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About Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland Fish Hatchery
The hatching of cod fish from the ova of the female fish has not been common practice in the history of the cod fishery. However, a not too well known hatchery was established in Newfoundland in 1890 which operated for seven years and released over a billion cod fry into the waters of coastal Newfoundland.
During the 1800s the cod fishery in Newfoundland realized many difficult years when either catches were low or markets were poor. Since the health of the Newfoundland economy went hand in hand with the success of the cod fishery, the Government of the day decided to explore possibilities for improvements. There was no Dept. of Fisheries so in 1887 the Govovernment decided to establish a fisheries Commission to explore the issues and make recommendations for improvements.
Site of the Fish Hatchery of the 1890s
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The Commission soon focussed on the possibility of hatching cod fish to improve catches. They were aware of operations in the US and Norway and felt that it held possibilities for the waters of Newfoundland. It so happened that a group from Norway arrived in Newfoundland later in 1887 to study the cod fishery so the Commission was anxious to examine the local fishery and report back on their conclusions regarding the fishing industry in Newfoundland. Adolph Nielson, a member the group who submitted the subsequent report, impressed the members of the Commission such that a proposal was sent to him to take on the position of Supt of Fisheries for Newfoundland and he accepted the assignment for $3000 per year.
Nielson arrived in Newfoundland in February 1889 to take on his new position and lost no time getting started with his new responsibilities. By the middle of July 1889 he had a hatchery completed and ready for the hatching of cod fish. His plan was to obtain mature fish from local fishermen and transport them to the hatchery in covered wooden containers with plenty of holes to permit a continuous supply of sea water as the containers were towed to the hatchery by a steam powered vessel. The fish would then be placed in breeding tanks that were continuously supplied with fresh sea water and where the females would lay their eggs to be fertilized by the male fish. The fertilized ova would float to the surface of the water to be removed and placed in special tanks in the laboratory located inside the hatchery building.
An 1890s Photo of the Fish Hatchery
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Unfortunately, the female cod fish had laid their eggs before the middle of July so nothing was achieved in 1889.
In the spring of 1890 Nielson and his team-were ready. The required mature cod fish were delivered to the site and the intricate hatching process proceeded for about three months when the developed fish fry were transported to various areas of Trinity, Conception, and Fortune Bays where they were released. The hatch rate of the ova improved from 50% in the first year to 75% in the seventh year.
Local fishermen reported finding large numbers of juvenile cod-fish in the bays during the following years but critics claimed that the hatching process was no better than the natural process. The Government that supported the hatchery was voted out of office and the new government did not support the operation so there are no reported results beyond 1896. By that time over 186 million cod fry were hatched and released.
Nielsen had many other projects other than the hatching of cod fish which was a seasonal operation occupying about three months of the year. A popular project that he spear headed concerned the preservation of lobster ova. He developed a floating incubator that could be used after minimal training to permit the hatching of lobster fry from the ova that would be otherwise cooked with the rest of the lobster.
Around the coast of Newfoundland lobster canning factories were common during the 1890s. These operations were not concerned with preserving the lobster population so female lobsters were thrown in the cooking vats with the ova attached. This meant a great loss to the growth of the lobster population especially since the ova was already fertilized.
Seventeen of the floating incubators were located where Fisheries personnel removed the ova and attended to the incubation process. In 1895 over 174 million lobster fry were hatched and released. People involved in the canning process eventually realized the potential of the process and got on the lobster preservation band wagon resulting in the hatching of billions of lobsters.
This topic is addressed in A History of Newfoundland and Two Outports. Both books are available on this Website
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