Various - New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon Fisheries in the Late 19th Century
V >>
Various >> New England Salmon Hatcheries and Salmon Fisheries in the Late 19th Century
Of the salmon later obtained some were placed in an inclosure of nets
in the edge of a natural pond with but 7 feet of water, of average
purity, some in a shallow inclosure in a brook, and some turned loose
in a natural lake of some 60 acres area, with muddy bottom and
peat-colored water. In each case the salmon passed the summer with few
losses, arrived at the breeding season in perfect health, and yielded
at the proper time their normal amount of healthy spawn and milt,
though the great sacrifice of breeding fish by the early experiments of
the season reduced the crop of eggs to the small number of 72,000.
The conditions of success were thus sufficiently indicated, and in 1872
the same parties, joined with the United States Commission of
Fisheries, renewed operations on a larger scale, locating their
headquarters at the village of Bucksport, confining the breeding salmon
in Spofford's Pond (Salmon Pond on the general map of Penobscot
station), and establishing their hatchery on the brook formed by its
overflow. This is the lake of 60 acres in which, as mentioned above, a
few salmon had been successfully confined the year before.
Though not at all such water as would be chosen by a salmon at large,
it nevertheless proved well adapted to the purpose of an inclosure for
the breeding fish. It was shallow, its greatest depth, at the season of
highest water, being but 10 feet; at its upper end it abuts against an
extensive swamp, and almost its entire bottom, except close to the
shore, is composed of a deposit of soft, brown, peaty mud of unknown
depth. The water is strongly colored with peaty solutions, has a muddy
flavor, and under the rays of a summer sun becomes warmed to 70°
(Fahrenheit) at the very bottom.* Yet in such a forbidding place as
this, salmon passed the summer in perfect health. There were some
losses, but every reason to believe them all to have been caused by
injuries received prior to their inclosure.
* During the month of August, 1872, the bottom temperature at 1 p.m.
was never below 70°, and on six days was found to be 71°.
During and after the hottest term of each summer (the month of August)
very few died.
The supply of salmon was obtained mainly, as in 1871, from the weirs in
the southern part of Verona. They were placed in cars, specially
fitted for the purpose; and towed to Bucksport on the flood tide. From
the river to the inclosure they were hauled on drays in wooden tanks 3
feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, half a dozen at once. From the
weirs to the boats and from the boats to the tanks they were dipped in
great canvas bags. From all this handling but few losses ensued.
In the establishment at Bucksport village the work was carried on for
four years, from 1872 to 1876, with a fair degree of success. Then
ensued a suspension till 1879, when the reappearance of salmon in the
Merrimack, Connecticut, and some other rivers renewed the hopes of
final success, and encouraged the commissioners to reopen the station.
It had, however, been found that the old location had serious defects.
The inclosure was costly to maintain, and the recapture of the fish
involved a great deal of labor and trouble. The water supplied to the
hatchery was liable in seasons of little rain to be totally unfit,
causing a premature weakening of the shell and very serious losses in
transportation. After a careful search through the neighboring country
it was found that the most promising site for an inclosure was in Dead
Brook, near the village of Orland (though within the limits of the town
of Bucksport), and for a hatchery no location was equal to Craigs Pond
Brook, the spot where the original experiments were tried in 1871. The
only serious drawback was the separation of the two by a distance of
some 2 miles, which could not offset the positive advantage of the
hatchery site. Accordingly the necessary leases were negotiated, an
inclosure made in Dead Brook, and a stock of breeding salmon placed
therein in June, 1879. Since then the work has been continued without
interruption.
It is still found most convenient to obtain the stock of breeding
salmon, as in the early years of the enterprise, from about a dozen
weirs in the Penobscot River along the shores of the island of Verona.
The fishermen are provided with dip-nets or bags with which to capture
the fish in their weirs, with tanks or cars in which to transport them
to the collecting headquarters, whither they are brought immediately
after capturing, about low water.
