweat, a railroad +conductor on the European and North American Railroad, while fishing for +trout from a pier above the railroad bridge at Bancroft, hooked a large +salmon and lost his line and flies. Salmon in great numbers have been +continually jumping below the first dam, which is called "Gordon's +Falls." + +<p>My colleague, Everett Smith, of Portland, a civil engineer, while making +a survey for a fishway, counted 15 salmon jumping in 30 minutes. A Mr. +Bailey, who is foreman of the repair shop at Mattawamkeag walked up to +the falls some three weeks since entirely out of curiosity excited by +the rumors of the sight, and counted 60 salmon jumping in about an hour, +within half or three-quarters of a mile of the falls. This is on the +Mattawamkeag, which is a great tributary of the Penobscot. + +<p>On the east branch of the Penobscot there has been a great run of +salmon. An explorer on the Wassattaquoik reported the pools literally +black with salmon. A party of poachers, hearing the rumor, went in from +the town of Hodgon and killed 25. I inclose you a letter to me from Mr. +Prentiss, one of our most wealthy and prominent merchants, which speaks +for itself: I will be obliged to you if you will return this, as I shall +have occasion to use it in my report. + +<p>On the West branch of the Penobscot I hear reports of large numbers of +salmon, but the breaking of the two great dams at Chesancook and the +North Twin Dam, which holds back the great magazine of water of the +great tributary lakes which feed the Penobscot, which is used to drive +the logs cut in the winter, through the summer's drought, has let up all +the fish which hitherto were held back until the opening of the gates to +let the logs through. These fish would not, of course, be seen, as they +would silently make their way up. + +<p>I regret that I have nothing of more value to give you. Hoping that this +small contribution may at least cheer you as it has me, + +<p class="noindent">I remain, truly, yours, + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">E. M. Stilwell</span>, +Commissioner of Fisheries for State of Maine. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent">Prof. <span class="smallcaps">Spencer F. Baird</span>,<br> +United States Commissioner Fish and Fisheries.<br> +<span class="smallcaps">Bangor</span>, October 3, 1879. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">M. Stilwell</span>, Esq., + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Sir</span>: Prof. +C. E. Hamlin of Harvard, and I made a trip to Mount +Katahdin last month for scientific examination and survey of the +mountain. I had been salmon fishing in July on the Grand Bonaventure, on +Bay of Chaleur, and I could not see why we could not catch salmon on the +east branch of the Penobscot at the Hunt place where we crossed it on +our way in to Katahdin. I thought the pool from mouth of Wassatiquoik to +the Hunt place, about a half-mile, must be an excellent salmon pool, and +my guide and the people there confirmed this opinion. They said over a +hundred salmon had been taken in that one pool this season. The nearest +settlement, and only one on the whole east branch, is about six miles +out from there, and the young men go on Sundays and fish with +drift-nets. No regular fishing for market--only a backwoods local supply +can be used. These fish were about of one size--say 8 to 11 pounds. + +<p>There were never enough fish here before to make it worth while for them +to drift for them. A few years ago no salmon were caught there at all. +Twenty-two years ago, before our fish laws were enacted, the farmer at +the Hunt place used to have a net that went entirely across the river +clear to the bottom, which he kept all the time stretched across, and he +only used to get two or three salmon a week. I was there August, 1857, +with Mr. Joseph Carr, an old salmon fisher, and we fished for ten days +and could not get a rise. The net had been taken up, because the farmer +did not get fish enough to pay for looking after it. + +<p>But the stocking the river makes it good fishing and I intend to try the +east branch next season with the fly. + +<p class="noindent">Very truly, + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Henry M. Prentiss</span>. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent">October 13, 1879<br> +East Windsor Hill, Conn. + +<p class="noindent">Professor <span class="smallcaps">Baird</span>: + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Sir</span>: It may +be of interest to you to know that your salmon are not +all lost. Last Friday, 10th, I was with a party of three fishing in +Snipsic Lake, and one of our party caught a salmon that weighed 1 3/4 +pounds. This is the second one taken since the pond was stocked as I was +told. The other was caught this summer and weighed 12 ounces. + +<p>Cannot something be done to save our fish in Connecticut River? There is +an establishment at Holyoke, Mass., and another at Windsor Locks, Conn., +that are manufacturing logs into paper, and I am told that the chemicals +used for that purpose are let off into the river twice a day, and that +the fish for half a mile come up as though they had been cockled. + +<p>Both of these factories are at the foot of falls where the fish collect +and stop in great numbers and are all killed. Our shores and sand-bars +are literally lined with dead fish. Three salmon have been found among +them within two miles of my office. They were judged to weigh 12, 20 and +25 pounds. The dead fish are so numerous that eagles are here after +them. I have received nine that have been shot here in the past two +seasons. + +<p>I have written you in order that the fish commissioners might stop this +nuisance and save the fish that they have taken so much pains to +propagate. + +<p class="noindent">Truly yours, + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Wm Hood</span>, +East Windsor Hill, Conn., October 13, 1879 + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Saint Stephen</span>, March +1, 1880. + +<p class="noindent">Prof. <span class="smallcaps">Spencer F. Baird</span><br> +U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries: + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Dear Sir</span>: I send +you remarks in relation to the Restigouche and Saint +Croix Rivers, which, though crude, I am sure are quite correct, as they +are either taken from the official statistics, or are facts of which I +am myself cognizant. You may, if of use, publish any part of them. + +<p>I very much wish we could procure some young shad for the Saint Croix; +this fish was once very abundant, and perhaps would be again if +introduced. I know you have been very successful in restocking the +Connecticut. Our old people deplore the loss of the shad--say it was a +much better food-fish than the salmon. I do a great deal of shooting, +and am much interested in ornithology, and specimens of our birds that +you might want I should be happy to lookout for; do a good deal of coast +shooting winters; have been hopefully looking for a Labrador duck for a +number of seasons--fear they have totally disappeared. + +<p>I have nice spring-water conducted to my house and think of doing a +little fish-hatching in a small way. The amount of water I can spare is +a stream of about half inch diameter; the force will be considerable, as +the water rises to top of my house, some 50 feet above where I should +set trays. I write to you to ask what hatching apparatus would be best +to get, where to buy, and probable cost. I am trying to get some +sea-trout ova to hatch in it. I presume all your California ova have +been disposed of ere this. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Frank Todd</span>. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Saint Stephen</span>, +March 1, 1880. + +<p class="noindent">Prof <span class="smallcaps">Spencer F. Baird</span>, +U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries: + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Sir</span>: In regard +to the Saint Croix, would say, that it was once one of +the most prolific salmon rivers in New Brunswick, but owing to the +erection of impassable dams, fifteen or twenty years ago, this valuable +fish had almost entirely disappeared. At about this time fishways were +placed in all the dams, and gradually salmon began to increase, but the +first great stimulus was given some ten years ago by the distribution of +some hundreds of thousands of young salmon in the headwaters, by the +fishery commissioners of Maine. + +<p>The Dobsis Club also placed in the Saint Croix some 200,000 or more from +their hatchery, a portion being the California salmon. With these +exceptions our river has had no artificial aid, but for the last five +years the number of salmon has largely increased, due mainly, no doubt, +to the deposits before mentioned. + +<p>The fish ways are generally in good condition (although some +improvements will be made), and fish have easy access to headwaters, +That large numbers go up and spawn is evidenced by the large numbers of +smolt seen at the head of tidal water in the spring, many being taken by +boys with the rod. I have reason to expect that our government will +hereafter distribute annually in the Saint Croix a goodly number of +young salmon which, together with the contributions of the Maine +commissioners will soon make this fish again abundant. Alewives are very +abundant and apparently increasing every year. Shad that were once +plenty have entirely disappeared. I very much wish that the river could +be stocked with this valuable fish; possibly you could kindly assist us +in this. + +<p>Landlocked salmon (here so called) are, I think, nearly or quite as +plenty at Grand Lake Stream as they were ten years ago; this, I think, +is almost entirely due to the hatchery under the charge of Mr. Atkins; +the tannery at the head of the stream having entirely destroyed their +natural spawning beds, the deposit of hair and other refuse being in +some places inches deep. The twenty-five per cent. of all fish hatched, +which are honestly returned to our river, is, I think, each year more +than we would get by the natural process, under present circumstances, +in ten years. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Frank Todd</span>. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="tiny" align="center"> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Saint Stephen, +N. B., Dominion of Canada</span>. + +<p class="noindent">Prof. <span class="smallcaps">Spencer F. Baird</span>, +U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries: + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Sir</span>: I +think it has been clearly demonstrated in this Dominion that by +artificial propagation and a fair amount of protection, all natural +salmon rivers may be kept thoroughly stocked with this fish, and rivers +that have been depleted, through any cause, brought back to their former +excellence. + +<p>I would instance the river Restigouche in support of the above +statement. + +<p>This river, which empties into the Bay of Chaleur, is now, and always +has been, the foremost salmon river in New Brunswick, both as to size +and number of fish. It has not a dam or obstruction to the free passage +of fish from its mouth to its source, yet up to 1868 and 1869 the +numbers of salmon had constantly decreased. This, no doubt, was +occasioned by excessive netting at the mouth, and spearing the fish +during the summer in the pools; natural production was not able to keep +up with this waste. + +<p>In the year 1868 the number of salmon was so small that the total catch +by anglers was only 20 salmon, and the commercial yield only 37,000 +pounds. At about this date, the first salmon hatchery of the Dominion +was built upon this river and a better system of protection inaugurated; +every year since some hundreds of thousands of young salmon have been +hatched and placed in these waters, and the result has been, that in +1878 one angler alone (out of hundreds that were fishing the river) +in sixteen days killed by his own rod eighty salmon, seventy-five of +which averaged over twenty-six pounds each; while at the same time the +numbers that were being taken by the net fishermen below, for commercial +purposes, were beyond precedent, amounting in that one division alone +(not counting local and home consumption) to the enormous weight of +500,000 pounds, and the cash receipts for salmon in Restigouche County +that year amounted to more than $40,000, besides which some $5,000 was +expended by anglers; this result was almost entirely brought about by +artificial propagation. A new hatchery of size sufficient to produce +five million young fish annually will no doubt soon be erected by the +Dominion Government upon this river. + +<p>A somewhat similar record might be given of the river Saguenay. Some +years ago anglers and net fishers of this river said it was useless to +lease from the department, as the scarcity of salmon was such as not to +warrant the outlay. A hatchery was built, and this state of things is +now wonderfully changed; so much so, indeed, that in 1878 salmon, from +the great numbers which were taken at the tidal fisheries, became a drug +in the market, selling often as low as three cents per pound, and +angling in the tributaries was most excellent. + +<p>Some one hundred million young salmon have been artificially hatched and +distributed in the waters of the Dominion during the last few years, and +new government hatcheries are constantly being erected. + +<p class="noindent">Yours, &c., + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Frank Todd</span>, +Fishery Overseer, Saint Croix District. + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow" align="center"> +<br> +<a name="2"></a> +<br> +<br> +<h3>ARTICLE II</h3> + +<h2>Sketch of the Penobscot Salmon-Breeding Establishment</h2> +<h4>by</h4> +<h3>Charles G. Atkins</h3> +<h4>Written by request of Prof. S. F. Baird, for the London Exhibition, +1883</h4> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 3, Page 373, 1883</h4> +<br> + +<p>The rivers of the United States tributary to the Atlantic, north of the +Hudson, were, in their natural state, the resorts of the migratory +salmon, <i>Salmo salar</i>, and most of them continued to support important +fisheries for this species down to recent times. The occupation of the +country by Europeans introduced a new set of antagonistic forces which +began even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to operate +against the natural increase and maintenance of the salmon and other +migratory fishes. + +<p>In many localities the closing of smaller streams by dams, and the +pursuit of the fish with nets and other implements, had already begun +to tell on their number; but it was not until the present century that +the industrial activities of the country began to seize upon the water +power of the larger rivers and to interrupt in them by lofty dams the +ascent of salmon to their principal spawning grounds. These forces were +rapid in their operations, aided as they were by a greatly augmented +demand for food from a rapidly increasing population. + +<p>In 1865 the salmon fisheries were extinct in all but five or six of the +thirty rivers known to have been originally inhabited by them. In many +of these rivers the last salmon had been taken, and in others the +occurrence of individual specimens was extremely rare. Among the +exhausted rivers may be mentioned the Connecticut, 380 miles long; the +Merrimack,180 miles long; the Saco,120 miles long; the Androscoggin, +220 miles long; and some twenty smaller rivers. There still survived +salmon fisheries in the following rivers, namely, the Penobscot, the +Kennebec, the Denny's, the East Machias, the Saint Croix, and the +Aroostook, a tributary of the Saint John. The most productive of these +was the Penobscot, yielding 5,000 to 10,000 salmon yearly. The Kennebec +occasionally yielded 1,200 in a year, but generally much less. The +other rivers were still less productive. + +<p>The movement for the re-establishment of these fisheries originated in +action of the legislature of New Hampshire, seconded by that of the +neighboring state of Massachusetts, having in view primarily the +fisheries of the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers. The course of the +Merrimack lies wholly within the states of New Hampshire and +Massachusetts; that of the Connecticut lies partly in the state of +Connecticut, and many of its tributaries are in the state of Vermont. +These two states were therefore early interested in the project, and +their action soon led to similar exertions on the part of Rhode Island +and Maine. Within the borders of the six states mentioned, collectively +known as "New England," are all of the rivers of the United States +known to have been frequented by the sea-going <i>Salmo salar</i>, with the +possible exception of certain rivers, tributary to the Saint Lawrence, +in the northern part of New York. + +<p>The governments of these states having appointed boards of +commissioners to whom was confided the task of restocking the exhausted +rivers, other states, one after another, adopted like measures, and in +1872 the United States Government established a commission to inquire +into the condition and needs of the fisheries in general, with +authority to take steps for the propagation of food fishes. + +<p>The New England commissioners turned their attention at once to the two +most important of their migratory fishes, the salmon and the shad. The +utter extermination of salmon from most of their rivers compelled them +to consider the best mode of introducing them from abroad. + +<p>Agents were sent to the rivers of Canada, where for several years they +were permitted to take salmon from their spawning beds, and some +hundreds of thousands of salmon eggs were thus obtained and hatched +with a measure of success. After a few seasons permits for such +operations were discontinued, and the only foreign source of supply +thereafter remaining open to the states was found in the breeding +establishments under control of the Canadian Government, and even these +were practically closed by the high price at which the eggs were +valued. + +<p>In 1870 it had become clear that to a continuation of efforts it was +essential that a new supply of salmon ova should be discovered. +Attention was now directed to the Penobscot River in the state of +Maine, which, though very unproductive compared with Canadian rivers, +might yet, perhaps, be made to yield the requisite quantity of spawn. + +<p>A preliminary examination of the river brought out the following facts: +The Penobscot is about 225 miles in length. The upper half of its +course and nearly all of its principal tributaries lie in an +uninhabited wilderness, and in this district are the breeding grounds +of the salmon. The fisheries, however, are all on the lower part of the +river and in the estuary into which it empties, Penobscot Bay. There +was no means of knowing how great a proportion of the salmon entering +this river succeeded in passing safely the traps and nets set to +intercept them, but supposing half of them to escape capture there +would still be but about 6,000 fish of both sexes scattered through the +hundreds of miles of rivers and streams forming the headwaters of the +Penobscot. + +<p>It was very doubtful whether they would be congregated about any one +spot in sufficient numbers to supply a breeding station, and it would +be impracticable to occupy any widely extended part of the river, on +account of the difficulties of communication. At the mouth of the +river, on the other hand, the supply of adult salmon could be found +with certainty, but they must be obtained from the ordinary salmon +fisheries in June and held in durance until October or November, and +the possibility of confining them without interfering seriously with +the normal action of their reproductive functions was not yet +established. The latter plan was finally adopted, and in 1871 the first +attempt at this method of breeding salmon was instituted by the +commissioners' of Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The site fixed +upon for an inclosure was at Craig's Pond Brook in the town of Orland, +and arrangements for a supply of fish were made with two fishermen of +Verona at the very mouth of the river. The salmon first brought were +confined in a newly constructed artificial pond in the brook, which was +of such remarkable purity that a small coin could be distinctly seen at +the depth of 7 feet. All of these died except a few which after a short +stay were removed to other quarters. The most prominent symptom was the +appearance of a white fungoid growth in patches upon the exterior of +the fish. In a lake (locally designated as Craig's Pond) of equal +purity, but greater depth, several of these diseased fish recovered. + +<p>Of the salmon later obtained some were placed in an inclosure of nets +in the edge of a natural pond with but 7 feet of water, of average +purity, some in a shallow inclosure in a brook, and some turned loose +in a natural lake of some 60 acres area, with muddy bottom and +peat-colored water. In each case the salmon passed the summer with few +losses, arrived at the breeding season in perfect health, and yielded +at the proper time their normal amount of healthy spawn and milt, +though the great sacrifice of breeding fish by the early experiments of +the season reduced the crop of eggs to the small number of 72,000. + +<p>The conditions of success were thus sufficiently indicated, and in 1872 +the same parties, joined with the United States Commission of +Fisheries, renewed operations on a larger scale, locating their +headquarters at the village of Bucksport, confining the breeding salmon +in Spofford's Pond (Salmon Pond on the general map of Penobscot +station), and establishing their hatchery on the brook formed by its +overflow. This is the lake of 60 acres in which, as mentioned above, a +few salmon had been successfully confined the year before. + +<p>Though not at all such water as would be chosen by a salmon at large, +it nevertheless proved well adapted to the purpose of an inclosure for +the breeding fish. It was shallow, its greatest depth, at the season of +highest water, being but 10 feet; at its upper end it abuts against an +extensive swamp, and almost its entire bottom, except close to the +shore, is composed of a deposit of soft, brown, peaty mud of unknown +depth. The water is strongly colored with peaty solutions, has a muddy +flavor, and under the rays of a summer sun becomes warmed to 70° +(Fahrenheit) at the very bottom. <a name="footnotetag2-1"></a><a +href="#footnote2-1">[1]</a> Yet in such a forbidding place as +this, salmon passed the summer in perfect health. There were some +losses, but every reason to believe them all to have been caused by +injuries received prior to their inclosure. + +<p>During and after the hottest term of each summer (the month of August) +very few died. + +<p>The supply of salmon was obtained mainly, as in 1871, from the weirs in +the southern part of Verona. They were placed in cars, specially +fitted for the purpose; and towed to Bucksport on the flood tide. From +the river to the inclosure they were hauled on drays in wooden tanks 3 +feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, half a dozen at once. From the +weirs to the boats and from the boats to the tanks they were dipped in +great canvas bags. From all this handling but few losses ensued. + +<p>In the establishment at Bucksport village the work was carried on for +four years, from 1872 to 1876, with a fair degree of success. Then +ensued a suspension till 1879, when the reappearance of salmon in the +Merrimack, Connecticut, and some other rivers renewed the hopes of +final success, and encouraged the commissioners to reopen the station. +It had, however, been found that the old location had serious defects. + +<p>The inclosure was costly to maintain, and the recapture of the fish +involved a great deal of labor and trouble. The water supplied to the +hatchery was liable in seasons of little rain to be totally unfit, +causing a premature weakening of the shell and very serious losses in +transportation. After a careful search through the neighboring country +it was found that the most promising site for an inclosure was in Dead +Brook, near the village of Orland (though within the limits of the town +of Bucksport), and for a hatchery no location was equal to Craigs Pond +Brook, the spot where the original experiments were tried in 1871. The +only serious drawback was the separation of the two by a distance of +some 2 miles, which could not offset the positive advantage of the +hatchery site. Accordingly the necessary leases were negotiated, an +inclosure made in Dead Brook, and a stock of breeding salmon placed +therein in June, 1879. Since then the work has been continued without +interruption. + +<p>It is still found most convenient to obtain the stock of breeding +salmon, as in the early years of the enterprise, from about a dozen +weirs in the Penobscot River along the shores of the island of Verona. +The fishermen are provided with dip-nets or bags with which to capture +the fish in their weirs, with tanks or