mim 0^ €^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) x3' ^^^ t i-'\ i .. 1. > '::--.0^:. -: i- J ■' 1 > ' '* ^ - J. H 'f Ox\ THE INFLUENCE \ OF A-isTCnoie/ lOE IN REUTIOiN TO FISH OFFAL AXD THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES : By henry Y. HINI>, M. A. ST. JOHNS, NEWFOUNDLAND. 187T. ON THE INFLUENCE OF ANCHOll ICE IN RELATION TO FISH OFFAL AND THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES. PART 11. Contents. I. The Rektive Quantity of Oxygen required by Fishes Old and Young. II. The Source of the Food of the Cod. in. The Ice Drift, IV. Food of Cod in Northern Seas. V. Distribution ot Fish Ova by the Ice Drift. w ON THE INFLUENCE OF ANCHOR ICE IN KEIATION TO FISH OFFAL AND THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES. PART II. I. THE RELATIVE QUANTITY OF OXYGEX REQUIRED BY FISHES, OLD AND YOUNG. ASSUMING that the anilysij of the gases contained in sea water, by Mr. Lant Carpenter* represents their average quantities and composition in the Atlantic Ocean, under cir^ Glial stances which permit of perfect sBration, we have the means for obtaining a correct view of the relative consurap- ^ *Appeudix A. in Sir Wyville's Thomson's "Depths of the Sea."— Sutnmary of results of the examination of samples of sea water taken at the surface and at various depths. By William Xjant Carpenter, B.A., B. Sc. p. 502. 2- 1 t tion of cxygen by marine life, and the sources of the unfailing supply of the life-sustaining gas. Different species of fish of the same weight require about the same quantities of oxygen to support respiration, but of the same species, the older individuals require mucii less than the younger in proportion to their weight. A cod- lish of 20lbs. weight requires very much less oxygen than the same weight of young fish, and the quantity required by the individual young is out of all proporti'/U to the quantity requned by old fifh. This curious and important fact Arises fn m the rc-spir-atoiy process being much moie active in yourg fish than in old individuals, and its discovery and announce- ment, together wnth other important discoveries in relation to fish life, are due to M. Quinquand, who some time since brought ihc subject before the Academy of Sciences in Paris, M, Quinquand has also ascertained the relation which exists between fishes and man, as to quantity of oxygen consumed in respiratic n. We are thus belter able to com- prehend the great value of thoroughl) aerated waters to young fish, and the diaiacler of the deleterious effects likely to le produced by fish offiil, and indeed any substance which upon decomposition consumes the oxygen of sea, — or river water — necestary for the respiration of very young and small fishes, such as sawdust from mills, or vegetable or animal refuse of any kind. We can filso comprehend the vast importance of Avinds and currents in aerating the ocean, and of a rapid flow in rivers in terating their waters. According to Mr. Lant Carpenter, the surface water of the ocean contains a greater quantity of oxygen and a less quantity of carbonic acid after a strong wind. In order to show that young and small fish, vvhose respiration is very active, consume ccnsideiably more oxygen than old or large fish in proportion to their weight, the T :,i "T" + T ,j. iijusti aliens supplied by M. Quinquand may be instanced. Comparing tbe reppiiatoiy uqiiircmenls of the perch ^^iih tliose of man as a standard, we have tlie following 6\iggcstive proportions ; A perch Weighing ever one pound has a respiratory ao'iivity one-mnih as great as a man in proportion to its weight. A perch weighing one thiid of a pound consumes i IV o-nint hs ^s, m\xc\\ ( xygcn as a mnn. A young perch not (ine-sixtcenth of a poui;d in weight consumes one half as much oxygen as a man in picpoiticn to weight of living matter. Applying these relative quantities to the codfish, the relation stands as below : — A numbei- of codfish each weighing 31bs., and together equal in weight to a 1-ull-groAvn man, consume, say, only one twentieth as much oxygm in respiration as the man. A larger number of smaller codfifch of one pound each, but of the same {iggrcgate weight as the man, ccnsume cne fifth as much OX) gen ; but a nvrmber of cod fry equal in aggregate weight to tie man c( nsume half as much oxygen. 'Iheso remarliable differences in respiratory activity, and consequently in die demand for the supply of oxygen, i?how how important it is for lish fiy and young fish to have an abundant end constant supply of the vital gas. M. Quir.quand has pointed rut another und equally imp(rtant fact ccnnected with the refpiratory piocess of young fish. 