The collection is in the hands of a fisherman of experience, who
receives the salmon as they are brought in, counts and examines them,
adjudges their weight, and dispatches them in cars to the inclosure at
Dead Brook. The cars are made out of the common fishing boats of the
district, called dories, by providing them with grated openings, to
allow of a free circulation of water in transit, and covering them with
netting above to prevent the fish from escaping over the sides. The car
is ballasted so that it will be mostly submerged. Ten to fifteen salmon
are placed in a single car, and from one to four cars are taken in tow
by a boat with two to four oarsmen.
From the collecting headquarters to Orland village, a distance of about
5 miles, the route is in brackish water, and the tow is favored by the
flood tide. At Orland is a dam which is surmounted by means of a lock,
and thence, two miles further to Dead Brook, the route is through the
tide less fresh water of Narramissic River. The sudden change from salt
to fresh water does not appear to trouble the fish except when the
weather is very hot and the fresh water is much the warmest. The cars
are towed directly into the inclosure, where the fish are at once
liberated.
The inclosure is formed by placing two substantial barriers of woodwork
across the stream 2,200 feet apart. The lower barrier is provided with
gates which swing open to admit boats. Within the inclosure the water
is from 3 to 8 feet deep, the current very gentle, the bottom partly
muddy, partly gravelly, supporting a dense growth of aquatic
vegetation. The brook has two clean lakes at its source, and its water
is purer than that of ordinary brooks.
The collection of salmon usually continues from the first ten days of
June until the beginning of July. During the early weeks of their
imprisonment the salmon are extremely active, swimming about and
leaping often into the air. After that they become very quiet, lying in
the deepest holes and rarely showing themselves. Early in October they
begin to renew their activity, evidently excited by the reproductive
functions. Preparations are now made for catching them by constructing
traps at the upper barrier. If the brook is in ordinary volume, these
means suffice to take nearly all, but a few linger in the deeper pools
and must be swept out with seines. About October 25 the taking of spawn
begins. After that date the fish are almost always ripe when they first
come to hand, and in three weeks the work of spawning is substantially
finished.
Although the salmon are taken from the fisherman without any attempt to
distinguish between males and females, it is always found at the
spawning season that the females are in excess, the average of four
seasons being about 34 males to 66 females. This is a favorable
circumstance, since the milt of a single male is fully equal to the
impregnation of the ova of many females.
The experiment has several times been tried of marking the salmon after
spawning and watching for their return in after years. After some
experiments, the mode finally fixed upon as best was to attach a light
platinum tag to the rear margin of the dorsal fin by means of a fine
platinum wire. The tags were rolled very thin, cut about half an inch
long and stamped with a steel die. The fish marked were dis missed in
the month of November. Every time it was tried a considerable number of
them was caught the ensuing spring, but with no essential change in
their condition, indicating that they had not meanwhile visited their
spawning grounds. In no case was a specimen caught in improved
condition during the first season succeeding the marking.
But the following year, in May and June, a few of them were taken in
prime condition--none otherwise--and it several times occurred that
female salmon were a second time committed to the inclosure and yielded
a second litter of eggs. The growth of the salmon during their absence
had been very considerable, there being always an increase in length
and a gain of twenty-five to forty per cent. in weight. The conclusion
seems unavoidable that the adult salmon do not enter the Penobscot for
spawning oftener than once in two years.
The method of impregnation employed has always been an imitation of the
Russian method introduced into America in 1871. The eggs are first
expressed into tin pans, milt is pressed upon them, and after they are
thoroughly mixed together, water is added. The result has been
excellent, the percentage of impregnated eggs rarely falling so low as
95.
After impregnation the eggs are transferred to the hatchery at Craig's
Pond Brook, where they are developed, resting upon wire-cloth trays in
wooden troughs, placed in tiers ten trays deep, to economize space, and
at the same time secure a free horizontal circulation of water.
The hatchery is fitted up in the basement of an old mill, of which
entire control has been obtained. The brook is one of exceptional
purity, and a steep descent within a few feet of the hatchery enables
us to secure at pleasure a fall of 50 feet or less. The brook formerly
received the overflow of some copious springs within a few hundred feet
of the hatchery, which so affected the temperature of the water that
the eggs were brought to the shipping point early in December, an
inconvenient date. This has been remedied by building a cement aqueduct
1,600 feet long, to a point on the brook above all the springs, which
brings in a supply of very cold water.