cars in which to transport them +to the collecting headquarters, whither they are brought immediately +after capturing, about low water. + +<p>The collection is in the hands of a fisherman of experience, who +receives the salmon as they are brought in, counts and examines them, +adjudges their weight, and dispatches them in cars to the inclosure at +Dead Brook. The cars are made out of the common fishing boats of the +district, called dories, by providing them with grated openings, to +allow of a free circulation of water in transit, and covering them with +netting above to prevent the fish from escaping over the sides. The car +is ballasted so that it will be mostly submerged. Ten to fifteen salmon +are placed in a single car, and from one to four cars are taken in tow +by a boat with two to four oarsmen. + +<p>From the collecting headquarters to Orland village, a distance of about +5 miles, the route is in brackish water, and the tow is favored by the +flood tide. At Orland is a dam which is surmounted by means of a lock, +and thence, two miles further to Dead Brook, the route is through the +tide less fresh water of Narramissic River. The sudden change from salt +to fresh water does not appear to trouble the fish except when the +weather is very hot and the fresh water is much the warmest. The cars +are towed directly into the inclosure, where the fish are at once +liberated. + +<p>The inclosure is formed by placing two substantial barriers of woodwork +across the stream 2,200 feet apart. The lower barrier is provided with +gates which swing open to admit boats. Within the inclosure the water +is from 3 to 8 feet deep, the current very gentle, the bottom partly +muddy, partly gravelly, supporting a dense growth of aquatic +vegetation. The brook has two clean lakes at its source, and its water +is purer than that of ordinary brooks. + +<p>The collection of salmon usually continues from the first ten days of +June until the beginning of July. During the early weeks of their +imprisonment the salmon are extremely active, swimming about and +leaping often into the air. After that they become very quiet, lying in +the deepest holes and rarely showing themselves. Early in October they +begin to renew their activity, evidently excited by the reproductive +functions. Preparations are now made for catching them by constructing +traps at the upper barrier. If the brook is in ordinary volume, these +means suffice to take nearly all, but a few linger in the deeper pools +and must be swept out with seines. About October 25 the taking of spawn +begins. After that date the fish are almost always ripe when they first +come to hand, and in three weeks the work of spawning is substantially +finished. + +<p>Although the salmon are taken from the fisherman without any attempt to +distinguish between males and females, it is always found at the +spawning season that the females are in excess, the average of four +seasons being about 34 males to 66 females. This is a favorable +circumstance, since the milt of a single male is fully equal to the +impregnation of the ova of many females. + +<p>The experiment has several times been tried of marking the salmon after +spawning and watching for their return in after years. After some +experiments, the mode finally fixed upon as best was to attach a light +platinum tag to the rear margin of the dorsal fin by means of a fine +platinum wire. The tags were rolled very thin, cut about half an inch +long and stamped with a steel die. The fish marked were dis missed in +the month of November. Every time it was tried a considerable number of +them was caught the ensuing spring, but with no essential change in +their condition, indicating that they had not meanwhile visited their +spawning grounds. In no case was a specimen caught in improved +condition during the first season succeeding the marking. + +<p>But the following year, in May and June, a few of them were taken in +prime condition--none otherwise--and it several times occurred that +female salmon were a second time committed to the inclosure and yielded +a second litter of eggs. The growth of the salmon during their absence +had been very considerable, there being always an increase in length +and a gain of twenty-five to forty per cent. in weight. The conclusion +seems unavoidable that the adult salmon do not enter the Penobscot for +spawning oftener than once in two years. + +<p>The method of impregnation employed has always been an imitation of the +Russian method introduced into America in 1871. The eggs are first +expressed into tin pans, milt is pressed upon them, and after they are +thoroughly mixed together, water is added. The result has been +excellent, the percentage of impregnated eggs rarely falling so low as +95. + +<p>After impregnation the eggs are transferred to the hatchery at Craig's +Pond Brook, where they are developed, resting upon wire-cloth trays in +wooden troughs, placed in tiers ten trays deep, to economize space, and +at the same time secure a free horizontal circulation of water. + +<p>The hatchery is fitted up in the basement of an old mill, of which +entire control has been obtained. The brook is one of exceptional +purity, and a steep descent within a few feet of the hatchery enables +us to secure at pleasure a fall of 50 feet or less. The brook formerly +received the overflow of some copious springs within a few hundred feet +of the hatchery, which so affected the temperature of the water that +the eggs were brought to the shipping point early in December, an +inconvenient date. This has been remedied by building a cement aqueduct +1,600 feet long, to a point on the brook above all the springs, which +brings in a supply of very cold water. + +<p>The shipment of eggs is made in January, February, and March, when they +are sent by express, packed in bog-moss, all over the northern States, +with entire safety, even in the coldest weather. + +<p>In the following statement is embraced a general summary of the results +of each season's work: + +<br> +<br> +<a href="images/orlandeggs_a.png"> +<img src="images/orlandeggs_a.png" width="100%" border="0" +alt="Summary of results of each season's work"></a> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a name="footnote2-1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: + + <p class="footnote">During the month of August, 1872, the bottom + temperature at 1 p.m. was never below 70°, and on six days + was found to be 71°. + <br><a href="#footnotetag2-1">(return)</a> +</blockquote> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow" align="center"> +<br> +<a name="3"></a> +<br> +<br> +<h3>ARTICLE III</h3> + +<h2>Penning of Salmon in Order to Secure Their Eggs.</h2> +<h4>by</h4> +<h3>C. J. Bottemanne M.D.</h3> +<h4>[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.]</h4> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 4, Page 169, 1884</h4> +<br> + +<p>In the Dutch "Economist" of 1874 I gave a description of the fish +breeding establishment of the State of New York, and therein I mentioned +the United States salmon-breeding establishment on the Penobscot, +principally for the penning of the salmon from June till breeding time. +As you are likely aware, the Dutch Government pays yearly $4,800 to +salmon breeders for young salmon delivered in spring, at the rate of 10 +cents for yearlings, and not quite (4/5) one dollar per hundred for +those that are about rid of the umbilical sac, and ready to shift for +themselves. For the latter they receive payment only if there is money +left after delivering the yearlings. + +<p>The breeders get their eggs from Germany from Schuster in Freiburg, and +from Gloser in Basel; but complain always that the eggs are from too +young individuals, that there is always too much loss in transportation, +that the eggs are so weak that after the fish have come out there is +great mortality in the fry, &c. + +<p>In this month's "Economist" I published the results on the Penobscot, +and figured out that if breeders here set to work in the same style they +would get at least four eggs to one, at the same price, and be +independent. + +<p>We have an association here for promoting the fresh-water fisheries, of +which the principal salmon fishermen are members, and also several +gentlemen not in the business, including myself. In the December meeting +I told them all I knew about the Penobscot; and one breeder got a credit +for $200 for getting ripe salmon and keeping them in a scow till he had +what he wanted, and he has succeeded pretty well. Still this is only on +a limited scale. I want to put up larger pens and in the style of the +Penobscot. In order to do this I must know exactly what is done on the +Penobscot, and how. + +<p>What is the size of the pen, how large area, how deep? Is it above tidal +water? (This I take for granted.) What is the situation of the pond +compared with the river? What kind of failures were there, and the +probable reasons therefor? In short, I would like a complete description +of the place, with the history of it. I hope you will excuse my drawing +on you for such an amount, but as the United States is the authority in +practical fish-breeding, we are obliged to come to you. + +<p>I am sorry to say that I cannot report the catch of any <i>S. +quinnat</i>, yet three fish have been sent in for the premium we +held out for the first fifteen caught, but they proved not +to be quinnat. Lately I heard that there were so many salmon +caught in the Ourthe, near Liege, Belgium (the +Ourthe is one of the feeders of the Maas), which was an astonishing +fact, as salmon are seldom taken there. + +<p class="noindent">Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands, January 12, 1884 + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow" align="center"> +<br> +<a name="4"></a> +<br> +<br> +<h3>ARTICLE IV</h3> + +<h2>Memoranda Relative to Inclosures for the Confinement of Salmon Drawn +from Experience at Bucksport, Penobscot River, Maine.</h2> +<h4>by</h4> +<h3>Charles G. Atkins</h3> +<h4>[In response to request of Dr. C. J. Bottemanne.]<br> +April 7, 1884.</h4> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 4, Pages 170-174, 1884</h4> +<br> + + +<p>The Penobscot salmon-breeding establishment was founded in 1872, at +Bucksport; in the State of Maine, near the mouth of the Penobscot River. +The location was primarily determined by the necessity of being near a +supply of living adult salmon, to be used for breeders. + +<p>After an exploration of the headwaters of the Penobscot, which lie +mostly in an uninhabited wilderness, the conclusion was reached that the +chances of securing a sufficient stock of breeders were much greater at +the mouth of the river, where the principal salmon fisheries are +located; but to avail ourselves of the supply here afforded we must take +the salmon at the ordinary fishing season, May, June, and July, and keep +them in confinement until the spawning season, which is here the last of +October and first of November. As the salmon naturally pass this period +of their lives in the upper parts of the rivers, it was thought +essential to confine our captives in fresh water. + +<p>Later experiments in Canada indicate that they will do as well in salt +water, but the construction and maintenance of inclosures is much easier +when they are located above the reach of the tide, to say nothing of the +proximity of suitable fresh water for the treatment of the eggs. In the +precise location of the inclosures several changes have been made, but +they have always been in fresh water, and within convenient distance (5 +to 10 miles) of the place where the salmon were captured. + +<p>In our experiments and routine work we have made use of four inclosures, +which I will now describe. + +<p>No. 1. In Craig's Pond Brook, a very pure and transparent stream, an +artificial pond 40 square rods in area and 7 feet in extreme depth, was +formed by the erection of a dam. The bottom of this pond was mainly a +grassy sod newly flooded. About half the water came from springs in the +immediate vicinity, and the rest from a very pure lake half a mile +distant. The water derived from the lake was thoroughly aerated by its +passage over a steep rocky bed. The transparency of the water in the +pond was so great that a pin could be seen at the depth of six feet. + +<p>This inclosure was a complete failure. The salmon placed therein were +after a day or two attacked by a parasitic fungoid growth on the skin, +and in a few days died. Out of 59 impounded not one escaped the disease +and only those speedily removed to other waters recovered. Several, +removed in a very sickly condition to the lake supplying the brook, +recovered completely, from which it is safe to infer that the cause of +the trouble did not lie in the lake water. + +<p>Of the spring water I have some suspicions, and should not dare to +inclose salmon in it again. + +<p>No. 2. After the failure of the above experiment an inclosure was made +in the edge of an ordinary lake by stretching a stout net on stakes. +This water was brown in color, and objects 4 feet beneath the surface +were invisible. The bottom was gravelly and devoid of vegetation. + +<p>The depth was 7 and one half feet in early summer, and about 4 feet +after the drought of August and September. The area inclosed was about +25 square rods in June, and perhaps half as much at the end of summer. +This inclosure was entirely successful, very few salmon dying in it +except those that had been attacked by disease before their +introduction, and all the survivors were found to be in first-rate +condition in November. This site was not afterwards occupied, because +it was inconveniently located, and was exposed to the full force of +violent winds sweeping across the lake, and therefore unsafe. + +<p>No. 3. The inclosure in use for the confinement of the stock of +breeding fish for the four years from 1872 to 1875, inclusive, was made +by running a barrier across a narrow arm of a small lake (mentioned in +official reports as "Spofford's Pond") near Bucksport village. This +body of water, about 60 acres in area in the summer, receives the +drainage of not more than 5 square miles of territory through several +small brooks, that are reduced to dry beds by an ordinary drought. +About a quarter of the shores are marshy and the rest stony. The water +is highly colored by peaty matters in solution, and all objects are +invisible at a depth of 2 feet: The bottom is composed mostly of a fine +brown peaty mud of unknown depth. Aquatic vegetation of the genera, +<i>Nuphar</i>, <i>Nymphaea</i>, <i>Bragenia</i>, <i>Potamogeton</i>, +&c., is abundant. The water is nowhere more than 16 feet deep +in the spring, and 11 feet in midsummer. The portion +inclosed is 2 feet shoaler. + +<p>The inclosure occupied sometimes 8 or 10 acres, and sometimes less. The +barrier was from 400 to 600 feet long, and was formed the first year of +brush; the second and third years of stake-nets, weighted down at the +bottom with chains; and the fourth year of wooden racks, 4 feet wide +and long enough to reach the bottom, which were pushed down side by +side. The brush was unsatisfactory. There were holes in it by which the +fish escaped. A single net would not retain its strength through a +whole season, the bottom rotting away and letting the fish out, unless +before the autumn was far advanced its position were reversed, the +stronger part that had been above water being placed now at the bottom. +This method was therefore rather expensive and not perfectly secure. +The wooden racks were costly and heavy to handle, but quite secure. + +<p>The salmon placed in this inclosure had to be carted in tanks of water +overland about a mile in addition to transportation in floating cars +from 3 to 5 miles; they were transferred suddenly from the salt water +of the river (about two-thirds as salt as common sea-water) into the +entirely fresh water of the lake. To all the supposed unfavorable +circumstances must be added the high summer temperature of the water. +During August the mean was generally above 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the +bottom and several degrees warmer at the surface. Occasionally there +was observed a midday temperature of 74 degrees F. and once 75 degrees +at the bottom. Yet this proved an excellent place for our purpose, a +satisfactory percentage of the salmon remaining in perfect health from +June to November. + +<p>No. 4. The inclosure in use since 1870 at Dead Brook, Bucksport. It is +located in a gently running stream bordered by marshy ground, with a +bottom in part of gravel but mostly of mud, crowded with aquatic +vegetation. The water, supplied by two small lakes among the hills, is +cleaner than the average of Maine rivers, but does not in that respect +approach the water of inclosure No. 1. The greatest depth is about 8 +feet, but in the greater part of the inclosure it is from 3 to 5 feet. +The width of the stream is from 2 to 4 rods, and the portion inclosed +is 2,200 feet long. The barriers to retain the fish are in the form of +wooden gratings, with facilities for speedily clearing them of debris +brought down by the stream. + +<p>Better results were expected from this inclosure than from No. 3, but +have not been realized. The percentage of salmon dying in confinement +has been greater, amounting commonly to about 25 percent of those +introduced, and this notwithstanding the salmon are conveyed to the +inclosure by water carriage the entire distance (7 miles) instead of +being carted in tanks. + +<p>The cause of the trouble has not yet been discovered, but there is good +reason for thinking that it lies in some of the circumstances attending +the transfer of the fish from the place of capture, and that the +inclosure itself is perfectly suited to its purpose. This view is +supported by the fact that nearly all the losses occur within a few +weeks after the introduction of the salmon and almost wholly cease by +the end of July. If the cause of disease was located in the inclosure, +we should expect it to be more fatal after a long than a short duration +of the exposure of the fish to its action, and that with the smaller +volume and higher temperature of August it would be more active than in +June and July. + +<p>The above description will, I think, give Dr. Bottemanne a sufficiently +correct idea of the character of the inclosures we have tried. There +are, however, several other points to be touched upon to put him in +possession of the practical results of our experience. + +<p>The facilities for the recapture of the salmon when the spawning season +approaches must be considered. In the lake at Bucksport village (No. 3) +we hoped at first that their desire to reach a suitable spawning ground +would induce them all to enter the small brook that forms the outlet, +which was within the limits of the inclosure. In this matter our +expectations were but partially realized. Many of the fish refused to +leave the lake through the narrow opening that was afforded them, and +were only obtained by pound-nets, seines, and gill-nets, all of which +involved a considerable expenditure of labor and material. + +<p>The drawing of a seine in a large body of fresh water is likely to be +a serious undertaking unless the bottom has been previously cleared of +snags. In this respect the long and narrow inclosure at Dead Brook +possesses great advantages, since it can be swept with a comparatively +short seine. However, the influx and efflux of a considerable volume of +water is of great advantage in enticing the gravid fish into traps that +can readily be contrived for them by any ingenious fisherman. + +<p>The existence of a gravelly bottom in the inclosure must be considered +a positive disadvantage, inasmuch as it affords the fish a ground on +which they may lay their eggs before they can be caught; but the danger +of such an occurrence is less as the bounds of the inclosure are more +contracted and the facilities for capturing the fish are better. + +<p>As to the number of fish to a given area, I think we have never +approached the maximum. I should have no hesitation in putting 1000 +salmon in the inclosure at Dead Brook, which covers an area of less +than 3 acres. Of course the renewal of the water supply, or its +aeration by winds, is of importance here. + +<p>The capture and transport of the fish in June involves methods +requiring some explanation. The salmon fisheries about the mouth of the +Penobscot River are pursued by means of a sort of trap termed a "weir." +It is constructed of fine-meshed nets hung upon stakes, arranged so as +to entrap and detain the fish without insnaring them in the meshes. +They swim about in the narrow "pound" of the weir until the retreating +tide leaves them upon a broad floor. + +<p>Just before the floor is laid bare, the salmon destined for the +breeding works are dipped out carefully with a cloth bag or a very fine +bag-net and placed in transporting cars or boats, rigged specially for +the purpose, sunk deep in the water, which fills them, passing in at +two grated openings above, and passing out at two others astern, and +covered with a net to prevent escape. In a boat 13 or 14 feet long (on +the bottom) we put 10 or 15 salmon, to be towed a distance of 7 miles. +If the water is cool, twice as many can go safely, but there must be no +delay. It is very important that this car be smooth inside, with no +projections for the salmon to chafe on, and the gratings must be so +close that they cannot get their heads in between the bars. + +<p>If conveyance overland is necessary, a wooden tank 3 feet long, 2 feet +wide, and 2 feet deep, with a sliding cover, will take six salmon at a +time for a mile and perhaps farther, and they may be jolted along over +a rough road in comparative safety. + +<p>It has been our uniform experience that all the salmon that survive +till autumn were in normal condition as to their reproductive function, +and yielded healthy spawn and milt. On two occasions we suffered +serious losses of eggs. In neither instance could the loss be +attributed to any defect in the inclosure, but on one occasion the +conclusion was reached that the water which was well suited to the +maintenance of the fish was injurious to the eggs, rendering the shell +so soft that they could not be transported safely. + +<p>With the exception of the disasters enumerated above, there has been +but one that I can recall, and that was caused by the bursting of our +barriers at Dead Brook under the pressure of a flood. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Bucksport, Me</span>, +April 7, 1884. + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow" align="center"> +<br> +<a name="5"></a> +<br> +<br> +<h3>ARTICLE V</h3> + +<h2>Report on the Schoodic Salmon Work of 1884-85.</h2> +<h4>by</h4> +<h3>Charles G. Atkins</h3> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 5, Pages 324-325, 1885</h4> +<br> + + +<p>The measurement of the stock of Schoodic salmon eggs at Grand Lake +Stream at time of packing and shipment, and the record of previous +losses, enable me to complete the statistics, as follows: + +<br> +<br> +<center> +<table width="80%" cellpadding="5"> + <tr><td>Original number taken</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">1,820,810</td></tr> + <tr><td>The total losses up to that time, including the unfertilized, which were removed before packing</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">254,410</td></tr> + <tr><td>Net stock of sound eggs</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">1,566,400</td></tr> + <tr><td>Reserved for Grand Lake</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">397,400</td></tr> + <tr><td>Available for shipment to subscribers</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">1,169,000</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> + +<p>These were divided among the parties supplying the funds for the +work in proportion to their contributions, as follows: + +<br> +<br> +<center> +<table width="80%" cellpadding="5"> + <tr><td>Allotted to the United States Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">608,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Allotted to the Maine Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">234,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Allotted to the Massachusetts Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">187,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Allotted to the New Hampshire Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">140,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Total</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">1,169,000</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> + +<p>The share of the United States Commission was assigned and shipped, +under orders, as follows: + +<br> +<br> +<center> +<table width="80%" cellpadding="5"> + <tr><td>A. W. Aldrich, commissioner, Anamosa, Iowa</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">50,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>E. A. Brackett, commissioner, Winchester, Mass.