4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF IXLAND FISHERIES. 



followed, and that, too, at no very great expense. As long as we can 

 secure fish for stocking purposes near by, and in good condition 

 and at a fair price, there seems to be no need of setting up a hatchery, 

 which would require a considerable amount of experimentation before 

 successfully established, and which would also be a considerable 

 expense. 



The policy of your Commission in planting yearling trout instead 

 of fry seems to be a good one. There is no doubt that a larger 

 proportion of adult fish is secured by this means than would be 

 if fry were planted. Although in some states the practice of planting 

 fry is still followed, yet it seems to be the general policy to abandon 

 this practice and to use yearlings only. The chances of a fish sur- 

 viving the many dangers to which trout are exposed increase pro- 

 portionately with the size of the fish. The yearling fish, therefore, 

 stands a much better chance than the smaller fry. And the advan- 

 tage derived is not only in securing larger fish at an earlier period, 

 but is also in securing a larger number of fish of lawful size in the 

 streams for a given expenditure of money. 



Your Commission, as usual, made application to the U. S. Bureau 

 of Fisheries for a supply of shad fry, but this year, owing to the 

 exceedingly backward season, was unable to secure any. It is hoped 

 that in future years it will be possible to investigate more fully 

 the habits and requirements of the shad and to make more intelli- 

 gent efforts to secure the return of this valuable fish to our waters. 



At the Wickford laboratory of the Commission steady progress 

 has been made in the rearing and planting of lobsters. The past 

 summer 103,572 lobster fry were reared to the fourth stage and 

 distributed in the waters of Narragansett Bay. It is interesting to 

 compare this total with the numbers reared in previous years. In 

 1899, at Woods Hole, Dr. Bumpus succeeded in rearing about 100 

 lobsterlings to the fourth stage. In 1900 at Wickford, 3,425 fry 

 were reared to the lobsterling stage. In 1901 the number reached 

 8,974; in 1902, 27,300; in 1903, 13,500; in 1904, 50,597; making an 

 entire total for all previous years at Wickford of 103,796, or only 