The shipment of eggs is made in January, February, and March, when they
are sent by express, packed in bog-moss, all over the northern States,
with entire safety, even in the coldest weather.
In the following statement is embraced a general summary of the results
of each season's work:
[IMAGE orlandeggs.png in html file--table in text file]
Salmon Females Eggs Eggs
Year bought spawned obtained distrib'd
---- ------ ------- -------- ---------
1871-72 111 11 72,071 70,500
1872-73 692 225 1,560,000 1,241,800
1873-74 650 279 2,452,638 2,291,175
1874-75 601 343 3,106,479 2,842,977
1875-76 460 237 2,020,000 1,825,000
1879-80 264 19 211,692 200,500
1880-81 522 227 1,930,561 1,841,500
1881-82 513 232 2,690,500 2,611,500
1882-83 560 256 2,075,000 2,000,000
----- ----- ---------- ----------
Total 4,373 1,829 16,148,941 14,924,952
ARTICLE III
PENNING OF SALMON IN ORDER TO SECURE THEIR EGGS.
By C. J. Bottemanne M.D. [From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.]
_Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission_, Vol. 4, Page 169, 1884.
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 Penobscot,
principally 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 shift 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 Penobscot,
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 association here for promoting the fresh-water fisheries, of
which the principal 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 Penobscot; 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
Penobscot. In order to do this I must know exactly what is done on the
Penobscot, 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 astonishing
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, PENOBSCOT 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 Penobscot salmon-breeding establishment was founded in 1872, at
Bucksport; in the State of Maine, near the mouth of the Penobscot 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 Penobscot, 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 principal salmon fisheries are
located; but to avail ourselves of the supply here afforded we must take
the salmon at the ordinary fishing season, May, June, and July, and keep
them in confinement until the spawning season, which is here the last of
October and first of November. As the salmon naturally pass 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
grassy 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
passage 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.
No. 3. The inclosure in use for the confinement of the stock of
breeding fish for the four years from 1872 to 1875, inclusive, was made
by running a barrier across a narrow arm of a small lake (mentioned in
official reports as "Spofford's Pond") near Bucksport village. This
body of water, about 60 acres in area in the summer, receives the
drainage of not more than 5 square miles of territory through several
small brooks, that are reduced to dry beds by an ordinary drought.
About a quarter of the shores are marshy and the rest stony. The water
is highly colored by peaty matters in solution, and all objects are
invisible at a depth of 2 feet: The bottom is composed mostly of a fine
brown peaty mud of unknown depth. Aquatic vegetation of the genera,
_Nuphar_, _Nymphaea_, _Bragenia_, _Potamogeton_, &c., is abundant. The
water is nowhere more than 16 feet deep in the spring, and 11 feet in
midsummer. The portion inclosed is 2 feet shoaler.
The inclosure occupied sometimes 8 or 10 acres, and sometimes less. The
barrier was from 400 to 600 feet long, and was formed the first year of
brush; the second and third years of stake-nets, weighted down at the
bottom with chains; and the fourth year of wooden racks, 4 feet wide
and long enough to reach the bottom, which were pushed down side by
side. The brush was unsatisfactory. There were holes in it by which the
fish escaped. A single net would not retain its strength through a
whole season, the bottom rotting away and letting the fish out, unless
before the autumn was far advanced its position were reversed, the
stronger part that had been above water being placed now at the bottom.
This method was therefore rather expensive and not perfectly secure.
The wooden racks were costly and heavy to handle, but quite secure.
The salmon placed in this inclosure had to be carted in tanks of water
overland about a mile in addition to transportation in floating cars
from 3 to 5 miles; they were transferred suddenly from the salt water
of the river (about two-thirds as salt as common sea-water) into the
entirely fresh water of the lake. To all the supposed unfavorable
circumstances must be added the high summer temperature of the water.
During August the mean was generally above 70 degrees Fahrenheit at the
bottom and several degrees warmer at the surface. Occasionally there
was observed a midday temperature of 74 degrees F. and once 75 degrees
at the bottom. Yet this proved an excellent place for our purpose, a
satisfactory percentage of the salmon remaining in perfect health from
June to November.