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">25,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>H. H. Buck, Orland, Me, to be hatched for Eagle Lake, Mount Desert</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">20,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Paris, Mich., for Michigan commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">50,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Madison, Wis., for Wisconsin commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">50,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>R. O. Sweeny, commissioner, Saint Paul, Minn.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">50,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>South Bend, Nebr., for Nebraska Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">20,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>E. B. Hodge, commissioner, Plymouth, N.H.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">40,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., for New York Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">60,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Plymouth, N. H., for Vermont Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">25,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Plymouth, N. H., for Lake Memphremagog</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">25,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Central Station, Washington, D.C.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">10,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>R. E. Earll, World's Exposition, New Orleans</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">5,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>G. W. Delawder, commissioner, Baltimore</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">5,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Myron Battles, North Creek, N.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">5,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>A. R. Fuller, Meacham Lake, N.</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">20,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>F. Mather for transmission to Europe as follows:</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"> </td></tr> + <tr><td> For Herr von Behr, Germany</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">40,000</td></tr> + <tr><td> For Tay Fishery Board, Scotland</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">20,000</td></tr> + <tr><td> For National Fish Culture Association, England</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">30,000</td></tr> + <tr><td> Total to Europe</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">90,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Enfield, Maine for Maine Commission</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">58,000</td></tr> + <tr><td>Total</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">608,000</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> + +<p>A few of the shipments have been heard from, and these all reached +their destinations safely. + +<p class="noindent"><span class="smallcaps">Bucksport, Me</span>. March 31, 1885 + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow" align="center"> +<br> +<a name="6"></a> +<br> +<br> +<h3>ARTICLE VI</h3> + +<h2>Methods Employed at Craig Brook Station in Rearing Young +Salmonid Fishes.</h2> +<h4>by</h4> +<h3>Charles G. Atkins<br>Superintendent U. S. Fish Commission Station at +Craig Brook, Maine.</h3> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 13, Pages 221-228, 1893</h4> +<br> + +<p>The station of the U. S. Fish Commission at Craig Brook was founded in +1889, on the same site where, in 1871, the first attempt at the +artificial spawning of salmon in the United States was made. This site +had been selected by the commissioners of fisheries of the States of +Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut for that experiment because of +its proximity to the salmon fisheries of the Penobscot River and the +facilities presented for the maturing of the spawn that might be +obtained. + +<p>The collection of spawn has been carried on in the vicinity annually +from 1871 to the present time, with the exception of the three years +1876,1877, and 1878, and since 1879 the development of the spawn has +been conducted constantly at Craig Brook. No attempt was, however, made +to rear the fry of any species until 1886. Two years later it was +definitely determined to found a permanent station at Craig Brook, and +in 1889 the purchase of the grounds was effected and permanent +improvements begun. + +<p>The station is located in the town of Orland, Me., 7 miles east of +Bucksport, a seaport on the Penobscot River. Its territory embraces a +tract of land extending between Allamoosook Lake and Craig Pond and +embracing within its limits the entire length of Craig Brook, which +connects those two bodies of water. Its latitude is about 44 degrees +42' N. The mean annual temperature and precipitation are believed to +approximate those of Orono, 25 miles distant, namely, 42.48° F. [5.8° +C.] and 45.44 inches [116 cm.]. The range of air temperature observed +at the station is from 18° F. below zero to 92.5°F. above [-27.7° C. +to 33.6° C.]. Frosts not infrequently occur as late as the 1st of June +and as early in autumn as the first week in September. The lakes in the +vicinity are commonly covered with ice before the end of November, and +they are not often released until near the end of April. + +<p>The water supply is derived from Craig Brook and from three large and +several lesser springs. The source of the brook is Craig Pond, which +affords a constant supply of exceedingly transparent water, warm in +summer and cold in winter, moderated, however; in both extremes by the +water from the springs, which mingles with the brook in its lower +course, forming about a third of its volume. It is this mixed water +which is mainly used in the rearing of fish. Its temperature ranges +from 34° F. [1.1° C.] to 70°F. [21.1°C.]. The lowest monthly mean in +1893 was 35.8° F. [2.1° C.] in February. The highest was 64.6°F. +[18.1°C.] in August. The total volume is variable, ranging from 875 +to 3,000 gallons and averaging about 1,200 gallons per minute. + +<p>The difference of level between the source and mouth of the brook is +about 190 feet. The sharpest descent is just above the hatchery and +rearing troughs, which therefore receive well-aerated water. The +conformation of the ground offers good facilities for the distribution +and utilization of the water. + +<p>The leading motive in the foundation of this station was the desire to +apply to the Atlantic salmon the system of rearing fish to the age of +at least several months before liberating them. This motive has +determined not only the principal subjects of the work, but also to a +considerable extent the fixtures and methods. The scheme of work was +determined in outline several years before the acquisition of full +title to the premises, and, circumstances rendering it desirable to +enter at once on its development, it became necessary to have recourse +to movable apparatus, pending authority for permanent improvements. + +<p>Hence the erection of a series of small troughs in the open air, which +gave such excellent satisfaction that enlargement took the same +direction; and it has thus come about that the rearing operations of +the station down to the present time have been almost exclusively +conducted in open-air troughs. A series of ponds has been constructed, +but with the exception of a few small ones none of them have been as +yet brought into use. + +<p>The troughs are for the most part such as are used in the hatchery for +the maturing of spawn, and their form and size have been adapted to the +hatching apparatus which has been in use at the Maine station for many +years. The eggs are developed on wire-cloth trays measuring 12 and one +half inches in width and length, and the troughs are therefore 12 and +three quarter inches wide. Their depth is 9 inches and their length is +10 feet 6 inches. Such short troughs were adopted for two reasons: + +<p class="noindent">(1) It was thought that +a greater length might involve the exposure of +the eggs near the lower end to the danger of a partial exhaustion of +the air from the water by the eggs above them; + +<p class="noindent">(2) these short +troughs are very convenient to cleanse and to move +about for repairs or other purposes. They are made of pine boards +seven-eighths inch thick. On the inside they are planed and varnished +with asphaltum. When used for rearing fish each trough is fitted with a +pair of thin wooden covers reaching its entire length hinged to the +sides and meeting each other, when closed, at a right angle, forming; +as it were, a roof over the trough. When closed they protect from +predatory birds and other vermin; when open they are fixed in an +upright position, in effect adding to the height of the sides and +preventing the fish jumping out. The time spent in opening and closing +the troughs is by this arrangement reduced to a minimum. + +<p>Water is fed through wooden tubes, and the volume admitted is regulated +by slides The exit of the water is through another tube or hollow plug +standing upright near the lower end of the trough, and by its height +governing the depth of the water. The outlet tube is movable and is +taken out in cleaning. A wire-cloth screen just above the outlet tube +prevents the fish escaping. + +<p>In a trough of standard size 2,000 fry are generally placed, and to +accommodate the large numbers of fish reared we bring into use +sometimes nearly 200 troughs which are of necessity placed in the open +air. They are arranged in pairs with their heads against the feed +troughs, supported by wooden horses at a convenient height from the +ground. They are given an inclination of about 2 inches to facilitate +cleaning. + +<p>The volume of water fed to each trough has varied from time to time, +but is ordinarily about 5 gallons per minute, which renews the water +every four minutes. The ordinary arrangement is to use the water but +once in the troughs, letting it waste into some small ponds in which +yearling and older fish are kept; but there is one system of 52 troughs +arranged in four series, which use in succession the same water. From +these we have learned that young salmon thrive quite as well in the +fourth series as in the first. Indeed, by an actual test, with fish of +like origin and character in each series, the fish reared in the fourth +series were found to grow faster, to an important degree, than those in +the first. This phenomenon probably resulted from a somewhat higher +temperature which the water acquired in passing through the several +series. A like observation has been made on a few salmon maintained for +a few weeks, in the warmer water of a neighboring brook. + +<p>As already stated, the activity of the station has been mainly occupied +with Atlantic salmon, but there have been reared each year a few +landlocked salmon and brook trout, and occasional lots of other +salmonoids, such as Loch Leven, Von Behr, Swiss-lake, rainbow, and +Scotch sea trout. All these have received the same treatment. With the +exception of the rainbow trout, they are all autumn-spawning fishes, +and their eggs hatch early in the spring. + +<p>The embryos of salmon begin to burst the shell in the month of March, +and the 1st of April may be stated as the mean date of hatching. If the +open-air troughs are in order--and we aim to have them so--the eggs are +counted out into lots of 2,000 or 4,000 each and placed before hatching +in their summer quarters. The water is at that time very cold, the +development of the alevins is slow, and it is not until the latter part +of May that the yolk sack is fully absorbed. June 1 is, therefore, the +date when feeding is ordinarily begun. The growth of the fish is at +first slow, the water being still cool, but is accelerated as the +summer passes away. In October and November, beginning commonly about +the middle of October, most of the fish are counted out and liberated, +but a small number, rarely more than 15,000, being carried through the +winter at the station. The reserved fish are sometimes left until +midwinter in their summer quarters, and with a careful covering of the +conduits and banking of the troughs themselves each with coarse hay and +evergreen boughs it is possible to keep them there the year round; but +for ordinary winter storage there is provided a system of sunken tanks +covered by a rough shed with a constant water supply. These tanks are +molasses hogsheads, securely hooped with iron, sunk nearly their entire +depth into the ground, each with an independent water supply and waste, +the perforation for the latter being near the surface. They have a +capacity of from 100 gallons of water upward, and will carry safely +each 500 to 700 fish in their first winter, that is, just approaching +the age of one year. + +<p>This arrangement has answered its purpose fairly well, and in a very +rigorous climate or where the water is very cold it is to be +recommended; but since its construction it has been discovered that at +Craig Brook it is not at all difficult to protect the ordinary troughs +in such a way as to insure their safety from freezing, and their +attendance through the winter is less troublesome than that of the +sunken tanks. + +<p>A list of the articles employed for food at the station since its +foundation, if designed to include those used on an experimental as +well as a practical scale, would be a long one, and I will content +myself with naming the following: On a practical scale we have used +butcher's offal, flesh of horses and other domestic animals by the +carcass, fresh fish, maggots; and on an experimental scale, pickled +fish, fresh-water mussels, mosquito larvae, miscellaneous aquatic +animals of minute size. + +<p>In the production of maggots we have also made use of large quantities +of stale meat from the markets and some barrels of fish pomace, in +addition to the articles mentioned above. + +<p>The butcher's offal comprises the livers, hearts and lights of such +animals as are slaughtered in Orland and Bucksport--mainly lambs and +veals. These are collected from the slaughter-houses twice or thrice +weekly, and preserved in refrigerators until used. The quantity of such +material to be had in the vicinity has been inadequate to our needs and +we have been compelled to look in other directions for food. + +<p>The flesh of horses has been used only during the season of 1893. Old +and worn out horses and those hopelessly crippled or dying suddenly +have been bought when offered, and used in the same way as the +butcher's offal; the parts that could be chopped readily have been fed +direct to the fish so far as needed; and other parts have been used in +the rearing of maggots. The season's experience has been so +satisfactory that greater use will be made of horse flesh hereafter. + +<p>Next to the chopped meat, maggots have constituted the most important +article of food, and their systematic production has received much +attention. A rough wooden building has been erected for the +accommodation of this branch of the work and one man is constantly +employed about it during the summer and early autumn months. The +maggots thus far employed are exclusively flesh-eaters, mainly those of +two undetermined species of flies--the first and most important being +a small smooth, shining green or bluish-green fly occurring at the +beginning of summer and remaining in somewhat diminished numbers until +October, and the other a large rough, steel-blue fly that makes its +appearance later and in autumn becomes the predominating species, +having such hardiness as to continue the reproduction of its kind long +after the occurrence of frosts sufficiently severe to freeze the +ground. + +<p>In outline the procedure is to expose the flesh of animals in a +sheltered location during the day, and when well stocked with the spawn +of the flies to place it in boxes which are set away in the "fly house" +to develop; when fully grown the maggots are taken out and fed at once +to the fish. The materials used for the enticing of the flies and the +nourishment of the maggots have been various. Stale meat from the +markets has been perhaps the leading article, but we have also used +such parts of the butcher's offal and of the horse carcasses as were +not well adapted to chopping; fish, fresh dried or pickled; fish pomace +from herring-oil works, and any animal refuse that came to hand. + +<p>Fresh or slightly tainted meat has been used to greater extent than any +other material, and has proved itself equally good with any. Fresh fish +is very attractive to the flies, and when in just the proper condition +may be equally good with fresh meat, but some kinds of fish are too +oily, for instance, alewives and herring, and all sorts thus far tried +are apt to be too watery. + +<p>A very limited trial of fish dried without salt or smoke indicates that +it is, when free from oil, a very superior article; it has, of course, +to be moistened before using. Its preparation presents some +difficulties, but in winter it is easily effected by impaling the whole +fish on sticks and hanging them up, (after the manner of alewives or +herring in a smokehouse) under a roof where they will be protected from +rain without hindering the circulation of air; in this way we have +dried many flounders and other refuse fish from the smelt fisheries, +which are conducted with bag nets in the vicinity of Bucksport. + +<p>Doubtless a centrifugal drying machine might be successfully used for +this purpose in summer. Pickled alewives, freshened out in water, have +been found to answer fairly well, when other materials are lacking, at +least to give growth to maggots otherwise started. Fish pomace has not +thus far given satisfaction, but seems worthy of further trial. + +<p>It is commonly necessary to expose meat but a single day to obtain +sufficient fly spawn; the larvae are hatched and active the next day, +except in cool weather, and they attain their full growth in two or +three days. To separate them from the remnants of food and other debris +was at first a troublesome task. It is now effected as follows: the +meat bearing the fly spawn is placed on a layer of loose hay or straw +in a box which has a wire-cloth bottom, and which stands inside a +slightly larger box with a tight wooden bottom. When full grown the +maggots work their way down through the hay into the lower box, where +they are found nearly free from dirt. + +<p>When young salmon or trout first begin to feed they are quite unable to +swallow full-grown maggots. Small ones are obtained for them by putting +a large quantity of fly spawn with a small quantity of meat, the result +being that the maggots soon begin to crowd each other and the surplus +is worked off into the lower box before attaining great size. No +attempt is, however, made to induce the young fish to swallow even the +smallest maggots until they have been fed a while an chopped liver. + +<p>In the above methods maggots are produced and used in considerable +numbers, sometimes as many as a bushel in a day. Through September, +1893, although the weather and some other circumstances were not very +favorable, the average daily production was a little over half a +bushel. + +<p>They are eagerly eaten by the fish, which appear to thrive on them +better than on dead meat. Having great tenacity of life, if not snapped +up immediately by the fish they remain alive for a day or two, and, as +they wriggle about on the bottom, are almost certain to be finally +eaten; whereas the particles of dead flesh that fall to the bottom are +largely neglected by the fish and begin to putrefy in a few hours. In +the fish troughs there are, therefore, certain gains in both +cleanliness and economy from the use of maggots which may be set down +as compensating the waste and filthiness of the fly-house. + +<p>As the growth of maggots can be controlled by regulation of the +temperature, it is possible to keep them all winter in a pit or cellar, +and advantage is taken of this to use them during winter as food for +fish confined in deep tanks not easily cleaned. + +<p>The offensive odors of decaying flesh may be largely overcome by +covering it, on putting it away in the boxes, after the visits of the +flies, with pulverized earth, and it is not improbable that by this or +some other method the business may be made almost wholly inoffensive, +but in its present stage of development it is too malodorous to admit +of practice in any place where there are human habitations or resorts +within half a mile of the spot where the maggots are grown. + +<p>As remarked above, only flesh-eating maggots have yet been tried. It +would be well worth while to experiment with the larvae of other +species, such as the house fly, the stable fly, etc. There is also a +white maggot known to grow in heaps of seaweed. Should the rate of +growth of either of these species be found to be satisfactory they +might be substituted for the flesh maggots with advantage. + +<p>Occasional use has been made of fresh fish for direct feeding. When +thrown into the water after chopping it breaks up into fibers to such +an extent that it is not very satisfactory, and I do not suppose we +shall use it in the future, unless in a coarsely chopped form for the +food of large fish. A few barrels of salted alewives have been used, +and if well soaked out and chopped they are readily eaten by the larger +fish and can be fed to fry, but are less satisfactory with the latter, +and like fresh fish they break up to such an extent that they are only +to be regarded as one of the last resorts. + +<p>Fresh-water mussels have been occasionally gathered in the lake close +to the station when there has been a scarcity of food. Those employed +belong almost wholly to a species of Unio which abounds over a +considerable area of soft bottom, under a depth of 2 to 10 feet of +water. Many were taken with a boat dredge; more were scooped up with +long-handled dip nets of special construction. Finally a wide, flat +dredge was made, to be drawn by a windlass on the shore and manipulated +by means of poles from a large boat. + +<p>When needed for food the mussels were opened with knives--a great +task--and chopped. The meat is readily eaten by all fishes, and appears +to form an excellent diet. Being more buoyant than any other article +tried, it sinks slower in the water and gives the fish more time to +seize it before it reaches the bottom, a consideration of considerable +practical importance. The labor involved in dredging and shelling is a +serious drawback, but were the colonies of unios sufficiently extensive +or their reproduction rapid enough to warrant expenditure of time in +experimentation; improved methods might be devised, which would put +this food-source on a practicable basis. + +<p>During the seasons of 1886 and 1888 some use was made of mosquito +larvae. Near the station is an extensive swamp where these insects +breed in great numbers. From the pools of water the larvae were daily +collected by means of a set of strainers specially devised for this +use. Barrels filled with water were also disposed in convenient places +near the rearing troughs, and were soon swarming with larvae from the +eggs deposited by the mosquitoes on the surface of the water. When near +the completion of their growth, which was only some ten days after the +deposit of the eggs, the larvae (or pupae) were strained out and fed +to the fish. No kind of food has been used this station that has been +more eagerly devoured, and so far as our observation has gone no other +food has contributed more to the growth of the fish; indeed, I am +inclined to put them at the head in both respects. It was found, +however, that the time expended in collecting them was out of all +proportion to the quantity of food secured, and pending opportunity for +further experiment their use was discontinued. + +<p>I think it quite possible that an arrangement might be devised whereby +the greater part of the labor might be saved. Perhaps a series of +breeding tanks arranged in proximity to the fish troughs, into which +the water containing the larvae might be drawn when desirable by the +simple opening of faucet, would solve the problem. + +<p>Various methods of serving the food have been tried, but at present +everything is given with a spoon. The attendant carries the food with +the left hand--in a 2-quart dipper if chopped meat, in a larger vessel +if maggots--and, dipping it out with a large spoon, strews it the whole +length of the trough, being careful to put the greater portion at the +head, where the fish nearly always congregate. Finely chopped food, for +very young fish, is slightly thinned with water before feeding. At one +time the finest food was fed through perforations in the bottom of a +tin dish; the food was placed in the dish, which was dipped into the +water a little and shaken till enough of the food had dropped out of +the perforations; this practice was laid aside because it was thought +that the food was too much diluted. + +<p>In feeding maggots it was, at first, the practice to place them on +small "feeding boards" of special construction suspended over the water +in the troughs and let them crawl off into the water; but whatever +advantage this method may have had in furnishing