'Jhe young of mr-hnalhirg animals resist asphyxia or suffoeatien by deprivation of oxygen, much moie vigorously than adults, but the young oi Jish respiring by means of gills, seem to sutler much more rapidly than adults when the proper supply of oxygen diminishes. From these considerali(ns it follows, that as young fish and fish fry visit during the summer the coastal and shoal waters, and are probably hatched in them, the fish offal is thrown into the sea at the precise spot where it is likely to be most prejudicial to young fish life. It also fullows that sea watei which will suppsrt the life of fish, one, two an;l in:n'Q p:)unds in weight, will deitroy tiie life of youji^ fry. Sjulpins n ad flatfish, which abound neir the sttige heads in 8UiTi,n3r, miy live and thrive ia water wholly unfit for the respiration of yonng fish, which require abundance of oxygen. Hence on cjd banks, and on all fishing grounds where fish oflFil is thrown over- board, large fish, an J fish over one or two poun Is weight ma^ not be injured by it, yet small fish and fish fry, whose respiratory [ ocesses are cntiriily active, will be destroyed, especially during calms. Marine life, without red blood corpusoulesy and of lower respiratory organization than young fish, will not be injured by water deprived of oxygen by decomposing fi^h off'al, to an extent sufficient to destroy young fish life. In brief, all of M. Qainquand's experiments and observations point to the positive necessity for preserving in a state of purity those waters in which fish spawn is hatched, and "n. which youug fish disport themselves. Valuable information on the necessity for a continuous supply of oxygen for young fish is to be found in the " Report on the Progress of Pisciculture in Russia," given at page 493 of Commissioner Baird's Report for 1872 and 1873. M. Theodore Soudakevicz states in this report, that ''if the water contains less oxygen than is required to oxidize the blood, the gills change their lamelleo,- aiid their fringes agglutinate, decompose, are covered with parasiies, and the want of oxygen necessarily brings abou^ the d^ath of the fish.." & II. THE SOURCE OF THE FOOD OF THE COD IN the " Notes on the Northern Labrador Fishing Grounds" I have briefly referred to the unfailing sui);->ly of Arctic food, brought dovyn by ice and accumulated on. the continuous range of JJanka which extend from Cape Aillik to C^pe Chudleigh. Il may be well to describe with some detail the character of tho^ Arctic waters as food producers, for it is a popular impression that the cold of the Arctic Seas is prejudicial t > life. In trdch the Arctic waters and the great currents flowin.Tfrom them, are in many places a living mass, a vast ocean of living slime, and the all-peivading. life which exiits there alix)rd& the true solution of the problem which has stt often presented itself to tliose engaged in theGreatFisIierios, where the food comes from which gives siistenancQ to the countless nriiilicms of fish whixjh swann on the Labrador, on the coast of Newfoundland, and in Dominion anxl Unitod States' waters, or wlierever the Arctic Current exerts an active influence. Professor Nordenskiold reminds us, in an accnint of " an Expedition to Greenland in 1870," that Hudson and other veteran mariners of the Arctic Seas mention the variety of colours characterizing the water in certai'i pares of the Polar Sea, which are frequently so shar[)ly distinguished that a ship may sail with one side in blue water, and the olhcr in greyish -green water. It was at first sapposed that those colours were indicative of different currents — the green of the Arctic and the bluo of the Gulf-stream, Later, Sc^resby afTirmod that tin3 phenomena arose from the presence of innumerable organisms in the water. Subsequently Dr, Brown, during a voyage 6 ■ I I \ made by him as surgeon in a whaler, continued ihe observa-* tions, and more recently Professor Nordenskiold himself. The sea water in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen he describes as marked by two sharply distinguished colours, greenish grey and fine indigo-blue, In the Greenland'Seas there is water with a very decided tinpe of brown. The grey^green water is generally met with in the neighbourhood of ice ; the blue where the water is free from ice ; the brown, as far as Professor Nordenskicild's observations go, chiefly in that part of Davis' Straits which is situated in fmnt of " Fiskernaes " (Lat, 63*' 1', Long. 50° 1') on the Greenland coast opposite the 'mouth of Hudson's Straits, When specimens of the water are taken up in an unhose habitat is the Forske Bank, off Sukkertoppcn, and banks lying south of those celebrated codgiounds on the coast of Greenland, floats with the ice- ladened stream towards Cumberland Sound and Frobisher Bay, and is hatched on its journey, the young fish fry finding a new home in mid ocean or on the western coast of Davids Straits, Some of the ova from the schools described by Davis on that coast, floats with the ice stream in the track •Davis followed towards the Labrador, and is hatched, it may be, near Cape Ghudleigh. Some of the ova from the Cape Chudleigh schools,— and these are numercuF, — float with the iceberg stream along the coast of Labrador and are hatched on the Southern Labrador. Southern Labrador fish supply ova which is carried by the same unfailing ice stream partly into thc^Gulf and partly along the north-east coast of New- ♦ W. H. -Ran60D,-M.D.'—r