No. 4. The inclosure in use since 1870 at Dead Brook, Bucksport. It is
located in a gently running stream bordered by marshy ground, with a
bottom in part of gravel but mostly of mud, crowded with aquatic
vegetation. The water, supplied by two small lakes among the hills, is
cleaner than the average of Maine rivers, but does not in that respect
approach the water of inclosure No. 1. The greatest depth is about 8
feet, but in the greater part of the inclosure it is from 3 to 5 feet.
The width of the stream is from 2 to 4 rods, and the portion inclosed
is 2,200 feet long. The barriers to retain the fish are in the form of
wooden gratings, with facilities for speedily clearing them of debris
brought down by the stream.
Better results were expected from this inclosure than from No. 3, but
have not been realized. The percentage of salmon dying in confinement
has been greater, amounting commonly to about 25 percent of those
introduced, and this notwithstanding the salmon are conveyed to the
inclosure by water carriage the entire distance (7 miles) instead of
being carted in tanks.
The cause of the trouble has not yet been discovered, but there is good
reason for thinking that it lies in some of the circumstances attending
the transfer of the fish from the place of capture, and that the
inclosure itself is perfectly suited to its purpose. This view is
supported by the fact that nearly all the losses occur within a few
weeks after the introduction of the salmon and almost wholly cease by
the end of July. If the cause of disease was located in the inclosure,
we should expect it to be more fatal after a long than a short duration
of the exposure of the fish to its action, and that with the smaller
volume and higher temperature of August it would be more active than in
June and July.
The above description will, I think, give Dr. Bottemanne a sufficiently
correct idea of the character of the inclosures we have tried. There
are, however, several other points to be touched upon to put him in
possession of the practical results of our experience.
The facilities for the recapture of the salmon when the spawning season
approaches must be considered. In the lake at Bucksport village (No. 3)
we hoped at first that their desire to reach a suitable spawning ground
would induce them all to enter the small brook that forms the outlet,
which was within the limits of the inclosure. In this matter our
expectations were but partially realized. Many of the fish refused to
leave the lake through the narrow opening that was afforded them, and
were only obtained by pound-nets, seines, and gill-nets, all of which
involved a considerable expenditure of labor and material.
The drawing of a seine in a large body of fresh water is likely to be
a serious undertaking unless the bottom has been previously cleared of
snags. In this respect the long and narrow inclosure at Dead Brook
possesses great advantages, since it can be swept with a comparatively
short seine. However, the influx and efflux of a considerable volume of
water is of great advantage in enticing the gravid fish into traps that
can readily be contrived for them by any ingenious fisherman.
The existence of a gravelly bottom in the inclosure must be considered
a positive disadvantage, inasmuch as it affords the fish a ground on
which they may lay their eggs before they can be caught; but the danger
of such an occurrence is less as the bounds of the inclosure are more
contracted and the facilities for capturing the fish are better.
As to the number of fish to a given area, I think we have never
approached the maximum. I should have no hesitation in putting 1000
salmon in the inclosure at Dead Brook, which covers an area of less
than 3 acres. Of course the renewal of the water supply, or its
aeration by winds, is of importance here.
The capture and transport of the fish in June involves methods
requiring some explanation. The salmon fisheries about the mouth of the
Penobscot River are pursued by means of a sort of trap termed a "weir."
It is constructed of fine-meshed nets hung upon stakes, arranged so as
to entrap and detain the fish without insnaring them in the meshes.
They swim about in the narrow "pound" of the weir until the retreating
tide leaves them upon a broad floor.
Just before the floor is laid bare, the salmon destined for the
breeding works are dipped out carefully with a cloth bag or a very fine
bag-net and placed in transporting cars or boats, rigged specially for
the purpose, sunk deep in the water, which fills them, passing in at
two grated openings above, and passing out at two others astern, and
covered with a net to prevent escape. In a boat 13 or 14 feet long (on
the bottom) we put 10 or 15 salmon, to be towed a distance of 7 miles.
If the water is cool, twice as many can go safely, but there must be no
delay. It is very important that this car be smooth inside, with no
projections for the salmon to chafe on, and the gratings must be so
close that they cannot get their heads in between the bars.