the meal to the fish +slowly was more than counterbalanced by the extra labor of caring for +the boards and by the offensive odor, and it was abandoned. For use in +feeding fish in a pond a box containing a series of shelves, down which +the maggots slowly crawl, was found sufficiently useful to be retained. + +<p>It is the common practice to feed all meat raw except the lights, which +chop better if boiled first, except also occasional lots of meat that +are on the point of becoming tainted and are boiled to save them. All +meats fed direct to the fish are first passed through a chopping +machine. The machine known as the "Enterprise" is the one now in use. +It forces the meat through perforated steel plates. The plate used for +the smaller fish has perforations 2 inch in diameter, and for coarser +work there are two plates 3/16th inch and 3/8th inch, respectively. It +is operated by a crank turned by hand. + +<p>Food is given to those fish just beginning to eat four times a day (in +some cases even six times). As the season progresses the number of +rations is gradually reduced to two daily. In winter such fish as are +carried through are fed but once a day. The cleaning of the troughs has +been a troublesome matter, and the subject of much study and +experiment, but nothing more satisfactory has been found than the +following practice: The troughs are all to be cleaned daily--not all at +one time, but as time is found for it in the intervals of other work. +To facilitate cleaning, the troughs are inclined about 2 inches. The +outlet is commanded, as already explained, by a hollow plug. + +<p>When this is drawn the water rushes out rapidly and carries most of the +debris against the screen. The fishes are excited, and, scurrying +about, they loosen nearly all dirt from the bottom; what will not +otherwise yield must be started with a brush, but after the first few +weeks the brush has rarely to be used except to rub the debris through +the outlet screen. Owing to the inclination of the trough the water +recedes from the upper end until the fishes lying there are almost +wholly out of water, but, although they are left in that position +sometimes for 10 or 15 minutes, no harm has ever been known to result. + +<p>It has been the common rule at the station to count all the embryos +devoted to the process of rearing, either before or after hatching; to +keep an accurate record of losses during the season, and to check the +record by a recount in the fall. When eggs are counted they are lifted +in a teaspoon. + +<p>The counting of small fish is effected in this way: The fish are first +gathered in a fine, soft bag-net, commonly one made of cheese-cloth, +and from this, hanging meanwhile in the water, yet so that the fish +cannot escape, they are dipped out a few at a time, in a small dipper +or cup, counted, and placed in a pail of water or some other +receptacle. + +<p>This counting is generally preliminary to weighing, and in this case +the fish, after counting, are placed in another bag-net, in which they +are lowered, several hundred at a time, into a pail of water which has +been previously weighed, and the increase noted. With care to avoid +transferring to the weighing pail any surplus water, this is a correct +method and very easy and safe for the fish. + +<p>In conclusion, I submit some estimates of cost. In September, 1893, we +fed fry that were estimated at the close of the month to number +238,300. There were also a few hundred larger fish. + +<p>From the known total outlay for food, attendance, and superintendence a +suitable allowance is made for the maintenance of the older fish, and +the balance is charged to the fry. By this method we arrive at the +following results: + + +<br> +<br> +<center> +<table cellpadding="5"> + <tr><td align="center">Cost</td><td align="center">Total</td><td align="center">Per fish</td></tr> + <tr><td>Food</td><td align="right">$155.00</td><td align="right">$0.00065</td></tr> + <tr><td>Attendance</td><td align="right">99.79</td><td align="right">.00042</td></tr> + <tr><td>Superintendence</td><td align="right">205.96</td><td align="right">.00086</td></tr> + <tr><td>Total</td><td align="right">460.75</td><td align="right">0.00193</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Applied to the rearing operations of 1891, a similar calculation gives +us this result: The fry that were carried through the season from June +to October, inclusive, cost, for food, attendance, and superintendence, +$0.0081 each; that is, about four-fifths of a cent each for the term of +five months. + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="narrow" align="center"> +<br> +<a name="7"></a> +<br> +<br> +<h3>ARTICLE VII</h3> + +<h2>Notes on the Capture of Atlantic Salmon at Sea and in the Coast +Waters of the Eastern States.</h2> +<h4>by</h4> +<h3>Hugh M. Smith, M. D.,<br>Assistant in charge of Division of +Statistics and Methods of the Fisheries.</h3> +<br> +<h4><i>Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission</i>, +Vol. 14, Page 95, 1894</h4> +<br> + +<p>In carrying out its most important function--the maintenance and +increase of the supply of food fishes--the U.S. Commission of Fish and +Fisheries, in addition to direct efforts to increase the abundance of +fishes naturally inhabiting our various rivers, lakes, and coast +waters, has given considerable attention to the experimental +introduction of fishes into regions or streams to which they were not +native. + +<p>The wonderful success which has followed the planting of shad and +striped bass fry in the waters of the Pacific coast is well known. The +results attending the recent attempts of the Commission to establish a +run of salmon (<i>Salmo salar</i>) in some of the large rivers of the +Atlantic coast have been so noteworthy in the case of the Hudson as to +afford reasonable ground for expecting the early inauguration of a regular +fishery, should the present rate of increase in the abundance of the +fish be maintained. Similar striking results may also be anticipated in +all the more northern streams of the east coast, including the +Housatonic, Connecticut, and Merrimac, in which salmon were at one time +found in abundance and are now taken in small numbers, if the ascent of +the adult fish to the headwaters for the purpose of spawning is +permitted and if sufficiently extensive fish-cultural operations are +continued. + +<p>The primary purpose of this paper is to record some of the apparent +results of salmon propagation in our rivers as shown by the occurrence +of the fish at points on the coast or at sea more or less remote from +the places where fry have been deposited. + +<p>While an interesting and instructive compilation might be made of the +instances of the capture of salmon in the Hudson, Delaware, +Susquehanna, Potomac, and other rivers in which the fish has been +acclimated, such a work is not necessary in view of the notice which +has already been accorded the matter in the public press and in the +reports of several of the State fish commissions, notably the New York +commission. + +<p>So much yet remains to be learned regarding the lines of migration of +the salmon to and from the rivers, its winter habitat, the existence of +an "instinct of nativity" which is supposed to impel the return of the +fish to the place where hatched, the extent of the coastwise +distribution of salmon originally belonging in a given river, and +numerous other practical and scientific questions, that the +presentation of any data bearing on the occurrence of the fish outside +of the rivers may be regarded as acceptable and timely. + +<p>In an interesting article on "Salmon at Sea," communicated to the issue +of <i>Forest and Stream</i> for February 18, 1892, Mr. A. N. Cheney, the +well-known angling expert and writer on fish-cultural matters, discusses +the question of the whereabouts of salmon after they leave the rivers, +and quotes the following from a previous contribution by himself on the +subject: + +<p>"There is a certain mystery about the habits and movements of the sea +salmon, after it has left the fresh-water rivers in which it spawns and +gone down to the sea, that never has been satisfactorily explained. One +theory is that all the salmon of the rivers along a coast may journey +down to the sea, and then move ultimately in one great body southward +along the coast until they find water of suitable temperature, with an +abundance of food, in which to spend their time in growing fat until +the spawning instinct warns them to return, when they proceed +northward, each river school entering its own particular river as the +main school arrives opposite the river month. + +<p>"Another theory is that the salmon of each river, as they arrive at its +mouth after descending from its headwaters, go out to sea sufficiently +far to find the conditions of temperature and food which suit them, and +there they remain, separate from the salmon of other rivers, until it +is time for them to return to fresh water. Considering the certainty +with which the salmon of any particular river return again to the +stream of their birth, the latter theory seems the more tenable of the +two." + +<p>Another object of this paper is to solicit correspondence from +fishermen, especially those engaged in the coast and offshore +fisheries, concerning the circumstances of the capture of salmon in +their nets, and to bring to their attention the opportunity they will +thus have of increasing the knowledge of the movements of the salmon, +of aiding in the determination of the results of fishcultural +operations, and of ultimately if not immediately benefiting themselves +by supplying information that will conduce to the most effective +application of artificial methods. + +<p>To this end it is the intention to send the paper to fishermen engaged +in the mackerel, menhaden, and other sea fisheries, and to operators of +pound nets, traps, and other shore appliances, with the hope that +instances of the capture of salmon may be communicated to this +Commission and notes on the size, condition, movements, etc., of the +fish be furnished. + +<p>To aid in the identification of the salmon when caught by fishermen who +have not previously met with the fish, a figure is presented. + +<p>In this connection mention may be made of the chinook or quinnat salmon +of the Pacific coast (<i>Oncorhynchus chouicha</i>), fry of which have been +extensively planted in eastern waters by the U. S. Commission of Fish +and Fisheries. Up to and including the year 1880, about 12,000,000 fry +were deposited in rivers and other waters tributary to the Atlantic. +While a few relatively large examples have been taken, this office has +no information to show that the attempts to acclimate this species on +the Atlantic coast have as yet been successful. In 1891 a few thousand +yearling salmon were placed in New York waters tributary to the sea. +The possibility of the survival and growth of some of these and of the +large early colonies prompts this reference to the matter and suggests +the publication of the accompanying figure of the species, to afford a +basis for distinguishing the two kinds of salmon, which closely +resemble each other. To further aid in the identification of the two +species the following key has been prepared: + +<br> +<br> +<center> +<table cellpadding="5"> + <tr><td>Rays in anal fin, 9; scales between gill opening +and base of tail, 120; branchiostegals (false gill openings), +11</td><td width="35%"align="right" valign="bottom">ATLANTIC SALMON</td></tr> + <tr><td>Rays in anal fin, 16; scales between gill opening +and base of tail, 150; branchiostegals, (false gill openings) 15 +to 19</td><td align="right" valign="bottom">PACIFIC SALMON</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br> + +<p>Numerous instances might be cited of the taking of salmon in the waters +of the Atlantic coast in recent years. Their occurrence in the traps +and pound nets is in fact so common that it would hardly be entitled to +notice at this time were it not for the circumstance that in regions in +which salmon were already known there has been a decided increase in +the number observed outside the rivers, and that the fish is now being +taken in localities in which it was not previously found. + +<p>Instances of the capture of salmon in the coast waters of Maine are +naturally numerous, and without significance so far as the purposes of +the present paper are concerned. The existence of two important salmon +rivers, the Kennebec and the Penobscot, affords an easy explanation of +the presence of salmon on the shores of either side of the mouths of +those streams. In the report of the U. S. Commission of Fish and +Fisheries for 1873-73 Mr. Charles G. Atkins, now superintendent of the +salmon-rearing establishment at East Orland, Me., and an authoritative +writer on the Atlantic salmon, contributes some notes on its occurrence +in the sea adjacent to Penobscot Bay and at Richmond Island, near +Portland. These cases, however, have little bearing on the subject in +hand, as Mr. Atkins suggests in a recent letter. + +<p>A special inquiry, personally conducted on Matinicus, Monhegan, and +other islands lying far off the Maine coast, and special researches +there made with appropriate apparatus, would doubtless disclose many +interesting facts regarding the salmon of a practical and scientific +nature. A few apparently unrecorded notes concerning the fish among +islands off the island of Mount Desert may be given, which are probably +indicative of what may be expected in other sections. + +<p>Mr. W. I. Mayo, who has fished herring brush-weirs at the Cranberry +Isles for many years, and is a life-long fisherman in that section, +communicates the intelligence that salmon were first observed about +those islands in 1888. On June 17 a salmon, weighing 20 pounds, was +taken in a herring weir, and on June 19 another, weighing 19 pounds, +was caught. On July 14 of the same year 6 salmon, weighing 4 to 6 +pounds apiece, were secured, but were liberated on account of their +size. During the four years intervening between 1888 and 1893 none was +taken around these islands, but in June of the latter year they +reappeared. On June 11 a salmon weighing 15 pounds was taken in a weir, +and on various occasions during that month a number weighing 12 to 15 +pounds each were caught by boat fishermen on trawl lines fished for +cod. + +<p>The trawls were baited with herring and set on the bottom in rather +deep water. Mr. Mayo states that these were the first salmon ever taken +on trawl lines in that region. The Cranberry Isles lie off the +southeastern part of Mount Desert Island, and are about 25 miles east +from Penobscot Bay and about 35 miles in a straight line from the mouth +of the Penobscot River. + +<p>On the Massachusetts coast salmon are now regularly taken each year at +most of the important pound-net and trap fisheries. The largest numbers +are caught in Cape Cod Bay. A State law prohibits the taking of salmon +in nets and requires the return to the water alive of all fish so +caught. This makes the fishermen diffident about giving information and +renders difficult the determination of the abundance of the fish. On +June 6, 1879 the <i>Cape Ann Advertiser</i>, of Gloucester, contained the +following note: + +<p>"A 10-pound salmon was taken from a weir off Magnolia Thursday night. +This is the first salmon caught off Cape Ann for over thirty years. On +Saturday morning three more large salmon were taken. The fishermen are +highly elated at the prospect of salmon-catching." + +<p>During the past five or six years a few salmon have been taken almost +every season in the vicinity of Gloucester, the average annual catch +being 4 to 6 fish. In 1888 the State fish commissioners reported the +capture of 18 salmon in traps at Manchester and Gloucester. In 1893, 13 +traps in the neighborhood of Gloucester took 5 salmon. + +<p>In December, 1891, a salmon weighing 28 pounds was caught on a cod +trawl line set near Halfway Rock, off Salem Harbor, Mass.; Mr. William +Dennett, of Gloucester, who secured the fish, reports that he sold it +for $46. Mr. Samuel Wiley, of Gloucester, in September 1893, caught a +salmon at sea off Gloucester on a trawl line fished for hake. These are +the only instances that have been reported of the capture of salmon on +a hook in the vicinity of Gloucester. As the trawl lines in question +were set on the bottom at a depth of 20 or 25 fathoms, the fact that +these two fish at least were swimming on the bottom may be considered +established. + +<p>Relatively large numbers of salmon have recently been taken in the +pound nets of Cape Cod Bay. Capt. Atkins Hughes, of North Truro, one of +the best-informed and most reliable fishermen in the region, informs us +that at North Truro, the principal pound-net center in the bay, about +70 large salmon have been annually caught for two or three years. The +fish are taken throughout the entire pound-net season, but are most +common in the early part of the fishing year (May and June). Some fish +weighing 25 to 28 pounds have recently been caught. For two or three +years he has noticed in the pound nets in October large numbers of +young salmon, about 6 inches long; each net probably takes one or two +barrels of these annually; he had never observed these small fish +before in his long fishing career in that region. In 1893, however, +rather less than the usual number of large salmon were observed, and +very few of the small fish mentioned were taken. + +<p>Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, of the Fish Commission station at Woods Holl, +Mass., states that in September, 1892, when he visited the Cape Cod +region, a great many salmon were being taken in the pound nets. They +weighed 4 or 5 pounds apiece. At one pound-net fishery in Provincetown +he saw enough salmon to fill two sugar barrels. + +<p>Concerning the occurrence of salmon in the Cape Cod region, Mr. Cheney, +in the article previously mentioned, quotes Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, +of New York, as follows: + +<p>"We get every winter a few fish from the Atlantic coast that are +evidently part of the schools of fish that run up into the Kennebec, +Penobscot, and other eastern rivers. During November and December we +had about 15 to 20 fish, weighing from 12 to 24 pounds each, that were +caught in the mackerel nets in the vicinity of Provincetown and North +Truro, Mass. These nets are set out from the Cape in very deep water. + +<p>"During the past two or three weeks we have received several specimens +of very handsome salmon from Maine, where they have been caught by the +smelt fishermen in their nets when they have been fishing for smelt. I +think these catches of salmon go very far to prove that the schools of +fish are not very far off from our shores during the time that they are +not found in the rivers, and that both shad and salmon, when they leave +our rivers, do not go either east or south, but are within 100 miles or +so of the rivers where they were spawned. The fish are remarkable in +being in splendid condition and perfect in form and appearance." + +<p>Mr. Cheney thinks the salmon taken off Cape Cod belong in either the +Merrimac River or the Penobscot River; and, as in the year in question +fish were being caught at the mouth of the Penobscot at the same time +they were being taken at Cape Cod, he thinks it probable that the fish +in the latter region were from the Merrimac. + +<p>In the pound-net fishery of the northern coast of New Jersey the recent +capture of salmon has been a subject of much interest to the local +fishermen and of considerable importance to fish-culturists and +naturalists. + +<p>For a number of years a few salmon have, from time to time, been taken +in Sandy Hook Bay, but within the past two or three years there has +been an increase in the number caught. At Belford, the principal +fishing center in the bay, Mr. M. C. Lohsen states that some have been +taken weighing from 12 to 40 pounds, and that in the spring of 1893 +more than the usual number were caught in the pound nets. Mr. Harry +White, of the same place, never took salmon in pound nets prior to +1891; he secured 1 that year and 2 in 1892, but failed to get any in +1893. Other fishermen, however, obtained one or two fish. The average +weight of the salmon taken here is 12 to 15 pounds; the largest caught +by Mr. White weighed 17 and one half pounds. Small ones, weighing half +a pound each, are sometimes observed. It is only during the month of +May that salmon are noticed on this shore. One weighing 16 pounds, +taken in a pound net at this place in 1891, sold for $11; the following +year two, with a combined weight of 23 pounds, sold for $15.95. + +<p>In the vicinity of Long Branch, we are informed of the recent capture +of a number of salmon in the pound nets set directly in the ocean. Mr. +Ed. Hennessey, of North Long Branch, reports that in 1892 two salmon +and in 1893 one salmon were taken in his pound; they weighed from 10 to +15 pounds each. In April, 1891, Messrs. Gaskins and Hennessey, of the +same place, secured a salmon in their pound; this was the only one they +ever took. Messrs. W. T. Van Dyke & Co., pound-net fishermen of Long +Branch, communicate the following instances of the taking of salmon by +them in 1893: May 10, 1 salmon weighing 9 1/2 pounds; May 11, 1 salmon +weighing 13 1/2 pounds; May 17, 1 salmon, and May 18, 1 salmon, weight +not given. Messrs. West and Jeffrey, pound-net fishermen at Long +Branch, report that in 1892 they caught 2 small salmon. + +<p>In 1893, 3 fish were taken, as follows: May 10, a salmon weighing 19 +pounds; May 18, 1 weighing 12 pounds; May 20, 1 weighing 10 pounds. Mr. +Henry F. Harvey, who fishes a pound net at Mantoloking, N. J., about 35 +miles south of Sandy Hook, communicates the information that in May, +1893, 2 salmon weighing 10 or 12 pounds each were taken at that place. +None had ever before been caught there. + +<p>One of the most interesting facts at hand concerning the oceanic +occurrence of the salmon has been noted in a previous paper in this +Bulletin, <a name="footnotetag7-1"></a><a href="#footnote7-1">[1]</a> +but may be again referred to in order to make the present +article more complete. Instances of the capture or observation of +salmon far out at sea or even at relatively short distances from land +are very rare and are entitled to publication whenever noted. + +<p>About April 10, 1893 the mackerel schooner <i>Ethel B. Jacobs</i>, of +Gloucester, Mass., was cruising for mackerel off the coast of Delaware. +When in latitude 38 degrees, at a point about 50 miles ESE. of Fenwick +Island light-ship, the vessel fell in at night with a large body of +mackerel, and the seine was thrown round a part of the school. Among +the mackerel taken was an Atlantic salmon weighing 16 pounds, which +Capt. Solomon Jacobs, who was in command of the schooner, sent home to +Gloucester. Capt. Jacobs informs us that the fish was fat and in fine +condition. Some of the crew told the captain that there was another +salmon in the seine, but it escaped over the cork line as the seine was +being "dried in." The light-ship mentioned is about 10 miles off the +coast, so the place where these salmon were taken was about 60 miles +from the nearest land. + +<p>The foregoing is the only instance known to this Commission of the +capture of salmon so far at sea on the coast of the United States or of +the taking of salmon in a purse seine with mackerel under any +circumstances. Capt. S. J. Martin, the veteran fisherman of Gloucester, +Mass., has never known of another such occurrence, and a special +inquiry conducted by him among the mackerel fishermen of that port +failed to disclose the knowledge among them of a similar case. + +<br> +<br> +<blockquote class="footnote"> + <a name="footnote7-1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: + + <p class="footnote">Extension of the Recorded Range of Certain + Marine and Freshwater Fishes of the Atlantic Coast of the United + States. + <br><a href="#footnotetag7-1">(return)</a> +</blockquote> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW ENGLAND SALMON HATCHERIES AND SALMON FISHERIES IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17171-h.txt or 17171-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/1/7/17171">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/7/17171</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17171-h/images/orlandeggs_a.png b/17171-h/images/orlandeggs_a.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b04b66b --- /dev/null +++ b/17171-h/images/orlandeggs_a.png diff --git a/17171.txt b/17171.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d91e4ef --- /dev/null +++ b/17171.