34 FISH AND GAME. 



cilities to raise. Substantial numbers of fry are planted each 

 year, but as a by-product resulting from the necessity of 

 thinning out the fish in the rearing pools at the hatcheries. 



WHITE PERCH. 



The white perch is both a gamey and an excellent pan fish, 

 and for all classes of fishermen is perhaps the most satisfactory 

 pond fish for our State. Your Commissioners believe that the 

 most important work of fish distribution lies in the stocking of 

 our inland w r aters with food fishes as well as game fishes. By 

 increasing the natural production of our ponds with food 

 species the general public will not only be given the recreative 

 benefit of catching these fish, but, at the same time, will be 

 provided with an important food product which will do much 

 toward lessening the high cost of living. 



Small adults seined from the brackish water of Oyster and 

 Salt ponds in Falmouth, and from the water supply reser- 

 voir at Newport, R. I., have been shipped to the inland ponds, 

 where this species becomes landlocked. The transplanted fish 

 multiply rapidly, and, if sufficiently protected, soon provide an 

 enjoyable source of fishing. We have never been able to fill all 

 the applications for these fish in any year since we started this 

 work. Each year the number of unfilled applications has in- 

 creased, showing the growing demand. 



In view of the possibility of depletion in the natural supply 

 of young fish for stocking we made several attempts to secure 

 white perch eggs. On Marthas Vineyard and on the main- 

 land there is an annual run of white perch coming in from the 

 ocean to spawn. Last year several hundred large, well de- 

 veloped perch taken in one of the Vineyard ponds were placed 

 in pounds and examined at intervals, but they invariably 

 became covered with fungus before becoming "ripe." During 

 the coming year our plan is to collect a larger number, earlier 

 in the season, confining them in a natural pond. We are of 

 the opinion that we will eventually solve the problem and will 

 be able to take each year a large supply of eggs. These we 

 can readily hatch in the batteries at the Palmer Hatchery, and 

 by placing them in large artificial ponds we will be able to dis- 

 tribute substantial numbers of fingerlings annually. 



