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Show oo LOBSTERS FOR THE PACIFIC. i' ! ; There Is great hope of tlie success- 1 f ful planting and propagation of tho i American lobster in the waters of Orc-' Orc-' f gon and Washington, after many attempts at-tempts have failed. This cheering ' Information is ImpRrte I In a volumln- ' ous bulletin or the United States Bu- ' : reau of Fisheries, written by Dr Fran- ' ', els Hobart Hcrrick. which, from Us ! ; thoroughness, seems to deserve the title "All that Is worth knowing about the lobster." i I Five attempts to acclimate the ij American lobster on the Pacific Coast ' were made between 1S74 and 1SS9, it when 590 animals, some of them with eggs, wore successfully carried across 1. tho continent and distributed all along r the coast from Mpntciey bay to Pu-J Pu-J get Sound, Concerning these at-$ at-$ tempts Dr. Hugh M. Smith of the fisheries bureau wrote: rV "No positive results having appear- '4 ed, the experiment was renewed in the fall of 190C, when a special car-, i load of brood lobsters, numbering a more than all the previous plants combined, was dispatched to Puget , Sound, and in 1907 a still moro cxtcn- sive plant, aggregating about 1,000 adult lobsters, was made in the samo water. Further consignments will E be made until the lobster is removed 2 from tho list of failures and record- cd as a great financial as well as a gastronomic success " Although Dr. Smith fails to distinguish distin-guish between the two sections, a largo part of the last shipment of lobsters lob-sters was sent to Yaqulna bay, Or. Dr. Herrick promises perseverance In propagating lobsters in tho Pacific, saying: "We beliovc that this bureau has lak'en a most commendable step, and In the right direction, the initial attempt at-tempt being to find a water where the Atlantic lobster will thrive. When this primary t question has been settled, further 'importations to that point, supplemented In time by artificial propagation, pro-pagation, promise well for tho eventual even-tual establishment of new and remote re-mote fisheries which, for all that is now known to tho .contrary, may at some future day enjoy a greater prosperity pros-perity e,ven than those nearer home." lobsters have been a favorlto luxury lux-ury of tho Atlantic coast sfnee the days of the Pilgrims, who cnught them weighing twonty-five pounds aploce, a giant one weighing thirty-four thirty-four pounds. In 1740 largo lobsters .sold for "3 half penco" each, but the price is now 25 cents a pound, that price being pnld for one weighing three pounds nlnb and a quarter ounces, which Is equivalent to 90 conts a pound for the clear meat The product of the lobster fisheries of both America and Europe has diminished dim-inished enormously in tho last two decades, particularly in the United States and Canada, hut the Increase in price has been such that tho present pres-ent aggregate value is much larger. The averatjo size has also much diminished, dim-inished, the present legal limit of catch being one and three-quarters pounds., H the lobster should bo acclimated' ac-climated' on the Pacific, stringent laws, strictly enforced, will be necessary nec-essary to allow It to grow and multiply. multi-ply. Portland Oregonlan. |