Report of the commissioner for 1875-1876.

  • United States Fish Commission
Date:
[1878]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the commissioner for 1875-1876. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/1102 page 8
    In the building as erected from the appropriation, a space of G,000 feet was assigned for the exhibit of the Fish Commission; but this proving insufficient, a portion of that granted to the Smithsonian Institution was utilized, the entire surface occupied being about 15,000 square feet. Nothing was shown on this occasion but what was purely American in character, and much admiration was expressed by foreign visitors at the completeness of the collection. Mr. T. B. Ferguson, the Maryland Commissioner of Fisheries, also exhibited his peculiar apparatus for the hatching of fishes, model of shad fishery operations, and special illustrations of the oyster industry, which were duly appreciated. In his jars were hatched out large numbers of the eggs of California salmon, furnished him by the United States Fish Commission for the purpose, wThich operation constantly attracted a large crowd of observers. A noteworthy feature of the exhibit of tbe United States Fish Com- mission was a series of casts in plaster and papier mache of the principal food-fishes of the United States, and also of the cetaceans, marine tor- toises, etc. No special exhibits of fish culture were made at the Centennial other than by the United States and the State of Maryland, although a very complete series of the apparatus and the products of their fisheries were shown by Holland, Norway, Sweden, Japan, China, and some other countries. It is with much gratification that I am enabled to say that, with scarcely an exception, these foreign objects were all presented to the United States Government at tbe close of tbe exhibition, and are now stored in Washington awaiting that opportunity of display for which a new building has been asked. A noteworthy feature of the exhibition was a meeting of the State Fish Commissioners, held on the 5th of October. In a subsequent part of the report tbe character and proceedings of this convention will bo further indicated. C—THE PROPAGATION OF FOOD-FISHES* 4.—general considerations. The operations of the United States Fish Commission during the year have, in the main, been satisfactory. Some disappointment has been experienced in not obtaining a sufficient stock of young fish of certain species to meet all applications, but steady progress has been made, and there is every reason to hope that the problem of restoring depleted waters to their former abundance, or of furnishing an ample supply of * It has been found impossible to confine tbe account of operations to any one cur- rent year, tbe record relating more particularly to tbe interval from April to April. The previous report brought tbe history of the propagation of food-fishes to the close of 1875 (in part into April of 187G), with the exception of that relating to California salmon, of which the statistics for the season of 1874-75 were the latest. But little reference has heretofore been made to carp, whitetish, and landlocked salmon, which now constitute an important element in the operations.
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