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2318 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon +Fisheries in the Late 19th Century, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon Fisheries in the Late 19th Century + Consisting of the following articles compiled from the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 1881-1894: Some Results of the Artificial Propagation of Maine and California Salmon in New England and Canada, Recorded in the Years 1879 and 1880; Sketch of the Penobscot Salmon-Breeding Establishment (1883); Penning of Salmon in Order to Secure Their Eggs (1884); Memoranda Relative to Inclosures for the Confinement of Salmon Drawn from Experience at Bucksport, Penobscot River, Maine (1884); Report on the Schoodic Salmon Work of 1884-85; Methods Employed at Craig Brook Station in Rearing Young Salmonid Fishes (1893); Notes on the Capture of Atlantic Salmon at Sea and in the Coast Waters of the Eastern States (1894) + + +Author: Various + + + +Release Date: November 28, 2005 [eBook #17171] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW ENGLAND SALMON HATCHERIES AND +SALMON FISHERIES IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY*** + + +E-text prepared by Ronald Calvin Huber while serving as Penobscot Bay +Watch, Rockland, Maine, with technical assistance from Joseph E. +Loewenstein, M.D. + + + +NEW ENGLAND SALMON HATCHERIES AND SALMON FISHERIES +IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + ARTICLE + + I. Some Results of the Artificial Propagation of Maine and + California Salmon in New England and Canada, Recorded in + the Years 1879 and 1880 + + II. Sketch of the Penobscot Salmon-Breeding Establishment (1883) + + III. Penning of Salmon in Order to Secure Their Eggs (1884) + + IV. Memoranda Relative to Inclosures for the Confinement of Salmon + Drawn from Experience at Bucksport, Penobscot River, Maine + (1884) + + V. Report on the Schoodic Salmon Work of 1884-85 + + VI. Methods Employed at Craig Brook Station in Rearing Young + Salmonid Fishes (1893) + + VII. Notes on the Capture of Atlantic Salmon at Sea and in the + Coast Waters of the Eastern States (1894) + + + + + +ARTICLE I + +SOME RESULTS OF THE ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF MAINE AND CALIFORNIA +SALMON IN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA, RECORDED IN THE YEARS 1879 AND 1880 + +Compiled By The United States Fish Commissioner + + + + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 1, Page 270, 1881. + +New Bedford, Mass May 20, 1879. + +Prof. S. F. BAIRD: + +Sir: I have just been in the fish market and a crew were bringing in +their fish from one of the "traps." A noticeable and peculiar feature +of the fishery this year is the great numbers of young salmon caught, +especially at the Vineyard, although some few are caught daily at +Sconticut Neck (mouth of our river). There are apparently two different +ages of them. Mostly about 2 pounds in weight (about as long as a large +mackerel) and about one-half as many weighing from 6 to 8 pounds; +occasionally one larger. One last week weighed 33 pounds and one 18 +pounds. The fishermen think they are the young of those with which some +of our rivers have been stocked, as nothing of the kind has occurred in +past years at all like this. + +JOHN H. THOMSON. + + + * * * * * * + + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 1, Page 271, 1881 + +New Bedford, Mass. June 1, 1879. + +Prof SPENCER F. BAIRD: + +SIR: I received yours. I have examined carefully since your letter, but +no salmon have been taken. The run was about the two first weeks in May +and a few the last of April. Mr. Bassett had about 30 to 35 from the +trap at Menimpsha, and 10 or 12 from Sconticut Neck, the mouth of our +river. Mr. Bartlett, at his fish market, had about one dozen; 12 from +the traps near the mouth of Slocum's River, six miles west of here, and +I have heard of two taken at mouth of Westport River. + +As to the particular species, I do not get any reliable information, as +so few of our fishermen know anything about salmon, and in fact the men +from the traps on Sconticut Neck did not know what the fish were. + +JOHN H. THOMSON. + + + * * * * * * + + +FISHING ITEMS. "A ten-pound salmon and seventeen tautog, weighing over +one hundred pounds, were taken from the weirs of Magnolia, Thursday +night. This is the first salmon caught off Cape Ann for over thirty +years. On Saturday morning three more large salmon were taken and 150 +large mackerel. The fishermen are highly elated at the prospect of +salmon catching." (Cape Ann Advertiser, June 6, 1879.) + + + * * * * * * + + +[Postscript to a letter from Monroe A. Green, New York State Fishery +Commission, to Fred Mather, June 9, 1879.] + +"P. S.--Kennebec salmon caught to-day in the Hudson River at Bath near +Albany weighing twelve and a half pounds, sold for 40 cents per pound. +The first that have been caught for years." + + + * * * * * * + + +STATE OF MAINE, DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, +Bangor, August 25, 1879. [Extracts.] + +DEAR PROFESSOR: We have had a great run of salmon this year, and +consisting largely of fish planted by us in the Penobscot four or five +years ago, so far as we could judge; there were a very large number, +running from 9 to 12 pounds. The east and west branches of the Penobscot +report a great many fish in the river. On the Mattawamkeag where we +put in 250,000 and upwards, in 1875 and 1876, a great many salmon +are reported trying to get over the lower dam at Gordon's Falls, +13 feet high. These fish were put in at Bancroft, Eaton and Kingman, on +the European and North American Railroad. The dam at Kingham is 13 feet; +at Slewgundy, 14 feet; at Gordon's Falls, 13 feet and yet a salmon has +been hooked on a trout fly at Bancroft and salmon are seen in the river +at Kingman, and between the dams at Slewgundy and Gordon's Falls. The +dealers in our city have retailed this season 50 tons Penobscot salmon, +and about 3 tons Saint John salmon; it all sells as Penobscot salmon. +Saint John salmon costs here, duty and all included, about 14 cents per +pound. Our first salmon sells at $1 per pound, and so on down to 12 1/2 +cents the last of the season.' + +Salmon at Bucksport has sold to dealers here at 8 cents. Two tons taken +at Bucksport and Orland in 24 hours. Average price at retail here for +whole season, 25 cents. + +Truly, yours, + +E. M. Stillwell. + + + * * * * * * + + +STATE OF MAINE, DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, +Bangor, October 4, 1879. + +DEAR PROFESSOR: My delay in replying to your kind letter has been from +no want of courtesy, but a desire to send you the required "data" you +asked. Neither myself nor Mr. Atkins have been able to procure them. The +weir fishermen keep no records at all, and it is difficult to obtain +from them anything reliable; while the fishermen above tidewater are a +bad set of confirmed poachers, whose only occupation is hunting and +fishing both in and out of season. They are always jealous and loth to +let us know how good a thing they make of it, for fear of us and fear of +competition from their own class. + +Four or five years since I put in some 300,000 salmon fry into the +Mattawamkeag at Bancroft, Eaton, Kingsmore, and at Mattawamkeag village. +There are three dams between Mattawamkeag and Bancroft--none less than +12 feet high. About six weeks since Mr. Nathaniel Sweat, a railroad +conductor on the European and North American Railroad, while fishing for +trout from a pier above the railroad bridge at Bancroft, hooked a large +salmon and lost his line and flies. Salmon in great numbers have been +continually jumping below the first dam, which is called "Gordon's +Falls." + +My colleague, Everett Smith, of Portland, a civil engineer, while making +a survey for a fishway, counted 15 salmon jumping in 30 minutes. A Mr. +Bailey, who is foreman of the repair shop at Mattawamkeag walked up to +the falls some three weeks since entirely out of curiosity excited by +the rumors of the sight, and counted 60 salmon jumping in about an hour, +within half or three-quarters of a mile of the falls. This is on the +Mattawamkeag, which is a great tributary of the Penobscot. + +On the east branch of the Penobscot there has been a great run of +salmon. An explorer on the Wassattaquoik reported the pools literally +black with salmon. A party of poachers, hearing the rumor, went in from +the town of Hodgon and killed 25. I inclose you a letter to me from Mr. +Prentiss, one of our most wealthy and prominent merchants, which speaks +for itself: I will be obliged to you if you will return this, as I shall +have occasion to use it in my report. + +On the West branch of the Penobscot I hear reports of large numbers of +salmon, but the breaking of the two great dams at Chesancook and the +North Twin Dam, which holds back the great magazine of water of the +great tributary lakes which feed the Penobscot, which is used to drive +the logs cut in the winter, through the summer's drought, has let up all +the fish which hitherto were held back until the opening of the gates to +let the logs through. These fish would not, of course, be seen, as they +would silently make their way up. + +I regret that I have nothing of more value to give you. Hoping that this +small contribution may at least cheer you as it has me, + +I remain, truly, yours, + +E. M. STILWELL, Commissioner of Fisheries for State of Maine. + + + * * * * * * + + +Prof. SPENCER F. BAIRD, +United States Commissioner Fish and Fisheries. +BANGOR, October 3, 1879. + +M. STILWELL, Esq., + +DEAR SIR: Prof. C. E. Hamlin of Harvard, and I made a trip to Mount +Katahdin last month for scientific examination and survey of the +mountain. I had been salmon fishing in July on the Grand Bonaventure, on +Bay of Chaleur, and I could not see why we could not catch salmon on the +east branch of the Penobscot at the Hunt place where we crossed it on +our way in to Katahdin. I thought the pool from mouth of Wassatiquoik to +the Hunt place, about a half-mile, must be an excellent salmon pool, and +my guide and the people there confirmed this opinion. They said over a +hundred salmon had been taken in that one pool this season. The nearest +settlement, and only one on the whole east branch, is about six miles +out from there, and the young men go on Sundays and fish with +drift-nets. No regular fishing for market--only a backwoods local supply +can be used. These fish were about of one size--say 8 to 11 pounds. + +There were never enough fish here before to make it worth while for them +to drift for them. A few years ago no salmon were caught there at all. +Twenty-two years ago, before our fish laws were enacted, the farmer at +the Hunt place used to have a net that went entirely across the river +clear to the bottom, which he kept all the time stretched across, and he +only used to get two or three salmon a week. I was there August, 1857, +with Mr. Joseph Carr, an old salmon fisher, and we fished for ten days +and could not get a rise. The net had been taken up, because the farmer +did not get fish enough to pay for looking after it. + +But the stocking the river makes it good fishing and I intend to try the +east branch next season with the fly. + +Very truly, + +HENRY M. PRENTISS. + + + * * * * * * + + +October 13, 1879 +East Windsor Hill, Conn. + +Professor BAIRD: + +DEAR SIR: It may be of interest to you to know that your salmon are not +all lost. Last Friday, 10th, I was with a party of three fishing in +Snipsic Lake, and one of our party caught a salmon that weighed 1 3/4 +pounds. This is the second one taken since the pond was stocked as I was +told. The other was caught this summer and weighed 12 ounces. + +Cannot something be done to save our fish in Connecticut River? There is +an establishment at Holyoke, Mass., and another at Windsor Locks, Conn., +that are manufacturing logs into paper, and I am told that the chemicals +used for that purpose are let off into the river twice a day, and that +the fish for half a mile come up as though they had been cockled. + +Both of these factories are at the foot of falls where the fish collect +and stop in great numbers and are all killed. Our shores and sand-bars +are literally lined with dead fish. Three salmon have been found among +them within two miles of my office. They were judged to weigh 12, 20 and +25 pounds. The dead fish are so numerous that eagles are here after +them. I have received nine that have been shot here in the past two +seasons. + +I have written you in order that the fish commissioners might stop this +nuisance and save the fish that they have taken so much pains to +propagate. + +Truly yours, + +Wm Hood, East Windsor Hill, Conn., October 13, 1879 + + + * * * * * * + + +SAINT STEPHEN, March 1, 1880. + +Prof. SPENCER F. BAIRD +U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries: + +Dear Sir: I send you remarks in relation to the Restigouche and Saint +Croix Rivers, which, though crude, I am sure are quite correct, as they +are either taken from the official statistics, or are facts of which I +am myself cognizant. You may, if of use, publish any part of them. + +I very much wish we could procure some young shad for the Saint Croix; +this fish was once very abundant, and perhaps would be again if +introduced. I know you have been very successful in restocking the +Connecticut. Our old people deplore the loss of the shad--say it was a +much better food-fish than the salmon. I do a great deal of shooting, +and am much interested in ornithology, and specimens of our birds that +you might want I should be happy to lookout for; do a good deal of coast +shooting winters; have been hopefully looking for a Labrador duck for a +number of seasons--fear they have totally disappeared. + +I have nice spring-water conducted to my house and think of doing a +little fish-hatching in a small way. The amount of water I can spare is +a stream of about half inch diameter; the force will be considerable, as +the water rises to top of my house, some 50 feet above where I should +set trays. I write to you to ask what hatching apparatus would be best +to get, where to buy, and probable cost. I am trying to get some +sea-trout ova to hatch in it. I presume all your California ova have +been disposed of ere this. + +FRANK TODD. + + + * * * * * * + + +SAINT STEPHEN, March 1, 1880. + +Prof SPENCER F. BAIRD, U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries: + +SIR: In regard to the Saint Croix, would say, that it was once one of +the most prolific salmon rivers in New Brunswick, but owing to the +erection of impassable dams, fifteen or twenty years ago, this valuable +fish had almost entirely disappeared. At about this time fishways were +placed in all the dams, and gradually salmon began to increase, but the +first great stimulus was given some ten years ago by the distribution of +some hundreds of thousands of young salmon in the headwaters, by the +fishery commissioners of Maine. + +The Dobsis Club also placed in the Saint Croix some 200,000 or more from +their hatchery, a portion being the California salmon. With these +exceptions our river has had no artificial aid, but for the last five +years the number of salmon has largely increased, due mainly, no doubt, +to the deposits before mentioned. + +The fish ways are generally in good condition (although some +improvements will be made), and fish have easy access to headwaters, +That large numbers go up and spawn is evidenced by the large numbers of +smolt seen at the head of tidal water in the spring, many being taken by +boys with the rod. I have reason to expect that our government will +hereafter distribute annually in the Saint Croix a goodly number of +young salmon which, together with the contributions of the Maine +commissioners will soon make this fish again abundant. Alewives are very +abundant and apparently increasing every year. Shad that were once +plenty have entirely disappeared. I very much wish that the river could +be stocked with this valuable fish; possibly you could kindly assist us +in this. + +Landlocked salmon (here so called) are, I think, nearly or quite as +plenty at Grand Lake Stream as they were ten years ago; this, I think, +is almost entirely due to the hatchery under the charge of Mr. Atkins; +the tannery at the head of the stream having entirely destroyed their +natural spawning beds, the deposit of hair and other refuse being in +some places inches deep. The twenty-five per cent. of all fish hatched, +which are honestly returned to our river, is, I think, each year more +than we would get by the natural process, under present circumstances, +in ten years. + +FRANK TODD. + + + * * * * * * + + +SAINT STEPHEN, N. B., DOMINION OF CANADA. + +Prof. SPENCER F. BAIRD, U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries: + +SIR: I think it has been clearly demonstrated in this Dominion that by +artificial propagation and a fair amount of protection, all natural +salmon rivers may be kept thoroughly stocked with this fish, and rivers +that have been depleted, through any cause, brought back to their former +excellence. + +I would instance the river Restigouche in support of the above +statement. + +This river, which empties into the Bay of Chaleur, is now, and always +has been, the foremost salmon river in New Brunswick, both as to size +and number of fish. It has not a dam or obstruction to the free passage +of fish from its mouth to its source, yet up to 1868 and 1869 the +numbers of salmon had constantly decreased. This, no doubt, was +occasioned by excessive netting at the mouth, and spearing the fish +during the summer in the pools; natural production was not able to keep +up with this waste. + +In the year 1868 the number of salmon was so small that the total catch +by anglers was only 20 salmon, and the commercial yield only 37,000 +pounds. At about this date, the first salmon hatchery of the Dominion +was built upon this river and a better system of protection inaugurated; +every year since some hundreds of thousands of young salmon have been +hatched and placed in these waters, and the result has been, that in +1878 one angler alone (out of hundreds that were fishing the river) +in sixteen days killed by his own rod eighty salmon, seventy-five of +which averaged over twenty-six pounds each; while at the same time the +numbers that were being taken by the net fishermen below, for commercial +purposes, were beyond precedent, amounting in that one division alone +(not counting local and home consumption) to the enormous weight of +500,000 pounds, and the cash receipts for salmon in Restigouche County +that year amounted to more than $40,000, besides which some $5,000 was +expended by anglers; this result was almost entirely brought about by +artificial propagation. A new hatchery of size sufficient to produce +five million young fish annually will no doubt soon be erected by the +Dominion Government upon this river. + +A somewhat similar record might be given of the river Saguenay. Some +years ago anglers and net fishers of this river said it was useless to +lease from the department, as the scarcity of salmon was such as not to +warrant the outlay. A hatchery was built, and this state of things is +now wonderfully changed; so much so, indeed, that in 1878 salmon, from +the great numbers which were taken at the tidal fisheries, became a drug +in the market, selling often as low as three cents per pound, and +angling in the tributaries was most excellent. + +Some one hundred million young salmon have been artificially hatched and +distributed in the waters of the Dominion during the last few years, and +new government hatcheries are constantly being erected. + +Yours, &c., + +FRANK TODD, Fishery Overseer, Saint Croix District. + + + + + +ARTICLE II + +SKETCH OF THE PENOBSCOT SALMON-BREEDING ESTABLISHMENT + +by + +Charles G. Atkins + +Written by request of Prof. S. F. Baird, for the London Exhibition, +1883 + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 3, Page 373, 1883 + + + + +The rivers of the United States tributary to the Atlantic, north of the +Hudson, were, in their natural state, the resorts of the migratory +salmon, _Salmo salar_, and most of them continued to support important +fisheries for this species down to recent times. The occupation of the +country by Europeans introduced a new set of antagonistic forces which +began even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to operate +against the natural increase and maintenance of the salmon and other +migratory fishes. + +In many localities the closing of smaller streams by dams, and the +pursuit of the fish with nets and other implements, had already begun +to tell on their number; but it was not until the present century that +the industrial activities of the country began to seize upon the water +power of the larger rivers and to interrupt in them by lofty dams the +ascent of salmon to their principal spawning grounds. These forces were +rapid in their operations, aided as they were by a greatly augmented +demand for food from a rapidly increasing population. + +In 1865 the salmon fisheries were extinct in all but five or six of the +thirty rivers known to have been originally inhabited by them. In many +of these rivers the last salmon had been taken, and in others the +occurrence of individual specimens was extremely rare. Among the +exhausted rivers may be mentioned the Connecticut, 380 miles long; the +Merrimack,180 miles long; the Saco,120 miles long; the Androscoggin, +220 miles long; and some twenty smaller rivers. There still survived +salmon fisheries in the following rivers, namely, the Penobscot, the +Kennebec, the Denny's, the East Machias, the Saint Croix, and the +Aroostook, a tributary of the Saint John. The most productive of these +was the Penobscot, yielding 5,000 to 10,000 salmon yearly. The Kennebec +occasionally yielded 1,200 in a year, but generally much less. The +other rivers were still less productive. + +The movement for the re-establishment of these fisheries originated in +action of the legislature of New Hampshire, seconded by that of the +neighboring state of Massachusetts, having in view primarily the +fisheries of the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers. The course of the +Merrimack lies wholly within the states of New Hampshire and +Massachusetts; that of the Connecticut lies partly in the state of +Connecticut, and many of its tributaries are in the state of Vermont. +These two states were therefore early interested in the project, and +their action soon led to similar exertions on the part of Rhode Island +and Maine. Within the borders of the six states mentioned, collectively +known as "New England," are all of the rivers of the United States +known to have been frequented by the sea-going _Salmo salar_, with the +possible exception of certain rivers, tributary to the Saint Lawrence, +in the northern part of New York. + +The governments of these states having appointed boards of +commissioners to whom was confided the task of restocking the exhausted +rivers, other states, one after another, adopted like measures, and in +1872 the United States Government established a commission to inquire +into the condition and needs of the fisheries in general, with +authority to take steps for the propagation of food fishes. + +The New England commissioners turned their attention at once to the two +most important of their migratory fishes, the salmon and the shad. The +utter extermination of salmon from most of their rivers compelled them +to consider the best mode of introducing them from abroad. + +Agents were sent to the rivers of Canada, where for several years they +were permitted to take salmon from their spawning beds, and some +hundreds of thousands of salmon eggs were thus obtained and hatched +with a measure of success. After a few seasons permits for such +operations were discontinued, and the only foreign source of supply +thereafter remaining open to the states was found in the breeding +establishments under control of the Canadian Government, and even these +were practically closed by the high price at which the eggs were +valued. + +In 1870 it had become clear that to a continuation of efforts it was +essential that a new supply of salmon ova should be discovered. +Attention was now directed to the Penobscot River in the state of +Maine, which, though very unproductive compared with Canadian rivers, +might yet, perhaps, be made to yield the requisite quantity of spawn. + +A preliminary examination of the river brought out the following facts: +The Penobscot is about 225 miles in length. The upper half of its +course and nearly all of its principal tributaries lie in an +uninhabited wilderness, and in this district are the breeding grounds +of the salmon. The fisheries, however, are all on the lower part of the +river and in the estuary into which it empties, Penobscot Bay. There +was no means of knowing how great a proportion of the salmon entering +this river succeeded in passing safely the traps and nets set to +intercept them, but supposing half of them to escape capture there +would still be but about 6,000 fish of both sexes scattered through the +hundreds of miles of rivers and streams forming the headwaters of the +Penobscot. + +It was very doubtful whether they would be congregated about any one +spot in sufficient numbers to supply a breeding station, and it would +be impracticable to occupy any widely extended part of the river, on +account of the difficulties of communication. At the mouth of the +river, on the other hand, the supply of adult salmon could be found +with certainty, but they must be obtained from the ordinary salmon +fisheries in June and held in durance until October or November, and +the possibility of confining them without interfering seriously with +the normal action of their reproductive functions was not yet +established. The latter plan was finally adopted, and in 1871 the first +attempt at this method of breeding salmon was instituted by the +commissioners' of Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The site fixed +upon for an inclosure was at Craig's Pond Brook in the town of Orland, +and arrangements for a supply of fish were made with two fishermen of +Verona at the very mouth of the river. The salmon first brought were +confined in a newly constructed artificial pond in the brook, which was +of such remarkable purity that a small coin could be distinctly seen at +the depth of 7 feet. All of these died except a few which after a short +stay were removed to other quarters. The most prominent symptom was the +appearance of a white fungoid growth in patches upon the exterior of +the fish. In a lake (locally designated as Craig's Pond) of equal +purity, but greater depth, several of these diseased fish recovered. + +Of the salmon later obtained some were placed in an inclosure of nets +in the edge of a natural pond with but 7 feet of water, of average +purity, some in a shallow inclosure in a brook, and some turned loose +in a natural lake of some 60 acres area, with muddy bottom and +peat-colored water. In each case the salmon passed the summer with few +losses, arrived at the breeding season in perfect health, and yielded +at the proper time their normal amount of healthy spawn and milt, +though the great sacrifice of breeding fish by the early experiments of +the season reduced the crop of eggs to the small number of 72,000. + +The conditions of success were thus sufficiently indicated, and in 1872 +the same parties, joined with the United States Commission of +Fisheries, renewed operations on a larger scale, locating their +headquarters at the village of Bucksport, confining the breeding salmon +in Spofford's Pond (Salmon Pond on the general map of Penobscot +station), and establishing their hatchery on the brook formed by its +overflow. This is the lake of 60 acres in which, as mentioned above, a +few salmon had been successfully confined the year before. + +Though not at all such water as would be chosen by a salmon at large, +it nevertheless proved well adapted to the purpose of an inclosure for +the breeding fish. It was shallow, its greatest depth, at the season of +highest water, being but 10 feet; at its upper end it abuts against an +extensive swamp, and almost its entire bottom, except close to the +shore, is composed of a deposit of soft, brown, peaty mud of unknown +depth. The water is strongly colored with peaty solutions, has a muddy +flavor, and under the rays of a summer sun becomes warmed to 70° +(Fahrenheit) at the very bottom.