BURPAU OF FISHERIES 307 
subject to adverse weather conditions during the spawning season. 
Some 45 different species were handled at the various hatcheries. 
Despite the reduction in the total output there was little change 
in the actual number of the fingerlings and larger sizes of game fish. 
It is gratifying to note that the production of game and pan species 
amounted to 151,723,000, an actual as well as proportional increase. 
These forms comprised 2.5 percent of the total output, but it must 
be recognized that practically all of the species propagated are 
sought for recreation at certain times or places. 
As maintenance of a continuing stock of food fishes, particularly 
in coastal waters, contributes to a stable economy, and as mainte- 
nance of a well-grounded recreational asset in the form of angling 
contributes to a sound morale, the Department’s fish-cultural func- 
tions have made their contribution to the basic elements of national 
defense. 
PROPAGATION OF COMMERCIAL SPECIES 
Stormy winter weather prevailing off the New England coast limited 
the activities of the smaller commercial fishing craft operating in the 
inshore waters. The spawntakers based at the hatcheries at Glouces- 
ter, Mass., and Boothbay Harbor, Maine, were therefore unable to 
obtain and fertilize the usual quantity of cod and haddock eggs. 
During the pollock season conditions were more favorable, resulting 
in an increased rate of salvage for this species. At Woods Hole, 
Mass., there was difficulty in obtaining an adequate supply of spawn- 
ing flounders, resulting in approximately 50 percent reduction in 
the egg collections. Experiments in planting the flounder fry in 
Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound were continued, though 
on a reduced basis. 
At Boothbay Harbor, Maine, improved production of fourth-stage 
lobster fry was attained by heating the water supply for the hatch- 
ery. This practice was intensified in handling the lobster hatch 
during the summer of 1940, and was adopted at the rearing plant 
maintained by the State Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries. 
The aggregate output of fish and eggs from these three stations 
exceeded six and one-half billion, of which over five and one-half 
billion comprised fertilized eggs recovered as a salvage measure. 
Pacific salmon.—Exhaustive investigation by Bureau biologists, 
and the report of an independent board of consultants, has indicated 
that enlarged hatchery operations will constitute one of the most im- 
portant elements in a plan for maintaining the run of salmon in the 
Columbia River. There is evidence that the same conclusion may 
be reached with reference to the Sacramento River in California. 
The mammoth hatchery developments under construction by the 
