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.

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    it is a matter of comparative indifference where the fish are captured, so that they are developed and made available for the needs of the country. At whatever point taken, they will find a market wTherever there is the greatest demand for them, and the country at large be benefited. The mutual relations of the States were considered to refer more espe- cially to the question of the protection of the fish introduced either by themselves or by the United States Commission, a system of forbear- ance and harmonious action being necessary in order that all may be properly benefited. This is especially necessary where a river runs successively through two or more States, as the Connecticut. What- ever be the amount of effort or expenditure in regard to the propaga- tion of fish made by the States on the upper tributaries of that river, all might be entirely neutralized by a neglect on the part of the State of Connecticut to prevent such a practice of fishing as to season and extent, as would cut off more or less completely the ascent of the fish above her territorial limits. Another subject of consideration by the convention was the hybrid- izing of fish, with a view of removing the instinct of migration, and by the atrophy of the sexual apparatus, allowing a more rapid accession of flesh and of fat, as is the case with hybrids and castrated domestic animals. The convention adjourned, after a harmonious session, to meet, sub- ject to the call of the United States Commissioner, at Chicago, in Octo- ber, 1877. The necessity of aid to the State Fish-hatching establishment is shown by the fact that, as a general principle, the expense to any one or even two States involved in the erection of a suitable hatching establish- ment for salmon, and in obtaining their eggs, as well as the difficulty of finding outside their own limits a legitimate and proper scene of operations is an effectual obstacle: and eveu were it possible to over- come this difficulty, the funds would all be exhausted in the pro- duction of the eggs, leaving nothing for their subsequent hatching out and ultimate distribution. By the present method the entire cost is borne by the appropriation for the United States Commission, and the eggs are supplied as far as possible in such numbers as may be asked for by the several State commissioners, who meet the cost of their trans- portation from the hatching-station, their development, and their sub- sequent introduction into the waters, the result being a harmony of action and concurrent working toward a common end. In some instances States more particularly interested have contributed to the cost of obtaining the eggs, for which they received a pro rata return from the United States Commission. Thus, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, and Maine have assisted in the production of the salmon eggs in the last-mentioned State, while the State of California furnished a liberal appropriation toward the expense of operations in the Sacra- mento River.
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