* Yet in such a forbidding place as +this, salmon passed the summer in perfect health. There were some +losses, but every reason to believe them all to have been caused by +injuries received prior to their inclosure. + +* During the month of August, 1872, the bottom temperature at 1 p.m. +was never below 70°, and on six days was found to be 71°. + +During and after the hottest term of each summer (the month of August) +very few died. + +The supply of salmon was obtained mainly, as in 1871, from the weirs in +the southern part of Verona. They were placed in cars, specially +fitted for the purpose; and towed to Bucksport on the flood tide. From +the river to the inclosure they were hauled on drays in wooden tanks 3 +feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, half a dozen at once. From the +weirs to the boats and from the boats to the tanks they were dipped in +great canvas bags. From all this handling but few losses ensued. + +In the establishment at Bucksport village the work was carried on for +four years, from 1872 to 1876, with a fair degree of success. Then +ensued a suspension till 1879, when the reappearance of salmon in the +Merrimack, Connecticut, and some other rivers renewed the hopes of +final success, and encouraged the commissioners to reopen the station. +It had, however, been found that the old location had serious defects. + +The inclosure was costly to maintain, and the recapture of the fish +involved a great deal of labor and trouble. The water supplied to the +hatchery was liable in seasons of little rain to be totally unfit, +causing a premature weakening of the shell and very serious losses in +transportation. After a careful search through the neighboring country +it was found that the most promising site for an inclosure was in Dead +Brook, near the village of Orland (though within the limits of the town +of Bucksport), and for a hatchery no location was equal to Craigs Pond +Brook, the spot where the original experiments were tried in 1871. The +only serious drawback was the separation of the two by a distance of +some 2 miles, which could not offset the positive advantage of the +hatchery site. Accordingly the necessary leases were negotiated, an +inclosure made in Dead Brook, and a stock of breeding salmon placed +therein in June, 1879. Since then the work has been continued without +interruption. + +It is still found most convenient to obtain the stock of breeding +salmon, as in the early years of the enterprise, from about a dozen +weirs in the Penobscot River along the shores of the island of Verona. +The fishermen are provided with dip-nets or bags with which to capture +the fish in their weirs, with tanks or cars in which to transport them +to the collecting headquarters, whither they are brought immediately +after capturing, about low water. + +The collection is in the hands of a fisherman of experience, who +receives the salmon as they are brought in, counts and examines them, +adjudges their weight, and dispatches them in cars to the inclosure at +Dead Brook. The cars are made out of the common fishing boats of the +district, called dories, by providing them with grated openings, to +allow of a free circulation of water in transit, and covering them with +netting above to prevent the fish from escaping over the sides. The car +is ballasted so that it will be mostly submerged. Ten to fifteen salmon +are placed in a single car, and from one to four cars are taken in tow +by a boat with two to four oarsmen. + +From the collecting headquarters to Orland village, a distance of about +5 miles, the route is in brackish water, and the tow is favored by the +flood tide. At Orland is a dam which is surmounted by means of a lock, +and thence, two miles further to Dead Brook, the route is through the +tide less fresh water of Narramissic River. The sudden change from salt +to fresh water does not appear to trouble the fish except when the +weather is very hot and the fresh water is much the warmest. The cars +are towed directly into the inclosure, where the fish are at once +liberated. + +The inclosure is formed by placing two substantial barriers of woodwork +across the stream 2,200 feet apart. The lower barrier is provided with +gates which swing open to admit boats. Within the inclosure the water +is from 3 to 8 feet deep, the current very gentle, the bottom partly +muddy, partly gravelly, supporting a dense growth of aquatic +vegetation. The brook has two clean lakes at its source, and its water +is purer than that of ordinary brooks. + +The collection of salmon usually continues from the first ten days of +June until the beginning of July. During the early weeks of their +imprisonment the salmon are extremely active, swimming about and +leaping often into the air. After that they become very quiet, lying in +the deepest holes and rarely showing themselves. Early in October they +begin to renew their activity, evidently excited by the reproductive +functions. Preparations are now made for catching them by constructing +traps at the upper barrier. If the brook is in ordinary volume, these +means suffice to take nearly all, but a few linger in the deeper pools +and must be swept out with seines. About October 25 the taking of spawn +begins. After that date the fish are almost always ripe when they first +come to hand, and in three weeks the work of spawning is substantially +finished. + +Although the salmon are taken from the fisherman without any attempt to +distinguish between males and females, it is always found at the +spawning season that the females are in excess, the average of four +seasons being about 34 males to 66 females. This is a favorable +circumstance, since the milt of a single male is fully equal to the +impregnation of the ova of many females. + +The experiment has several times been tried of marking the salmon after +spawning and watching for their return in after years. After some +experiments, the mode finally fixed upon as best was to attach a light +platinum tag to the rear margin of the dorsal fin by means of a fine +platinum wire. The tags were rolled very thin, cut about half an inch +long and stamped with a steel die. The fish marked were dis missed in +the month of November. Every time it was tried a considerable number of +them was caught the ensuing spring, but with no essential change in +their condition, indicating that they had not meanwhile visited their +spawning grounds. In no case was a specimen caught in improved +condition during the first season succeeding the marking. + +But the following year, in May and June, a few of them were taken in +prime condition--none otherwise--and it several times occurred that +female salmon were a second time committed to the inclosure and yielded +a second litter of eggs. The growth of the salmon during their absence +had been very considerable, there being always an increase in length +and a gain of twenty-five to forty per cent. in weight. The conclusion +seems unavoidable that the adult salmon do not enter the Penobscot for +spawning oftener than once in two years. + +The method of impregnation employed has always been an imitation of the +Russian method introduced into America in 1871. The eggs are first +expressed into tin pans, milt is pressed upon them, and after they are +thoroughly mixed together, water is added. The result has been +excellent, the percentage of impregnated eggs rarely falling so low as +95. + +After impregnation the eggs are transferred to the hatchery at Craig's +Pond Brook, where they are developed, resting upon wire-cloth trays in +wooden troughs, placed in tiers ten trays deep, to economize space, and +at the same time secure a free horizontal circulation of water. + +The hatchery is fitted up in the basement of an old mill, of which +entire control has been obtained. The brook is one of exceptional +purity, and a steep descent within a few feet of the hatchery enables +us to secure at pleasure a fall of 50 feet or less. The brook formerly +received the overflow of some copious springs within a few hundred feet +of the hatchery, which so affected the temperature of the water that +the eggs were brought to the shipping point early in December, an +inconvenient date. This has been remedied by building a cement aqueduct +1,600 feet long, to a point on the brook above all the springs, which +brings in a supply of very cold water. + +The shipment of eggs is made in January, February, and March, when they +are sent by express, packed in bog-moss, all over the northern States, +with entire safety, even in the coldest weather. + +In the following statement is embraced a general summary of the results +of each season's work: + + +[IMAGE orlandeggs.png in html file--table in text file] + + + Salmon Females Eggs Eggs + Year bought spawned obtained distrib'd + ---- ------ ------- -------- --------- + 1871-72 111 11 72,071 70,500 + 1872-73 692 225 1,560,000 1,241,800 + 1873-74 650 279 2,452,638 2,291,175 + 1874-75 601 343 3,106,479 2,842,977 + 1875-76 460 237 2,020,000 1,825,000 + 1879-80 264 19 211,692 200,500 + 1880-81 522 227 1,930,561 1,841,500 + 1881-82 513 232 2,690,500 2,611,500 + 1882-83 560 256 2,075,000 2,000,000 + ----- ----- ---------- ---------- + Total 4,373 1,829 16,148,941 14,924,952 + + + + + +ARTICLE III + +PENNING OF SALMON IN ORDER TO SECURE THEIR EGGS. + +By C. J. Bottemanne M.D. [From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 4, Page 169, 1884. + + + + +In the Dutch "Economist" of 1874 I gave a description of the fish +breeding establishment of the State of New York, and therein I mentioned +the United States salmon-breeding establishment on the Penobscot, +principally for the penning of the salmon from June till breeding time. +As you are likely aware, the Dutch Government pays yearly $4,800 to +salmon breeders for young salmon delivered in spring, at the rate of 10 +cents for yearlings, and not quite (4/5) one dollar per hundred for +those that are about rid of the umbilical sac, and ready to shift for +themselves. For the latter they receive payment only if there is money +left after delivering the yearlings. + +The breeders get their eggs from Germany from Schuster in Freiburg, and +from Gloser in Basel; but complain always that the eggs are from too +young individuals, that there is always too much loss in transportation, +that the eggs are so weak that after the fish have come out there is +great mortality in the fry, &c. + +In this month's "Economist" I published the results on the Penobscot, +and figured out that if breeders here set to work in the same style they +would get at least four eggs to one, at the same price, and be +independent. + +We have an association here for promoting the fresh-water fisheries, of +which the principal salmon fishermen are members, and also several +gentlemen not in the business, including myself. In the December meeting +I told them all I knew about the Penobscot; and one breeder got a credit +for $200 for getting ripe salmon and keeping them in a scow till he had +what he wanted, and he has succeeded pretty well. Still this is only on +a limited scale. I want to put up larger pens and in the style of the +Penobscot. In order to do this I must know exactly what is done on the +Penobscot, and how. + +What is the size of the pen, how large area, how deep? Is it above tidal +water? (This I take for granted.) What is the situation of the pond +compared with the river? What kind of failures were there, and the +probable reasons therefor? In short, I would like a complete description +of the place, with the history of it. I hope you will excuse my drawing +on you for such an amount, but as the United States is the authority in +practical fish-breeding, we are obliged to come to you. + +I am sorry to say that I cannot report the catch of any _S. quinnat_, +yet three fish have been sent in for the premium we held out for the +first fifteen caught, but they proved not to be quinnat. Lately I heard +that there were so many salmon caught in the Ourthe, near Liege, Belgium +(the Ourthe is one of the feeders of the Maas), which was an astonishing +fact, as salmon are seldom taken there. + +Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands, January 12, 1884 + + + + + +ARTICLE IV + +MEMORANDA RELATIVE TO INCLOSURES FOR THE CONFINEMENT OF SALMON DRAWN +FROM EXPERIENCE AT BUCKSPORT, PENOBSCOT RIVER, MAINE. + +By Charles G. Atkins + +[In response to request of Dr. C. J. Bottemanne.] +April 7, 1884. + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 4, Pages 170-174, +1884. + + + + +The Penobscot salmon-breeding establishment was founded in 1872, at +Bucksport; in the State of Maine, near the mouth of the Penobscot River. +The location was primarily determined by the necessity of being near a +supply of living adult salmon, to be used for breeders. + +After an exploration of the headwaters of the Penobscot, which lie +mostly in an uninhabited wilderness, the conclusion was reached that the +chances of securing a sufficient stock of breeders were much greater at +the mouth of the river, where the principal salmon fisheries are +located; but to avail ourselves of the supply here afforded we must take +the salmon at the ordinary fishing season, May, June, and July, and keep +them in confinement until the spawning season, which is here the last of +October and first of November. As the salmon naturally pass this period +of their lives in the upper parts of the rivers, it was thought +essential to confine our captives in fresh water. + +Later experiments in Canada indicate that they will do as well in salt +water, but the construction and maintenance of inclosures is much easier +when they are located above the reach of the tide, to say nothing of the +proximity of suitable fresh water for the treatment of the eggs. In the +precise location of the inclosures several changes have been made, but +they have always been in fresh water, and within convenient distance (5 +to 10 miles) of the place where the salmon were captured. + +In our experiments and routine work we have made use of four inclosures, +which I will now describe. + +No. 1. In Craig's Pond Brook, a very pure and transparent stream, an +artificial pond 40 square rods in area and 7 feet in extreme depth, was +formed by the erection of a dam. The bottom of this pond was mainly a +grassy sod newly flooded. About half the water came from springs in the +immediate vicinity, and the rest from a very pure lake half a mile +distant. The water derived from the lake was thoroughly aerated by its +passage over a steep rocky bed. The transparency of the water in the +pond was so great that a pin could be seen at the depth of six feet. + +This inclosure was a complete failure. The salmon placed therein were +after a day or two attacked by a parasitic fungoid growth on the skin, +and in a few days died. Out of 59 impounded not one escaped the disease +and only those speedily removed to other waters recovered. Several, +removed in a very sickly condition to the lake supplying the brook, +recovered completely, from which it is safe to infer that the cause of +the trouble did not lie in the lake water. + +Of the spring water I have some suspicions, and should not dare to +inclose salmon in it again. + +No. 2. After the failure of the above experiment an inclosure was made +in the edge of an ordinary lake by stretching a stout net on stakes. +This water was brown in color, and objects 4 feet beneath the surface +were invisible. The bottom was gravelly and devoid of vegetation. + +The depth was 7 and one half feet in early summer, and about 4 feet +after the drought of August and September. The area inclosed was about +25 square rods in June, and perhaps half as much at the end of summer. +This inclosure was entirely successful, very few salmon dying in it +except those that had been attacked by disease before their +introduction, and all the survivors were found to be in first-rate +condition in November. This site was not afterwards occupied, because +it was inconveniently located, and was exposed to the full force of +violent winds sweeping across the lake, and therefore unsafe. + +No. 3. The inclosure in use for the confinement of the stock of +breeding fish for the four years from 1872 to 1875, inclusive, was made +by running a barrier across a narrow arm of a small lake (mentioned in +official reports as "Spofford's Pond") near Bucksport village. This +body of water, about 60 acres in area in the summer, receives the +drainage of not more than 5 square miles of territory through several +small brooks, that are reduced to dry beds by an ordinary drought. +About a quarter of the shores are marshy and the rest stony. The water +is highly colored by peaty matters in solution, and all objects are +invisible at a depth of 2 feet: The bottom is composed mostly of a fine +brown peaty mud of unknown depth. Aquatic vegetation of the genera, +_Nuphar_, _Nymphaea_, _Bragenia_, _Potamogeton_, &c., is abundant. The +water is nowhere more than 16 feet deep in the spring, and 11 feet in +midsummer. The portion inclosed is 2 feet shoaler. + +The inclosure occupied sometimes 8 or 10 acres, and sometimes less. The +barrier was from 400 to 600 feet long, and was formed the first year of +brush; the second and third years of stake-nets, weighted down at the +bottom with chains; and the fourth year of wooden racks, 4 feet wide +and long enough to reach the bottom, which were pushed down side by +side. The brush was unsatisfactory. There were holes in it by which the +fish escaped. A single net would not retain its strength through a +whole season, the bottom rotting away and letting the fish out, unless +before the autumn was far advanced its position were reversed, the +stronger part that had been above water being placed now at the bottom. +This method was therefore rather expensive and not perfectly secure. +The wooden racks were costly and heavy to handle, but quite secure. + +The salmon placed in this inclosure had to be carted in tanks of water +overland about a mile in addition to transportation in floating cars +from 3 to 5 miles; they were transferred suddenly from the salt water +of the river (about two-thirds as salt as common sea-water) into the +entirely fresh water of the lake. To all the supposed unfavorable +circumstances must be added the high summer temperature of the water. +During August the mean was generally above 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the +bottom and several degrees warmer at the surface. Occasionally there +was observed a midday temperature of 74 degrees F. and once 75 degrees +at the bottom. Yet this proved an excellent place for our purpose, a +satisfactory percentage of the salmon remaining in perfect health from +June to November. + +No. 4. The inclosure in use since 1870 at Dead Brook, Bucksport. It is +located in a gently running stream bordered by marshy ground, with a +bottom in part of gravel but mostly of mud, crowded with aquatic +vegetation. The water, supplied by two small lakes among the hills, is +cleaner than the average of Maine rivers, but does not in that respect +approach the water of inclosure No. 1. The greatest depth is about 8 +feet, but in the greater part of the inclosure it is from 3 to 5 feet. +The width of the stream is from 2 to 4 rods, and the portion inclosed +is 2,200 feet long. The barriers to retain the fish are in the form of +wooden gratings, with facilities for speedily clearing them of debris +brought down by the stream. + +Better results were expected from this inclosure than from No. 3, but +have not been realized. The percentage of salmon dying in confinement +has been greater, amounting commonly to about 25 percent of those +introduced, and this notwithstanding the salmon are conveyed to the +inclosure by water carriage the entire distance (7 miles) instead of +being carted in tanks. + +The cause of the trouble has not yet been discovered, but there is good +reason for thinking that it lies in some of the circumstances attending +the transfer of the fish from the place of capture, and that the +inclosure itself is perfectly suited to its purpose. This view is +supported by the fact that nearly all the losses occur within a few +weeks after the introduction of the salmon and almost wholly cease by +the end of July. If the cause of disease was located in the inclosure, +we should expect it to be more fatal after a long than a short duration +of the exposure of the fish to its action, and that with the smaller +volume and higher temperature of August it would be more active than in +June and July. + +The above description will, I think, give Dr. Bottemanne a sufficiently +correct idea of the character of the inclosures we have tried. There +are, however, several other points to be touched upon to put him in +possession of the practical results of our experience. + +The facilities for the recapture of the salmon when the spawning season +approaches must be considered. In the lake at Bucksport village (No. 3) +we hoped at first that their desire to reach a suitable spawning ground +would induce them all to enter the small brook that forms the outlet, +which was within the limits of the inclosure. In this matter our +expectations were but partially realized. Many of the fish refused to +leave the lake through the narrow opening that was afforded them, and +were only obtained by pound-nets, seines, and gill-nets, all of which +involved a considerable expenditure of labor and material. + +The drawing of a seine in a large body of fresh water is likely to be +a serious undertaking unless the bottom has been previously cleared of +snags. In this respect the long and narrow inclosure at Dead Brook +possesses great advantages, since it can be swept with a comparatively +short seine. However, the influx and efflux of a considerable volume of +water is of great advantage in enticing the gravid fish into traps that +can readily be contrived for them by any ingenious fisherman. + +The existence of a gravelly bottom in the inclosure must be considered +a positive disadvantage, inasmuch as it affords the fish a ground on +which they may lay their eggs before they can be caught; but the danger +of such an occurrence is less as the bounds of the inclosure are more +contracted and the facilities for capturing the fish are better. + +As to the number of fish to a given area, I think we have never +approached the maximum. I should have no hesitation in putting 1000 +salmon in the inclosure at Dead Brook, which covers an area of less +than 3 acres. Of course the renewal of the water supply, or its +aeration by winds, is of importance here. + +The capture and transport of the fish in June involves