Conservation Commission 333 



expanded by the purchase of a motor boat and the construction 

 of two inexpensive auxiliary field stations for the collection o£ 

 eggs of food fish ; Caledonia hatchery can be made much more 

 effective by cleaning out the upper waters of Spring creek and 

 by replacing decayed wooden embankments with cement; the 

 station on Chautauqua lake could be much improved by changes 

 in the pumping plant and by acquiring ground suitable for pond 

 construction. State properties which are maintained at a sure 

 profit should be kept up by appropriations to their highest point 

 of efficiency. 



A systematic study of the water life of our State should be 

 made without delay and with the utmost thoroughness in detail. 

 If we knew more about the species of fish and related animals 

 and the plant and insect life which are so intimately associated 

 with the growth of fish it would be far easier to increase the 

 supply of edible species. In a general way we know that the 

 State waters contain about 400 species of fish, of which more 

 than one-half live in the ocean. The names of these species and 

 their distribution are matters of record, but few observations 

 have been made upon the spawning seasons and the breeding 

 habits particularly of the smaller fishes which form the bulk of 

 the food of the larger and more valuable forms. Information of 

 this kind is greatly needed, and is received slowly because the 

 number of observers in the field is very limited. New York has 

 not done as much work in the study of the life histories of its fish 

 as some of the other States, and yet the importance of its assets in 

 this direction is out of all proportion to the outlay of effort and 

 money devoted to biological surveys. 



ISTo provision has yet been made for the artificial cultivation of 

 oysters and other shellfish in this State. The United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries has made many experiments extending over a 

 long term of years in the development of a system of oyster cul- 

 ture based to some extent upon methods employed in Europe ; 

 but the processes have not yet reached a stage at which they can 

 be utilized commercially. The value of the oyster and clam fish- 

 eries of l^ew York is so gi-eat as to render this subject worthy 

 of early and careful consideration. 



