54
T116 Last Resource
after being caught, not so much to improve their size but to main—
tain them in a marketable and fresh condition. In none of these
cases are sh articially raised from the egg.
The real break—through for marine farming occurred with the
recent development of techniques for stocking marine elds with
domestically hatched and reared marine animals. This opens up the
possibility of achieving the same kind of revolution in aquiculture as
Robert Bakewell achieved in livestock breeding in England during
the eighteenth century. Bakewell, a Leicestershire farmer, produced
by astute breeding a remarkable increase in productivity of cattle
and sheep which led to his animals being bought and bred all over
Britain. The same might be done for sh and shellsh. The specially
bred animals would be reared in marine ‘elds’. In this way, two
types of shery could develop: on the high seas eets would cull the
wild sh populations—somewhat as some African countries crop
the wild animals in the national parks; and, nearer home, the marine
farmer would cultivate ‘domesticated livestock’ in the inshore
pastures of territorial waters.
Tlze 771arinezrmer
The earliest attempts at hatching and rearing marine sh were
not specially geared to stocking marine farms; pioneers in the late
nineteenth century planned to release young sh over existing
shing grounds. Biologists argued that hatchery sh could more than
_make good the effect of increased exploitation by the expanding
shing eets. Unfortunately the plans were hasty and ill—conceived.
The newly hatched sh could not be fed once their store of yolk
had been used and the very young fry had to be released into the
sea where they probably fell easy prey to their natural enemies.
Some claims were made that shing improved as a result of these
releases but the evidence was inconclusive and, as enthusiasm and
nancial support waned, most of the hateheries closed or were
converted into shery laboratories.
In spite of such set—hacks, dreams of enriching the seas persisted.
They were encouraged by the work of Dutch and British scientists
who studied the effects of transplanting sh from poor to rich
feeding areas of the sea—a system which avoided the previous
hatehery problem. ln typical experiments, the British scientist,
Professor Walter Garstang, took young plaice from crowded
breeding grounds off the Dutch coast and released them into the
T116 Last Resource
after being caught, not so much to improve their size but to main—
tain them in a marketable and fresh condition. In none of these
cases are sh articially raised from the egg.
The real break—through for marine farming occurred with the
recent development of techniques for stocking marine elds with
domestically hatched and reared marine animals. This opens up the
possibility of achieving the same kind of revolution in aquiculture as
Robert Bakewell achieved in livestock breeding in England during
the eighteenth century. Bakewell, a Leicestershire farmer, produced
by astute breeding a remarkable increase in productivity of cattle
and sheep which led to his animals being bought and bred all over
Britain. The same might be done for sh and shellsh. The specially
bred animals would be reared in marine ‘elds’. In this way, two
types of shery could develop: on the high seas eets would cull the
wild sh populations—somewhat as some African countries crop
the wild animals in the national parks; and, nearer home, the marine
farmer would cultivate ‘domesticated livestock’ in the inshore
pastures of territorial waters.
Tlze 771arinezrmer
The earliest attempts at hatching and rearing marine sh were
not specially geared to stocking marine farms; pioneers in the late
nineteenth century planned to release young sh over existing
shing grounds. Biologists argued that hatchery sh could more than
_make good the effect of increased exploitation by the expanding
shing eets. Unfortunately the plans were hasty and ill—conceived.
The newly hatched sh could not be fed once their store of yolk
had been used and the very young fry had to be released into the
sea where they probably fell easy prey to their natural enemies.
Some claims were made that shing improved as a result of these
releases but the evidence was inconclusive and, as enthusiasm and
nancial support waned, most of the hateheries closed or were
converted into shery laboratories.
In spite of such set—hacks, dreams of enriching the seas persisted.
They were encouraged by the work of Dutch and British scientists
who studied the effects of transplanting sh from poor to rich
feeding areas of the sea—a system which avoided the previous
hatehery problem. ln typical experiments, the British scientist,
Professor Walter Garstang, took young plaice from crowded
breeding grounds off the Dutch coast and released them into the