methods +requiring some explanation. The salmon fisheries about the mouth of the +Penobscot River are pursued by means of a sort of trap termed a "weir." +It is constructed of fine-meshed nets hung upon stakes, arranged so as +to entrap and detain the fish without insnaring them in the meshes. +They swim about in the narrow "pound" of the weir until the retreating +tide leaves them upon a broad floor. + +Just before the floor is laid bare, the salmon destined for the +breeding works are dipped out carefully with a cloth bag or a very fine +bag-net and placed in transporting cars or boats, rigged specially for +the purpose, sunk deep in the water, which fills them, passing in at +two grated openings above, and passing out at two others astern, and +covered with a net to prevent escape. In a boat 13 or 14 feet long (on +the bottom) we put 10 or 15 salmon, to be towed a distance of 7 miles. +If the water is cool, twice as many can go safely, but there must be no +delay. It is very important that this car be smooth inside, with no +projections for the salmon to chafe on, and the gratings must be so +close that they cannot get their heads in between the bars. + +If conveyance overland is necessary, a wooden tank 3 feet long, 2 feet +wide, and 2 feet deep, with a sliding cover, will take six salmon at a +time for a mile and perhaps farther, and they may be jolted along over +a rough road in comparative safety. + +It has been our uniform experience that all the salmon that survive +till autumn were in normal condition as to their reproductive function, +and yielded healthy spawn and milt. On two occasions we suffered +serious losses of eggs. In neither instance could the loss be +attributed to any defect in the inclosure, but on one occasion the +conclusion was reached that the water which was well suited to the +maintenance of the fish was injurious to the eggs, rendering the shell +so soft that they could not be transported safely. + +With the exception of the disasters enumerated above, there has been +but one that I can recall, and that was caused by the bursting of our +barriers at Dead Brook under the pressure of a flood. + +BUCKSPORT, ME, April 7, 1884. + + + + + +ARTICLE V + +REPORT ON THE SCHOODIC SALMON WORK OF 1884-85 + +By Charles G. Atkins. + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 5, +Pages 324-325, 1885. + + + + +The measurement of the stock of Schoodic salmon eggs at Grand Lake +Stream at time of packing and shipment, and the record of previous +losses, enable me to complete the statistics, as follows: + +Original number taken ...................................1,820,810 +The total losses up to that time, including the +unfertilized, which were removed before packing............254,410 +Net stock of sound eggs..................................1,566,400 +Reserved for Grand Lake....................................397,400 +Available for shipment to subscribers ...................1,169,000 + +These were divided among the parties supplying the funds for the +work in proportion to their contributions, as follows: + +Allotted to the United States Commission...................608,000 +Allotted to the Maine Commission...........................234,000 +Allotted to the Massachusetts Commission...................187,000 +Allotted to the New Hampshire Commission...................140,000 + +Total....................................................1,169,000 + +The share of the United States Commission was assigned and shipped, +under orders, as follows: + +A. W. Aldrich, commissioner, Anamosa, Iowa..................50,000 +E. A. Brackett, commissioner, Winchester, Mass..............25,000 +H. H. Buck, Orland, Me, to be hatched for +Eagle Lake, Mount Desert....................................20,000 +Paris, Mich., for Michigan commission.......................50,000 +Madison, Wis., for Wisconsin commission.....................50,000 +R. O. Sweeny, commissioner, Saint Paul, Minn ...............50,000 +South Bend, Nebr., for Nebraska Commission..................20,000 +E. B. Hodge, commissioner, Plymouth, N.H....................40,000 +Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., for New York Commission..........60,000 +Plymouth, N. H., for Vermont Commission ....................25,000 +Plymouth, N. H., for Lake Memphremagog .....................25,000 +Central Station, Washington, D.C. ..........................10,000 +R. E. Earll, World's Exposition, New Orleans ................5,000 +G. W. Delawder, commissioner, Baltimore .....................5,000 +Myron Battles, North Creek, N................................5,000 +A. R. Fuller, Meacham Lake, N. .............................20,000 + +F. Mather for transmission to Europe as follows: +For Herr von Behr, Germany..................................40,000 +For Tay Fishery Board, Scotland.............................20,000 +For National Fish Culture Association, England..............30,000 + +Total to Europe.............................................90,000 + +Enfield, Maine for Maine Commission.........................58,000 + +Total......................................................608,000 + +A few of the shipments have been heard from, and these all reached +their destinations safely. + +BUCKSPORT, ME. March 31, 1885 + + + + + +ARTICLE VI + +METHODS EMPLOYED AT CRAIG BROOK STATION IN REARING YOUNG SALMONID +FISHES + +By Charles G. Atkins, Superintendent U. S. Fish Commission Station at +Craig Brook, Maine. + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 13, +Pages 221-228, 1893. + + + + +The station of the U. S. Fish Commission at Craig Brook was founded in +1889, on the same site where, in 1871, the first attempt at the +artificial spawning of salmon in the United States was made. This site +had been selected by the commissioners of fisheries of the States of +Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut for that experiment because of +its proximity to the salmon fisheries of the Penobscot River and the +facilities presented for the maturing of the spawn that might be +obtained. + +The collection of spawn has been carried on in the vicinity annually +from 1871 to the present time, with the exception of the three years +1876,1877, and 1878, and since 1879 the development of the spawn has +been conducted constantly at Craig Brook. No attempt was, however, made +to rear the fry of any species until 1886. Two years later it was +definitely determined to found a permanent station at Craig Brook, and +in 1889 the purchase of the grounds was effected and permanent +improvements begun. + +The station is located in the town of Orland, Me., 7 miles east of +Bucksport, a seaport on the Penobscot River. Its territory embraces a +tract of land extending between Allamoosook Lake and Craig Pond and +embracing within its limits the entire length of Craig Brook, which +connects those two bodies of water. Its latitude is about 44 degrees +42' N. The mean annual temperature and precipitation are believed to +approximate those of Orono, 25 miles distant, namely, 42.48° F. [5.8° +C.] and 45.44 inches [116 cm.]. The range of air temperature observed +at the station is from 18° F. below zero to 92.5°F. above [-27.7° C. +to 33.6° C.]. Frosts not infrequently occur as late as the 1st of June +and as early in autumn as the first week in September. The lakes in the +vicinity are commonly covered with ice before the end of November, and +they are not often released until near the end of April. + +The water supply is derived from Craig Brook and from three large and +several lesser springs. The source of the brook is Craig Pond, which +affords a constant supply of exceedingly transparent water, warm in +summer and cold in winter, moderated, however; in both extremes by the +water from the springs, which mingles with the brook in its lower +course, forming about a third of its volume. It is this mixed water +which is mainly used in the rearing of fish. Its temperature ranges +from 34° F. [1.1° C.] to 70°F. [21.1°C.]. The lowest monthly mean in +1893 was 35.8° F. [2.1° C.] in February. The highest was 64.6°F. +[18.1°C.] in August. The total volume is variable, ranging from 875 +to 3,000 gallons and averaging about 1,200 gallons per minute. + +The difference of level between the source and mouth of the brook is +about 190 feet. The sharpest descent is just above the hatchery and +rearing troughs, which therefore receive well-aerated water. The +conformation of the ground offers good facilities for the distribution +and utilization of the water. + +The leading motive in the foundation of this station was the desire to +apply to the Atlantic salmon the system of rearing fish to the age of +at least several months before liberating them. This motive has +determined not only the principal subjects of the work, but also to a +considerable extent the fixtures and methods. The scheme of work was +determined in outline several years before the acquisition of full +title to the premises, and, circumstances rendering it desirable to +enter at once on its development, it became necessary to have recourse +to movable apparatus, pending authority for permanent improvements. + +Hence the erection of a series of small troughs in the open air, which +gave such excellent satisfaction that enlargement took the same +direction; and it has thus come about that the rearing operations of +the station down to the present time have been almost exclusively +conducted in open-air troughs. A series of ponds has been constructed, +but with the exception of a few small ones none of them have been as +yet brought into use. + +The troughs are for the most part such as are used in the hatchery for +the maturing of spawn, and their form and size have been adapted to the +hatching apparatus which has been in use at the Maine station for many +years. The eggs are developed on wire-cloth trays measuring 12 and one +half inches in width and length, and the troughs are therefore 12 and +three quarter inches wide. Their depth is 9 inches and their length is +10 feet 6 inches. Such short troughs were adopted for two reasons: + +(1) It was thought that a greater length might involve the exposure of +the eggs near the lower end to the danger of a partial exhaustion of +the air from the water by the eggs above them; + +(2) these short troughs are very convenient to cleanse and to move +about for repairs or other purposes. They are made of pine boards +seven-eighths inch thick. On the inside they are planed and varnished +with asphaltum. When used for rearing fish each trough is fitted with a +pair of thin wooden covers reaching its entire length hinged to the +sides and meeting each other, when closed, at a right angle, forming; +as it were, a roof over the trough. When closed they protect from +predatory birds and other vermin; when open they are fixed in an +upright position, in effect adding to the height of the sides and +preventing the fish jumping out. The time spent in opening and closing +the troughs is by this arrangement reduced to a minimum. + +Water is fed through wooden tubes, and the volume admitted is regulated +by slides The exit of the water is through another tube or hollow plug +standing upright near the lower end of the trough, and by its height +governing the depth of the water. The outlet tube is movable and is +taken out in cleaning. A wire-cloth screen just above the outlet tube +prevents the fish escaping. + +In a trough of standard size 2,000 fry are generally placed, and to +accommodate the large numbers of fish reared we bring into use +sometimes nearly 200 troughs which are of necessity placed in the open +air. They are arranged in pairs with their heads against the feed +troughs, supported by wooden horses at a convenient height from the +ground. They are given an inclination of about 2 inches to facilitate +cleaning. + +The volume of water fed to each trough has varied from time to time, +but is ordinarily about 5 gallons per minute, which renews the water +every four minutes. The ordinary arrangement is to use the water but +once in the troughs, letting it waste into some small ponds in which +yearling and older fish are kept; but there is one system of 52 troughs +arranged in four series, which use in succession the same water. From +these we have learned that young salmon thrive quite as well in the +fourth series as in the first. Indeed, by an actual test, with fish of +like origin and character in each series, the fish reared in the fourth +series were found to grow faster, to an important degree, than those in +the first. This phenomenon probably resulted from a somewhat higher +temperature which the water acquired in passing through the several +series. A like observation has been made on a few salmon maintained for +a few weeks, in the warmer water of a neighboring brook. + +As already stated, the activity of the station has been mainly occupied +with Atlantic salmon, but there have been reared each year a few +landlocked salmon and brook trout, and occasional lots of other +salmonoids, such as Loch Leven, Von Behr, Swiss-lake, rainbow, and +Scotch sea trout. All these have received the same treatment. With the +exception of the rainbow trout, they are all autumn-spawning fishes, +and their eggs hatch early in the spring. + +The embryos of salmon begin to burst the shell in the month of March, +and the 1st of April may be stated as the mean date of hatching. If the +open-air troughs are in order--and we aim to have them so--the eggs are +counted out into lots of 2,000 or 4,000 each and placed before hatching +in their summer quarters. The water is at that time very cold, the +development of the alevins is slow, and it is not until the latter part +of May that the yolk sack is fully absorbed. June 1 is, therefore, the +date when feeding is ordinarily begun. The growth of the fish is at +first slow, the water being still cool, but is accelerated as the +summer passes away. In October and November, beginning commonly about +the middle of October, most of the fish are counted out and liberated, +but a small number, rarely more than 15,000, being carried through the +winter at the station. The reserved fish are sometimes left until +midwinter in their summer quarters, and with a careful covering of the +conduits and banking of the troughs themselves each with coarse hay and +evergreen boughs it is possible to keep them there the year round; but +for ordinary winter storage there is provided a system of sunken tanks +covered by a rough shed with a constant water supply. These tanks are +molasses hogsheads, securely hooped with iron, sunk nearly their entire +depth into the ground, each with an independent water supply and waste, +the perforation for the latter being near the surface. They have a +capacity of from 100 gallons of water upward, and will carry safely +each 500 to 700 fish in their first winter, that is, just approaching +the age of one year. + +This arrangement has answered its purpose fairly well, and in a very +rigorous climate or where the water is very cold it is to be +recommended; but since its construction it has been discovered that at +Craig Brook it is not at all difficult to protect the ordinary troughs +in such a way as to insure their safety from freezing, and their +attendance through the winter is less troublesome than that of the +sunken tanks. + +A list of the articles employed for food at the station since its +foundation, if designed to include those used on an experimental as +well as a practical scale, would be a long one, and I will content +myself with naming the following: On a practical scale we have used +butcher's offal, flesh of horses and other domestic animals by the +carcass, fresh fish, maggots; and on an experimental scale, pickled +fish, fresh-water mussels, mosquito larvae, miscellaneous aquatic +animals of minute size. + +In the production of maggots we have also made use of large quantities +of stale meat from the markets and some barrels of fish pomace, in +addition to the articles mentioned above. + +The butcher's offal comprises the livers, hearts and lights of such +animals as are slaughtered in Orland and Bucksport--mainly lambs and +veals. These are collected from the slaughter-houses twice or thrice +weekly, and preserved in refrigerators until used. The quantity of such +material to be had in the vicinity has been inadequate to our needs and +we have been compelled to look in other directions for food. + +The flesh of horses has been used only during the season of 1893. Old +and worn out horses and those hopelessly crippled or dying suddenly +have been bought when offered, and used in the same way as the +butcher's offal; the parts that could be chopped readily have been fed +direct to the fish so far as needed; and other parts have been used in +the rearing of maggots. The season's experience has been so +satisfactory that greater use will be made of horse flesh hereafter. + +Next to the chopped meat, maggots have constituted the most important +article of food, and their systematic production has received much +attention. A rough wooden building has been erected for the +accommodation of this branch of the work and one man is constantly +employed about it during the summer and early autumn months. The +maggots thus far employed are exclusively flesh-eaters, mainly those of +two undetermined species of flies--the first and most important being +a small smooth, shining green or bluish-green fly occurring at the +beginning of summer and remaining in somewhat diminished numbers until +October, and the other a large rough, steel-blue fly that makes its +appearance later and in autumn becomes the predominating species, +having such hardiness as to continue the reproduction of its kind long +after the occurrence of frosts sufficiently severe to freeze the +ground. + +In outline the procedure is to expose the flesh of animals in a +sheltered location during the day, and when well stocked with the spawn +of the flies to place it in boxes which are set away in the "fly house" +to develop; when fully grown the maggots are taken out and fed at once +to the fish. The materials used for the enticing of the flies and the +nourishment of the maggots have been various. Stale meat from the +markets has been perhaps the leading article, but we have also used +such parts of the butcher's offal and of the horse carcasses as were +not well adapted to chopping; fish, fresh dried or pickled; fish pomace +from herring-oil works, and any animal refuse that came to hand. + +Fresh or slightly tainted meat has been used to greater extent than any +other material, and has proved itself equally good with any. Fresh fish +is very attractive to the flies, and when in just the proper condition +may be equally good with fresh meat, but some kinds of fish are too +oily, for instance, alewives and herring, and all sorts thus far tried +are apt to be too watery. + +A very limited trial of fish dried without salt or smoke indicates that +it is, when free from oil, a very superior article; it has, of course, +to be moistened before using. Its preparation presents some +difficulties, but in winter it is easily effected by impaling the whole +fish on sticks and hanging them up, (after the manner of alewives or +herring in a smokehouse) under a roof where they will be protected from +rain without hindering the circulation of air; in this way we have +dried many flounders and other refuse fish from the smelt fisheries, +which are conducted with bag nets in the vicinity of Bucksport. + +Doubtless a centrifugal drying machine might be successfully used for +this purpose in summer. Pickled alewives, freshened out in water, have +been found to answer fairly well, when other materials are lacking, at +least to give growth to maggots otherwise started. Fish pomace has not +thus far given satisfaction, but seems worthy of further trial. + +It is commonly necessary to expose meat but a single day to obtain +sufficient fly spawn; the larvae are hatched and active the next day, +except in cool weather, and they attain their full growth in two or +three days. To separate them from the remnants of food and other debris +was at first a troublesome task. It is now effected as follows: the +meat bearing the fly spawn is placed on a layer of loose hay or straw +in a box which has a wire-cloth bottom, and which stands inside a +slightly larger box with a tight wooden bottom. When full grown the +maggots work their way down through the hay into the lower box, where +they are found nearly free from dirt. + +When young salmon or trout first begin to feed they are quite unable to +swallow full-grown maggots. Small ones are obtained for them by putting +a large quantity of fly spawn with a small quantity of meat, the result +being that the maggots soon begin to crowd each other and the surplus +is worked off into the lower box before attaining great size. No +attempt is, however, made to induce the young fish to swallow even the +smallest maggots until they have been fed a while an chopped liver. + +In the above methods maggots are produced and used in considerable +numbers, sometimes as many as a bushel in a day. Through September, +1893, although the weather and some other circumstances were not very +favorable, the average daily production was a little over half a +bushel. + +They are eagerly eaten by the fish, which appear to thrive on them +better than on dead meat. Having great tenacity of life, if not snapped +up immediately by the fish they remain alive for a day or two, and, as +they wriggle about on the bottom, are almost certain to be finally +eaten; whereas the particles of dead flesh that fall to the bottom are +largely neglected by the fish and begin to putrefy in a few hours. In +the fish troughs there are, therefore, certain gains in both +cleanliness and economy from the use of maggots which may be set down +as compensating the waste and filthiness of the fly-house. + +As the growth of maggots can be controlled by regulation of the +temperature, it is possible to keep them all winter in a pit or cellar, +and advantage is taken of this to use them during winter as food for +fish confined in deep tanks not easily cleaned. + +The offensive odors of decaying flesh may be largely overcome by +covering it, on putting it away in the boxes, after the visits of the +flies, with pulverized earth, and it is not improbable that by this or +some other method the business may be made almost wholly inoffensive, +but in its present stage of development it is too malodorous to admit +of practice in any place where there are human habitations or resorts +within half a mile of the spot where the maggots are grown. + +As remarked above, only flesh-eating maggots have yet been tried. It +would be well worth while to experiment with the larvae of other +species, such as the house fly, the stable fly, etc. There is also a +white maggot known to grow in heaps of seaweed. Should the rate of +growth of either of these species be found to be satisfactory they +might be substituted for the flesh maggots with advantage. + +Occasional use has been made of fresh fish for direct feeding. When +thrown into the water after chopping it breaks up into fibers to such +an extent that it is not very satisfactory, and I do not suppose we +shall use it in the future, unless in a coarsely chopped form for the +food of large fish. A few barrels of salted alewives have been used, +and if well soaked out and chopped they are readily eaten by the larger +fish and can be fed to fry, but are less satisfactory with the latter, +and like fresh fish they break up to such an extent that they are only +to be regarded as one of the last resorts. + +Fresh-water mussels have been occasionally gathered in the lake close +to the station when there has been a scarcity of food. Those employed +belong almost wholly to a species of Unio which abounds over a +considerable area of soft bottom, under a depth of 2 to 10 feet of +water. Many were taken with a boat dredge; more were scooped up with +long-handled dip nets of special construction. Finally a wide, flat +dredge was made, to be drawn by a windlass on the shore and manipulated +by means of poles from a large boat. + +When needed for food the mussels were opened with knives--a great +task--and chopped. The meat is readily eaten by all fishes, and appears +to form an excellent diet. Being more buoyant than any other article +tried, it sinks slower in the water and gives the fish more time to +seize it before it reaches the bottom, a consideration of considerable +practical importance. The labor involved in dredging and shelling is a +serious drawback, but were the colonies of unios sufficiently extensive +or their reproduction rapid enough to warrant expenditure of time in +experimentation; improved methods might be devised, which would put +this food-source on a practicable basis. + +During the seasons of 1886 and 1888 some use was made of mosquito +larvae. Near the station is an extensive swamp where these insects +breed in great numbers. From the pools of water the larvae were daily +collected by means of a set of strainers specially devised for this +use. Barrels filled with water were also disposed in convenient places +near the rearing troughs, and were soon swarming with larvae from the +eggs deposited by the mosquitoes on the surface of the water. When near +the completion of their