Part 3 (1/2)

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 Pen.o.bscot, princ.i.p.ally 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 s.h.i.+ft 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 Pen.o.bscot, 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 a.s.sociation here for promoting the fresh-water fisheries, of which the princ.i.p.al 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 Pen.o.bscot; 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 Pen.o.bscot. In order to do this I must know exactly what is done on the Pen.o.bscot, 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 astonis.h.i.+ng 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, PEn.o.bSCOT 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 Pen.o.bscot salmon-breeding establishment was founded in 1872, at Bucksport; in the State of Maine, near the mouth of the Pen.o.bscot 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 Pen.o.bscot, 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 princ.i.p.al salmon fisheries are located; but to avail ourselves of the supply here afforded we must take the salmon at the ordinary fis.h.i.+ng season, May, June, and July, and keep them in confinement until the sp.a.w.ning season, which is here the last of October and first of November. As the salmon naturally pa.s.s 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 gra.s.sy 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 pa.s.sage 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.