The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 20, 1902, Page 4

OTHER Nature has done every- thing for science. It is only fair that science should return the compliment and give the ‘good Dame a helping hand for all the she has taught. In no way has the 1d Jady needed assistance more than the prevention of the absolute exter- mination of her beloved sons and daugh- ters of the fish family. The rut hand of money-loving man, ted by his trained mind and assisted by cunning devices of nets, traps and jer, was in a fair way to crush 1l edible life of our streams and ers. Even the laws established.by our wise heads, who saw farther than the sun down of 2 single day, would have but de- layed the final extinction of the best of fich family. It was not enoughp to legisiate against nets and traps and powder and all whole- sale slaying methods. not enough to make a closed sea- son when no fish should be taken and of- fenders should be severely punished by fine ar wprisonment. The matter finally resolved itself into one of two things. . Either stop fishing altogether or—do something else! Ju what that “something” should be was the question. Everybody wanted fish to eat. To stop fishing meant the loss of ‘one of the world's greatest free food supplies for such a time as would be necessary for the diminished numbers of fish to in- crease by the slow methods of natural re- production. 2 Then it was quite plain also that even after giving the an unmolested period for propagation, this increased supply would be caught out the moment the ban was taken off, 2nd then we should be in as bad a fix as before Mother Nature could not turn out fish A SECTION "IN THE S350~ HATCHERY ™ Posiriorn BUT UNCOVERED fast enough to keep up with our vora- cious appeti nd that was all there was about it. Something besides legislation had to be done. It should not be a question of *“stop eating fish,” but rather ‘“get more fish to eat.” Then it was that science stepped in and had something to say. The naturalists found the ‘‘something else” that would save the day. That something was ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION. It was a simple matter of obseyvation to find that of all the millions of ezgs from spawning fish each year only 5 per cent of the fertilized eggs ever hatched: the rest became legitimate prey to all the other denizens of the water big enough to gobble an egg. All of this was quite fine for the eaters, but rather discouraging for the embryo fish and for the hungry peo- ples of the earth waiting for a good Fri- day dinner. The naturalists experimented with the resuit that finally over 90 per cent of the eggs handled by them could. be easily brought to the hatching point and a cor- respondingly large number of small fish developed to a size and hardthood suffi- cient to give them a good chance for a long life when returned to the stream, lake, bay or ocean. In the early days of California it .prob- ably seemed to an observer that the fish supply of the streams could never be ex- hausted: but civilization « with its saw- mills to poison the waters with their dust, its hydraulic mines to kill with their re- fuse and men to trap and slay with their clever hands soon placed the fish family on the high roed to destruction. Then the people gradually awoke to the fact that one of the State's most valuable food supplies was going and the wheels of the law began to revolve. Most of us are aware of the general tenor of the legal machinery; for every Californfan is a fisher in his own right at some time or another and keeps himself informed to avoid fine or imprisonment, but few of us realize that our own gfforts of self-denial in the taking of fish would amount to lit- le if it were not for the hatcheries where the State Commission is turning out mil- lions upon millions of fish that there may be some to take. In 1871 the State Commission started the good work by planting 15,000 shad. The next year they did better yet by giv- ing 25,000 white fish a chance to make their way in the world; and by starting out 6000 Eastern brook trout and 22,000 mykiss—the breed of large fish in Tahoe. This made a total of 53,000 fish for that year. g The commission kept hard at it and by the end of 1898 the State had planted 141,462,152 fish of different varieties. New York now plants about 100,000,000 fish per year, almost as many as we planted in twenty-seven years, but then California is young and she is simply be- ginning in time. Last year the State gave 5,000,000 young trout their start in life—no mean philan- thropy in itself, especially when it is cast- ing of bread on the waters that is sure to come back. Assisted by the Federal Gov- ernment we did better yet for the salmon and sent 30,000,000 young rustlers out to gea to come back to us in cans or delicious boiled, broiled or fried dishes. Salmion hatching fs simply a matter of highway robbery—thag is from the stand- point of the parent fish. They come up the river to spawn, are trapped, then robbed of their spawn and milt. The spawn and milt are quickly mixed together by experienced hatchers and taken to the State building for incu- bation, where they are cared for until the fish are about six weeks old, or two SALrten £665 READY FOR SHIPHENT inches long, and hardy enough to battle for themselves. Then the young fish are distributed as oecasion demands. X The banner year for salmon was 1897. At present the Federal Government at- tends to catching and stripping the fish while the State Commission does the hatching and distributing, but in that year the Federal Government employed the State hatchers to assist, and the world’s record was broken. The strippers