136 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



from eggs taken in this lake, showing the possibilities of this branch of fish culture 

 should a perfectly appointed hatching station be erected. 



We would again most earnestly recommend that power be given to this Commission 

 to close waters for a term of years, not exceeding five, when in the judgment of the 

 Commissioners it is necessary to close streams for nursery purposes or to establish or 

 re-establish fish in such waters. Already similar commissions in sister States have 

 this power by posting printed notices on the banks of waters it is desired to close. 



During the past year the Commission has obtained from the New Hampshire Fish 

 Commission a number of adult Sunapee trout, and planted them in public waters in 

 this State. This is a famed fish, found only in two lakes in New Hampshire, and one 

 in Maine, and is the highest type of game fish, and one of the most delicate of food 

 fishes. We have also obtained from the United States Fish Commission 75,000 eggs 

 of the steelhead trout from the Pacific coast, and hatched and planted them in State 

 waters. Another new fish obtained during the past year, from a lot of eggs sent to 

 the National Government by the Swiss Government, is the Swiss lake trout. These 

 three new species, having been obtained and planted in the waters of the State since 

 the last session of the Legislature, have no protection under the law, and it is most 

 desirable that a close season be provided for them similar to the close season already 

 provided for the native brook and lake trout. 



Since the year 1882, plants of Atlantic salmon fry and yearlings have been made 

 in the waters of the upper Hudson River annually, until the total plantings amount to 

 about 3,500,000, and the Government has furnished 100,000 eggs to be hatched and 

 planted the coming spring. Dams and falls in the river have prevented the salmon 

 on their return from the sea ascending to their natural spawning grounds where they 

 were planted as baby fish, and they have been obliged to seek clear water and gravel 

 beds wherever they could be found together for spawning purposes. Where these 

 spawning grounds were located was not determined until last autumn, when it was 

 found by this Commission that salmon were running up Livingston Creek on the left 

 branch of the Hudson, below Linlithgo station n{ the New York Central Railroad, 

 where they found clear, cold water and gravel bottom in what was once a famous trout 

 stream. It is the intention of the Commission to visit this stream when the spawning 

 season of the salmon again comes around and capture the fish on their spawning beds, 

 now plainly to be seen, and take the eggs artificially for the purpose of hatching them 

 and planting the young higher up the main ri\er. In spite of the law to the contrary, 

 it has been found that the salmon were speared on their beds or while making their 

 way up Livingston Creek to their beds, and it is recommended that the stream be 

 closed to all fishing for a term of years to enable the Commission to use it for the 

 purpose of a nursery stream for young salmon and breeding ground for the adult fish. 