growth, which was only some ten days after the +deposit of the eggs, the larvae (or pupae) were strained out and fed +to the fish. No kind of food has been used this station that has been +more eagerly devoured, and so far as our observation has gone no other +food has contributed more to the growth of the fish; indeed, I am +inclined to put them at the head in both respects. It was found, +however, that the time expended in collecting them was out of all +proportion to the quantity of food secured, and pending opportunity for +further experiment their use was discontinued. + +I think it quite possible that an arrangement might be devised whereby +the greater part of the labor might be saved. Perhaps a series of +breeding tanks arranged in proximity to the fish troughs, into which +the water containing the larvae might be drawn when desirable by the +simple opening of faucet, would solve the problem. + +Various methods of serving the food have been tried, but at present +everything is given with a spoon. The attendant carries the food with +the left hand--in a 2-quart dipper if chopped meat, in a larger vessel +if maggots--and, dipping it out with a large spoon, strews it the whole +length of the trough, being careful to put the greater portion at the +head, where the fish nearly always congregate. Finely chopped food, for +very young fish, is slightly thinned with water before feeding. At one +time the finest food was fed through perforations in the bottom of a +tin dish; the food was placed in the dish, which was dipped into the +water a little and shaken till enough of the food had dropped out of +the perforations; this practice was laid aside because it was thought +that the food was too much diluted. + +In feeding maggots it was, at first, the practice to place them on +small "feeding boards" of special construction suspended over the water +in the troughs and let them crawl off into the water; but whatever +advantage this method may have had in furnishing the meal to the fish +slowly was more than counterbalanced by the extra labor of caring for +the boards and by the offensive odor, and it was abandoned. For use in +feeding fish in a pond a box containing a series of shelves, down which +the maggots slowly crawl, was found sufficiently useful to be retained. + +It is the common practice to feed all meat raw except the lights, which +chop better if boiled first, except also occasional lots of meat that +are on the point of becoming tainted and are boiled to save them. All +meats fed direct to the fish are first passed through a chopping +machine. The machine known as the "Enterprise" is the one now in use. +It forces the meat through perforated steel plates. The plate used for +the smaller fish has perforations 2 inch in diameter, and for coarser +work there are two plates 3/16th inch and 3/8th inch, respectively. It +is operated by a crank turned by hand. + +Food is given to those fish just beginning to eat four times a day (in +some cases even six times). As the season progresses the number of +rations is gradually reduced to two daily. In winter such fish as are +carried through are fed but once a day. The cleaning of the troughs has +been a troublesome matter, and the subject of much study and +experiment, but nothing more satisfactory has been found than the +following practice: The troughs are all to be cleaned daily--not all at +one time, but as time is found for it in the intervals of other work. +To facilitate cleaning, the troughs are inclined about 2 inches. The +outlet is commanded, as already explained, by a hollow plug. + +When this is drawn the water rushes out rapidly and carries most of the +debris against the screen. The fishes are excited, and, scurrying +about, they loosen nearly all dirt from the bottom; what will not +otherwise yield must be started with a brush, but after the first few +weeks the brush has rarely to be used except to rub the debris through +the outlet screen. Owing to the inclination of the trough the water +recedes from the upper end until the fishes lying there are almost +wholly out of water, but, although they are left in that position +sometimes for 10 or 15 minutes, no harm has ever been known to result. + +It has been the common rule at the station to count all the embryos +devoted to the process of rearing, either before or after hatching; to +keep an accurate record of losses during the season, and to check the +record by a recount in the fall. When eggs are counted they are lifted +in a teaspoon. + +The counting of small fish is effected in this way: The fish are first +gathered in a fine, soft bag-net, commonly one made of cheese-cloth, +and from this, hanging meanwhile in the water, yet so that the fish +cannot escape, they are dipped out a few at a time, in a small dipper +or cup, counted, and placed in a pail of water or some other +receptacle. + +This counting is generally preliminary to weighing, and in this case +the fish, after counting, are placed in another bag-net, in which they +are lowered, several hundred at a time, into a pail of water which has +been previously weighed, and the increase noted. With care to avoid +transferring to the weighing pail any surplus water, this is a correct +method and very easy and safe for the fish. + +In conclusion, I submit some estimates of cost. In September, 1893, we +fed fry that were estimated at the close of the month to number +238,300. There were also a few hundred larger fish. + +From the known total outlay for food, attendance, and superintendence a +suitable allowance is made for the maintenance of the older fish, and +the balance is charged to the fry. By this method we arrive at the +following results: + + +Cost...................Total........Per fish. +Food $155.00 $0.00065 +Attendance 99.79 .00042 +Superintendence 205.96 .00086 +Total 460.75 0.00193 + +Applied to the rearing operations of 1891, a similar calculation gives +us this result: The fry that were carried through the season from June +to October, inclusive, cost, for food, attendance, and superintendence, +$0.0081 each; that is, about four-fifths of a cent each for the term of +five months. + + + + + +ARTICLE VII + +NOTES ON THE CAPTURE OF ATLANTIC SALMON AT SEA AND IN THE COAST WATERS +OF THE EASTERN STATES + +By Hugh M. Smith, M. D., Assistant in charge of Division of Statistics +and Methods of the Fisheries. + +_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 14, Page 95, 1894. + + + + +In carrying out its most important function--the maintenance and +increase of the supply of food fishes--the U.S. Commission of Fish and +Fisheries, in addition to direct efforts to increase the abundance of +fishes naturally inhabiting our various rivers, lakes, and coast +waters, has given considerable attention to the experimental +introduction of fishes into regions or streams to which they were not +native. + +The wonderful success which has followed the planting of shad and +striped bass fry in the waters of the Pacific coast is well known. The +results attending the recent attempts of the Commission to establish +a run of salmon (_Salmo salar_) in some of the large rivers of the +Atlantic coast have been so noteworthy in the case of the Hudson as +to afford reasonable ground for expecting the early inauguration of a +regular fishery, should the present rate of increase in the abundance of +the fish be maintained. Similar striking results may also be anticipated +in all the more northern streams of the east coast, including the +Housatonic, Connecticut, and Merrimac, in which salmon were at one time +found in abundance and are now taken in small numbers, if the ascent +of the adult fish to the headwaters for the purpose of spawning is +permitted and if sufficiently extensive fish-cultural operations are +continued. + +The primary purpose of this paper is to record some of the apparent +results of salmon propagation in our rivers as shown by the occurrence +of the fish at points on the coast or at sea more or less remote from +the places where fry have been deposited. + +While an interesting and instructive compilation might be made of the +instances of the capture of salmon in the Hudson, Delaware, +Susquehanna, Potomac, and other rivers in which the fish has been +acclimated, such a work is not necessary in view of the notice which +has already been accorded the matter in the public press and in the +reports of several of the State fish commissions, notably the New York +commission. + +So much yet remains to be learned regarding the lines of migration of +the salmon to and from the rivers, its winter habitat, the existence of +an "instinct of nativity" which is supposed to impel the return of the +fish to the place where hatched, the extent of the coastwise +distribution of salmon originally belonging in a given river, and +numerous other practical and scientific questions, that the +presentation of any data bearing on the occurrence of the fish outside +of the rivers may be regarded as acceptable and timely. + +In an interesting article on "Salmon at Sea," communicated to the issue +of _Forest and Stream_ for February 18, 1892, Mr. A. N. Cheney, the +well-known angling expert and writer on fish-cultural matters, discusses +the question of the whereabouts of salmon after they leave the rivers, +and quotes the following from a previous contribution by himself on the +subject: + +"There is a certain mystery about the habits and movements of the sea +salmon, after it has left the fresh-water rivers in which it spawns and +gone down to the sea, that never has been satisfactorily explained. One +theory is that all the salmon of the rivers along a coast may journey +down to the sea, and then move ultimately in one great body southward +along the coast until they find water of suitable temperature, with an +abundance of food, in which to spend their time in growing fat until +the spawning instinct warns them to return, when they proceed +northward, each river school entering its own particular river as the +main school arrives opposite the river month. + +"Another theory is that the salmon of each river, as they arrive at its +mouth after descending from its headwaters, go out to sea sufficiently +far to find the conditions of temperature and food which suit them, and +there they remain, separate from the salmon of other rivers, until it +is time for them to return to fresh water. Considering the certainty +with which the salmon of any particular river return again to the +stream of their birth, the latter theory seems the more tenable of the +two." + +Another object of this paper is to solicit correspondence from +fishermen, especially those engaged in the coast and offshore +fisheries, concerning the circumstances of the capture of salmon in +their nets, and to bring to their attention the opportunity they will +thus have of increasing the knowledge of the movements of the salmon, +of aiding in the determination of the results of fishcultural +operations, and of ultimately if not immediately benefiting themselves +by supplying information that will conduce to the most effective +application of artificial methods. + +To this end it is the intention to send the paper to fishermen engaged +in the mackerel, menhaden, and other sea fisheries, and to operators of +pound nets, traps, and other shore appliances, with the hope that +instances of the capture of salmon may be communicated to this +Commission and notes on the size, condition, movements, etc., of the +fish be furnished. + +To aid in the identification of the salmon when caught by fishermen who +have not previously met with the fish, a figure is presented. + +In this connection mention may be made of the chinook or quinnat salmon +of the Pacific coast (_Oncorhynchus chouicha_), fry of which have been +extensively planted in eastern waters by the U. S. Commission of Fish +and Fisheries. Up to and including the year 1880, about 12,000,000 fry +were deposited in rivers and other waters tributary to the Atlantic. +While a few relatively large examples have been taken, this office has +no information to show that the attempts to acclimate this species on +the Atlantic coast have as yet been successful. In 1891 a few thousand +yearling salmon were placed in New York waters tributary to the sea. +The possibility of the survival and growth of some of these and of the +large early colonies prompts this reference to the matter and suggests +the publication of the accompanying figure of the species, to afford a +basis for distinguishing the two kinds of salmon, which closely +resemble each other. To further aid in the identification of the two +species the following key has been prepared: + +Rays in anal fin, 9; scales between gill opening and base of tail, 120; +branchiostegals (false gill openings), 11 ..........ATLANTIC SALMON. + +Rays in anal fin, 16; scales between gill opening and base of tail, +150; branchiostegals, (false gill openings) 15 to 19..........PACIFIC +SALMON. + +Numerous instances might be cited of the taking of salmon in the waters +of the Atlantic coast in recent years. Their occurrence in the traps +and pound nets is in fact so common that it would hardly be entitled to +notice at this time were it not for the circumstance that in regions in +which salmon were already known there has been a decided increase in +the number observed outside the rivers, and that the fish is now being +taken in localities in which it was not previously found. + +Instances of the capture of salmon in the coast waters of Maine are +naturally numerous, and without significance so far as the purposes of +the present paper are concerned. The existence of two important salmon +rivers, the Kennebec and the Penobscot, affords an easy explanation of +the presence of salmon on the shores of either side of the mouths of +those streams. In the report of the U. S. Commission of Fish and +Fisheries for 1873-73 Mr. Charles G. Atkins, now superintendent of the +salmon-rearing establishment at East Orland, Me., and an authoritative +writer on the Atlantic salmon, contributes some notes on its occurrence +in the sea adjacent to Penobscot Bay and at Richmond Island, near +Portland. These cases, however, have little bearing on the subject in +hand, as Mr. Atkins suggests in a recent letter. + +A special inquiry, personally conducted on Matinicus, Monhegan, and +other islands lying far off the Maine coast, and special researches +there made with appropriate apparatus, would doubtless disclose many +interesting facts regarding the salmon of a practical and scientific +nature. A few apparently unrecorded notes concerning the fish among +islands off the island of Mount Desert may be given, which are probably +indicative of what may be expected in other sections. + +Mr. W. I. Mayo, who has fished herring brush-weirs at the Cranberry +Isles for many years, and is a life-long fisherman in that section, +communicates the intelligence that salmon were first observed about +those islands in 1888. On June 17 a salmon, weighing 20 pounds, was +taken in a herring weir, and on June 19 another, weighing 19 pounds, +was caught. On July 14 of the same year 6 salmon, weighing 4 to 6 +pounds apiece, were secured, but were liberated on account of their +size. During the four years intervening between 1888 and 1893 none was +taken around these islands, but in June of the latter year they +reappeared. On June 11 a salmon weighing 15 pounds was taken in a weir, +and on various occasions during that month a number weighing 12 to 15 +pounds each were caught by boat fishermen on trawl lines fished for +cod. + +The trawls were baited with herring and set on the bottom in rather +deep water. Mr. Mayo states that these were the first salmon ever taken +on trawl lines in that region. The Cranberry Isles lie off the +southeastern part of Mount Desert Island, and are about 25 miles east +from Penobscot Bay and about 35 miles in a straight line from the mouth +of the Penobscot River. + +On the Massachusetts coast salmon are now regularly taken each year at +most of the important pound-net and trap fisheries. The largest numbers +are caught in Cape Cod Bay. A State law prohibits the taking of salmon +in nets and requires the return to the water alive of all fish so +caught. This makes the fishermen diffident about giving information and +renders difficult the determination of the abundance of the fish. On +June 6, 1879 the _Cape Ann Advertiser_, of Gloucester, contained the +following note: + +"A 10-pound salmon was taken from a weir off Magnolia Thursday night. +This is the first salmon caught off Cape Ann for over thirty years. On +Saturday morning three more large salmon were taken. The fishermen are +highly elated at the prospect of salmon-catching." + +During the past five or six years a few salmon have been taken almost +every season in the vicinity of Gloucester, the average annual catch +being 4 to 6 fish. In 1888 the State fish commissioners reported the +capture of 18 salmon in traps at Manchester and Gloucester. In 1893, 13 +traps in the neighborhood of Gloucester took 5 salmon. + +In December, 1891, a salmon weighing 28 pounds was caught on a cod +trawl line set near Halfway Rock, off Salem Harbor, Mass.; Mr. William +Dennett, of Gloucester, who secured the fish, reports that he sold it +for $46. Mr. Samuel Wiley, of Gloucester, in September 1893, caught a +salmon at sea off Gloucester on a trawl line fished for hake. These are +the only instances that have been reported of the capture of salmon on +a hook in the vicinity of Gloucester. As the trawl lines in question +were set on the bottom at a depth of 20 or 25 fathoms, the fact that +these two fish at least were swimming on the bottom may be considered +established. + +Relatively large numbers of salmon have recently been taken in the +pound nets of Cape Cod Bay. Capt. Atkins Hughes, of North Truro, one of +the best-informed and most reliable fishermen in the region, informs us +that at North Truro, the principal pound-net center in the bay, about +70 large salmon have been annually caught for two or three years. The +fish are taken throughout the entire pound-net season, but are most +common in the early part of the fishing year (May and June). Some fish +weighing 25 to 28 pounds have recently been caught. For two or three +years he has noticed in the pound nets in October large numbers of +young salmon, about 6 inches long; each net probably takes one or two +barrels of these annually; he had never observed these small fish +before in his long fishing career in that region. In 1893, however, +rather less than the usual number of large salmon were observed, and +very few of the small fish mentioned were taken. + +Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, of the Fish Commission station at Woods Holl, +Mass., states that in September, 1892, when he visited the Cape Cod +region, a great many salmon were being taken in the pound nets. They +weighed 4 or 5 pounds apiece. At one pound-net fishery in Provincetown +he saw enough salmon to fill two sugar barrels. + +Concerning the occurrence of salmon in the Cape Cod region, Mr. Cheney, +in the article previously mentioned, quotes Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, +of New York, as follows: + +"We get every winter a few fish from the Atlantic coast that are +evidently part of the schools of fish that run up into the Kennebec, +Penobscot, and other eastern rivers. During November and December we +had about 15 to 20 fish, weighing from 12 to 24 pounds each, that were +caught in the mackerel nets in the vicinity of Provincetown and North +Truro, Mass. These nets are set out from the Cape in very deep water. + +"During the past two or three weeks we have received several specimens +of very handsome salmon from Maine, where they have been caught by the +smelt fishermen in their nets when they have been fishing for smelt. I +think these catches of salmon go very far to prove that the schools of +fish are not very far off from our shores during the time that they are +not found in the rivers, and that both shad and salmon, when they leave +our rivers, do not go either east or south, but are within 100 miles or +so of the rivers where they were spawned. The fish are remarkable in +being in splendid condition and perfect in form and appearance." + +Mr. Cheney thinks the salmon taken off Cape Cod belong in either the +Merrimac River or the Penobscot River; and, as in the year in question +fish were being caught at the mouth of the Penobscot at the same time +they were being taken at Cape Cod, he thinks it probable that the fish +in the latter region were from the Merrimac. + +In the pound-net fishery of the northern coast of New Jersey the recent +capture of salmon has been a subject of much interest to the local +fishermen and of considerable importance to fish-culturists and +naturalists. + +For a number of years a few salmon have, from time to time, been taken +in Sandy Hook Bay, but within the past two or three years there has +been an increase in the number caught. At Belford, the principal +fishing center in the bay, Mr. M. C. Lohsen states that some have been +taken weighing from 12 to 40 pounds, and that in the spring of 1893 +more than the usual number were caught in the pound nets. Mr. Harry +White, of the same place, never took salmon in pound nets prior to +1891; he secured 1 that year and 2 in 1892, but failed to get any in +1893. Other fishermen, however, obtained one or two fish. The average +weight of the salmon taken here is 12 to 15 pounds; the largest caught +by Mr. White weighed 17 and one half pounds. Small ones, weighing half +a pound each, are sometimes observed. It is only during the month of +May that salmon are noticed on this shore. One weighing 16 pounds, +taken in a pound net at this place in 1891, sold for $11; the following +year two, with a combined weight of 23 pounds, sold for $15.95. + +In the vicinity of Long Branch, we are informed of the recent capture +of a number of salmon in the pound nets set directly in the ocean. Mr. +Ed. Hennessey, of North Long Branch, reports that in 1892 two salmon +and in 1893 one salmon were taken in his pound; they weighed from 10 to +15 pounds each. In April, 1891, Messrs. Gaskins and Hennessey, of the +same place, secured a salmon in their pound; this was the only one they +ever took. Messrs. W. T. Van Dyke & Co., pound-net fishermen of Long +Branch, communicate the following instances of the taking of salmon by +them in 1893: May 10, 1 salmon weighing 9 1/2 pounds; May 11, 1 salmon +weighing 13 1/2 pounds; May 17, 1 salmon, and May 18, 1 salmon, weight +not given. Messrs. West and Jeffrey, pound-net fishermen at Long +Branch, report that in 1892 they caught 2 small salmon. + +In 1893, 3 fish were taken, as follows: May 10, a salmon weighing 19 +pounds; May 18, 1 weighing 12 pounds; May 20, 1 weighing 10 pounds. Mr. +Henry F. Harvey, who fishes a pound net at Mantoloking, N. J., about 35 +miles south of Sandy Hook, communicates the information that in May, +1893, 2 salmon weighing 10 or 12 pounds each were taken at that place. +None had ever before been caught there. + +One of the most interesting facts at hand concerning the oceanic +occurrence of the salmon has been noted in a previous paper in this +Bulletin, (*) but may be again referred to in order to make the present +article more complete. Instances of the capture or observation of +salmon far out at sea or even at relatively short distances from land +are very rare and are entitled to publication whenever noted. + +About April 10, 1893 the mackerel schooner _Ethel B. Jacobs_, of +Gloucester, Mass., was cruising for mackerel off the coast of Delaware. +When in latitude 38 degrees, at a point about 50 miles ESE. of Fenwick +Island light-ship, the vessel fell in at night with a large body of +mackerel, and the seine was thrown round a part of the school. Among +the mackerel taken was an Atlantic salmon weighing 16 pounds, which +Capt. Solomon Jacobs, who was in command of the schooner, sent home to +Gloucester. Capt. Jacobs informs us that the fish was fat and in fine +condition. Some of the crew told the captain that there was another +salmon in the seine, but it escaped over the cork line as the seine was +being "dried in." The light-ship mentioned is about 10 miles off the +coast, so the place where these salmon were taken was about 60 miles +from the nearest land. + +The foregoing is the only instance known to this Commission of the +capture of salmon so far at sea on the coast of the United States or of +the taking of salmon in a purse seine with mackerel under any +circumstances. Capt. S. J. Martin, the veteran fisherman of Gloucester, +Mass., has never known of another such occurrence, and a special +inquiry conducted by him among the mackerel fishermen of that port +failed to disclose the knowledge among them of a similar case. + +Footnote: * Extension of the Recorded Range of Certain Marine and +Freshwater Fishes of the Atlantic Coast of the United States. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW ENGLAND SALMON HATCHERIES AND +SALMON FISHERIES IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY*** + + +******* This file should be named 17171.txt or 17171.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/1/7/17171 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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