took and fertilized sixty millions of egga. Now, in these days of billion dollar trusts and generally big figures in every- thing, a mere paltry 60,000,000 may not catch the fancy as amounting to very much. It is so easy to say “sixty mil- lions” and then to stop thinking without realizing what a whopping big number it is after all. Think it over. Sixty millions of eggs. If you took all those eggs with you for a little ‘walk ‘and dropped one for every foot of the way you would.find that you would get almost half way around the earth and still have salmon eggs to throw away. If you carelessly took a contract to ‘haul that many eggs down the road for the Fish Commission you would have to provide transportation for about thirty tons’ weight. FIsH HATCHERZ AT 31550/ e about 24,000 dips before the last quart had been lifted. All these eggs were gathered in about two months and meant the expert hand- ling of about 12,000 female fish and an equal number of males. Coming down from big numbers smailer figures let us see what a cha the single salmon has when nature is un- assisted 3 A salmon spawns about 3000 eggs—quit obably Of th 5000 D the rest, as they rofl at the bottom of the food for everything s a mouth big enow; to take them in. Thosé 250 have pass through all the dangers of orphanage, and thefr chances of growing to two inghes in a figure in itself. t léngth are slim.. After they have’attain- ed that growth their prospects of ma- turity become brighter. t the best the salmon has but four rs to live. When four years old they ve the salt water and go to fresh to pawn. In the fresh water their stom- achs shrivel up—why, no one knows—and after they have brought their family into the world they soon die, practically from starvation. With such odds against them ecies would stand a poor chance for from extermination with suc de and on them as a food supply as there now is unle: nature were assisted by artificial means. 1 The Fish Commission supplies the arti- ficial means that proves the saving clause. Of the eggs taken from a single fish over %0 per cent is returned to the vwater in the shape of good, sturdy fish i{wo inches long—well able to care for themselves. Up to that time their living has been provided for them and they get back to their native element much fatter and more rugged than their poor little cousins, who all this time have had to rustle—and rustle hard. Fortunately the habits of the salmon are such that It is an eaSy matter for science to co-operate with nature. When the spawning time comes—in the fall of the year and early spring—the fish rush pellmell from the sea for the' head waters of the rivers, to find a suitable place in the warm and shallow waters for their nests. Knowing this fact, the com- mission builds a rack, a sort of fence, at a suitable place across the stream. This resembles a picket fence with slats 1% inches and braced to slant stream. fish meeting obstac remafn th heading up stream and king .a valn attempt to get through. Then a seine is drawn from below the rack up to it and the fish are captured in large pambers. Those that are ‘“ripe” are stripped at once and the unripe ones are put in pens or lve-boxes made for this purpose and held unti! ready. To facilitate the taking of the fish the rack is provided with traps. The simply a square inclosure with vert placed slats, with an’ entrance similar to that of an ordinary pound net. The fish in their eager efforts to pass'up stream go through the V-shaped mouth of the trap, and. having once entered. are not able to find their way out. Boards are placed over the top of the trap to pre- vent the fish from leaping out. After the fish are taken it requires an experienced man to tell whether they are “ripe,” and yet maqre expertness is neces- If you started to dip them out with a sary In stripplog—that Is, in forcin; SALION SPAWNING / heampe A e tly behi hem. One I the hand a othe from the fish, upon a shelf it remains for one and a when the contents are pc galvanized fron bucket water, the egss b fore .adhest spawning having stripped as sixty minutes.” The fllustration helper has his left; the men the female, while the mal: The stripping hed on a float I rack that preven : up stream—as shown in a photograph on this page. The salmon spawning stations for Cali- fornfa have been established at Baird, on River Shasta County ma County, and about ne establ Stone. to the here—in 1870, The Gov gathering are shipped of the Calife ers. A box of oW now eggs, ment is sk dropped f: feet and largest h able s rk on the eg ys of evolutior perience with them né how t y it When 1imon egzs c the busy time T immense in it are placed t These troughs are built for sides and bottom a 2 n feet long, sixteen inches w inches deep. For conven n pairs and arr one pair can flow in These two make what is called and in the building at S are twenty-one sections 2= many as 10,000,000 in varying stages of devel m the newly fertilized eggs t sturdy liitle swimmer .of two months old and ready for the ponds outside—quite a baby farm. In each trough are placed six portable hatching baskets that have e of wire boxes twenty-two wide and five and a These have a capacity eggs or 30,000 trout g, fifteen inch f inches de 25,000 s soon as the eggs are brought in they are placed in these baskets and fresh, pure and aerated water is kept constant- Iy passing through the troughs. The bas- kets are convenient, for they can be lifted out for inspection or while the troughs are being cieaned. It is necessary to the Ik quart measure you would have to make egss from the female fish and the fer Lo b Lo, SHt Off the exzy and youns fsh by a covering af varmished cloth. To 8o