FISH CULTURE, or PISCICULTURE, the artificial propagation of fish to off set the destructive effect of fisheries. The art of fish fertilization is compara tively new. In 1763 Stephen L. Jacobi of Westphalia, Germany, devised the process now in use of stripping the ova from the female fish and mixing them with milt taken from the male. In 1850 the first government fish culture station was established in Huningue, Alsace. In the United States the art has made greater progress than in Europe. Dr. Garlick in 1865 began the propagation of brook trout, and New Hampshire im ported salmon eggs from Canada to hatch in the waters of that State. Since then the various States have one by one taken up the art, till now nearly all have regularly appointed fish commis sioners. Of the numerous inventions along this line, the most important is McDonald's fish-hatching jar, which keeps the eggs in motion, and automati cally separates the dead fish from the living.
The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries was established by joint resolution of Congress, approved Feb. 9, 1871. It is placed in charge of
a Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, who is required to be a person of scien tific and practical acquaintance with the fish and fisheries of the sea, coast, and inland waters. Reports are made annu ally to Congress. The scope of the work of the commission covers (1) the propa gation of useful food fishes, including lobsters, oysters, and other shellfish, and their distribution to suitable waters; (2) the inquiry into the causes of de crease of food fishes in the lakes, rivers, and coast waters of the United States, the study of the waters of the coast and interior in the interest of fish culture, and the investigation of the fishing grounds of the Atlantic, gulf, and Pacific coasts, with the view of deter mining their food resources and the development of the commercial fisheries; (3) the collection and compilation of the statistics of the fisheries and the study of their methods and relations. See FISHERY.