Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

i6o THE SCARUS—" FISHING PROHIBITED "in the time of Tiberius (or Octavius, according to Macrobius)vast quantities at the Emperor's command were collected byan Admiral of the Fleet and planted along the Ostian andCampanian shores.Careful protection by land and sea rendered poachingalmost impossible. For the period of five years any scaruscaught in the nets had, under heavy penalties, to be returnedstraightway to the water. The enforcement of these wiseregulations effected such mighty thriving of the fish, that "posteafrequentes inveniuntur Italiae in litore, non antea ibi captiadmovitque sibi gula sapores piscibus satis et novum incolammari dedit."This operation commands our comment, not merely onaccount of its big success, but because it is the earliest and (asfar as I can discover) the only instance in all ancient literature,certainly in Greek and Latin, ofeggs) in the sea, and on a large scale.the acclimatisation of Jish (notI do not include, though I do not forget, the large lucrativeplanting of oysters in the Lucrine lake by Sergius Grata centuriesbefore. 1Later on we shall read of the Romans carrying eggs,naturally fertilised, from one water to another, and of theChinese 2 transporting vast quantities of similar eggs considerabledistances.But their methods and operations differed from the Emperor's.Pliny expressly states that the Admiral planted fish,not eggsof fish, in the sea, not in fresh water, and in a new habitathundreds of miles from the old.To this planting or involuntary colonisation, Petroniusseemingly, despite controversy, the " Elegantiae Arbiter," or thenot altogether Admirable Crichton, of Tacitus — probably alludes" ultimus ab orisAttractus scarus atque arata SyrtisSi quid naufragio dedit, probatur." 3Poets and gourmets have vied in singing the praises of thefish as the daintiest of dishes — " according to the Greeks to doPliny, IX. 79.J- See J. B. Du Halde, Description gfographique . . . de I'Empire de laChine. . . . (Paris, 1735), vol. i. p. 36.^ Petron., Sat., 93, 2.