Fish Culture–Past and Future

Belief in a general depletion of the virgin stocks of fish, and enthusiasm over the new procedure of hatching fish eggs and planting the fry that arose in the sixties of the last century served as powerful stimuli to the development of fishery services and the initiation of scientific study of the fisheries in both the United States and Canada. The early fish culturists were the persons who started this Society in 1870. The peak of the development of the early simple fish culture was reached about the turn of the century, since which time there has been retrenchment as well as attempts both to determine what practice is effective and to develop methods that will ensure the desired results. Many fish, such as the Atlantic salmon that spends part of its life in the sea, are susceptible only to partial fish culture. That fish, as studied in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and particularly in the Margaree River, is available in the river in the adult stage depending upon variable forces, principally stream flow, which may have to be controlled to assure angling. Control of stream flow seems also necessary to prevent mortality in speckled trout by bringing them from a shallow lake into cold brooks before the water becomes too warm in summer, and to prevent mortality in spawning gaspereaux by bringing them up from the tidal waters of a shallow estuary which exposes them to great changes in salinity. Control of kingfishers and mergansers on streams inhabited by young salmon seems definitely indicated as the most important measure for maintaining the stock of salmon at a high level. The traditional fish culture may be made effective by a scientific distribution of the young salmon to suit very local conditions. Possibilities also exist for increasing the salmon stock by stream improvement, which may be effective when the requirements of the young salmon are adequately known and when procedure has been accurately tested.