Conservationist, February 1934) that the usual 

 survival is 75 percent, nor does it agree with 

 percentages of hatch at the Federal hatchery at 

 Lakewood, Vermont (46 . 7 percent), and by the 

 State of Michigan on Saginaw Bay (35 percent). 



On the average, 92 percent of the walleye 

 fry produced at the Redby hatchery were planted 

 in the Red Lakes. This represents an average 

 yearly plant of about 51,614,000 fry. About 60 

 percent of these were planted in Lower Red Lake 

 and 40 percent in Upper Red Lake, although the 

 percentages varied greatly from year to year. 

 The number of fry planted in the Red Lakes over 

 the period 1932-1938 represented 33 percent of 

 the eggs collected from these lakes, yearly per- 

 centages varying from 28 to 55 . The number of 

 fry planted, excluding 1919, varied from 

 10,900,000 in 1926 to 120,205,000 in 1929. 



Whitefish 



Artificially hatched whitefish fry were 

 first planted in the Red Lakes in 1921, when 

 875,000 were introduced (table 26). The first 

 collection of whitefish eggs from these lakes was 

 made in the fall of 1919 when 2,000,000 eggs 

 were taken. A regular program of artificial 

 propagation of whitefish was begun in 1924 when 

 the Redby hatchery was first placed in operation. 



Eggs of Red Lakes whitefish were ob- 

 tained by stripping fish captured by Indian fisher- 

 men in 5-1/2-inch mesh gill nets during the fall. 

 After stripping, the fish were marketed. Those 

 individuals with unripe eggs at the time of capture 

 also were sold. Their sex products, therefore, 

 were lost to the lake. Severe storms often inter- 

 rupted the collecting of eggs. Mr. Thaddeus 

 Surber (Minnesota Conservationist, December 

 1934) reported that during the fall of 1933 a 

 change in weather conditions occurred so sudden- 

 ly that it stopped abruptly the spawning run of the 

 whitefish and destroyed many gill nets. He wrote: 

 "In the whitefish operations where the eggs are 

 procured through commercial fishing operations 

 at Red Lakes, the fishermen themselves suffered 

 a loss of 75 percent of their nets, the change was 

 so sudden." In some other years exceptionally 

 heavy winds prevailed and at times an early freeze - 

 up occurred, such as happened in the fall of 1924 

 when the lakes froze a month earlier than usual 

 and greatly limited the take of whitefish eggs . 



One Indian fisherman informed us that because 

 of ice conditions, fishing for whitefish was 

 profitable in only one out of three years. 



For many years the Red Lakes were the 

 only source of artificially propagated whitefish 

 in Minnesota. Surber (1929) wrote: "The im- 

 portance of maintaining the whitefish fisheries 

 of Red Lake and of at least making an effort to 

 restore, so far as possible, the same fishery 

 in Lake Superior, has led this Department to 

 spare no efforts to obtain all the eggs possible 

 to meet this demand. Fortunately the vast re- 

 sources of Red Lake have made it possible to 

 secure large quantities of eggs, and while the 

 quality of the eggs varies from season to season , 

 we can at least be assured of maintaining the 

 fisheries of Red Lake with a considerable surplus 

 to divert to other waters, including Lake Superior. 

 The statement reflects considerable optimism . 

 In view of the decline in production of Red Lakes 

 whitefish during years before 1938 (table 2), it 

 appeared doubtful that the fry resulting from only 

 a portion of the eggs collected from Red Lakes 

 fish were particularly effective in maintaining 

 the stock. 



Optimism again was reflected in Surber's 

 (1933) statement: "Our production of whitefish 

 eggs continues to be of great importance . Not 

 only are we maintaining an important fishery 

 for this species in the waters of Red Lake but 

 Red Lake has proven to be the only source from 

 which we can expect a never failing supply of 

 eggs for supplying other waters. From this 

 source of supply we have successfully introduced 

 whitefish into Lake Superior. This was respons- 

 ible for the increased catch of whitefish in Lake 

 Superior waters. We are procuring eggs of this 

 species from Lake Superior >vhich are readily 

 identified as the Red Lake species." The principal 

 distinguishing feature of the eggs according to 

 Mr. Surber was a difference in average size, 

 the eggs of the Red Lakes whitefish averaging 

 52,740 to the quart and those of the Lake Superior 

 whitefish 35,000 to the quart. 



It is questionable whether races of such a 

 plastic form as the whitefish can be identified by 

 a character as variable as the number of eggs 

 per quart. The fact that the whitefish produc- 

 tion of the Michigan waters of Lake Superior 

 showed fluctuations corresponding to those of 



57 



