BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



XVII 



COMMERCIAL SPECIES OF INTERIOR WATERS 



The output of whitefish and cisco from the Great Lakes stations 

 again fell. Weather conditions on the whole were favorable, so that 

 the decline must be ascribed to a shortage of fish. Every effort was 

 made to secure eggs, but changing conditions, particularly in the 

 vicinity of the Put in Bay (Ohio) station, have converted previously 

 prolific spawning grounds into virtually barren areas. In this re- 

 spect the bureau's whitefish and cisco egg collections for the last six 

 years indicate the trend in this important fishery. The table below 

 shows the downward course of the whitefish fishery, while the fluctua- 

 tions in the cisco collections apparently indicate a more stable 

 condition. 



In almost all fields the collections of lake-trout eggs were noticeably 

 larger. The eggs received at the Charlevoix (Mich.) substation were 

 of poor quality, but operations at the Duluth (Minn.) and Cape Vin- 

 cent (N. Y.) stations were successful. The regulations enacted by 

 the State of Michigan relative to the taking of eggs by commercial 

 fishermen during the spawning season were beneficial and should 

 bring about material improvement in the future. Pike-perch opera- 

 tions on Lake Champlain Avere veiy successful, and 105,000.000 eggs 

 of this species were secured on the Great Lakes, though their poor 

 quality reduced the output of fry materially. There was a decline in 

 the production of yellow perch, also, and carp hatching: was almost a 

 total failure. No attempt was made to hatch buffalofish eggs except 

 in cooperation with the State of Arkansas. 



FISHES OF MINOR INTERIOR WATERS 



, Operations of the trout stations in the territoiy from New England 

 to the Rocky Mountains surpassed all previous records in success. 

 Collections of Loch Leven trout eggs at the Meadow Creek auxiliary 

 of the Bozeman (Mont.) station reached a new high figure of 14,- 

 893,200. The York Pond (N. H.) substation has been developed to a 

 point where it has become an important factor in satisfying the 

 bureau's requirements for brook-trout eggs. Field collections of rain- 

 bow-trout eggs by the Ut^, Colorado, and Wyoming stations also 

 Were very successful. TheT^ozeman station has extended its rearing 

 facilities and most of the other stations are working on a plan to 

 distribute fish of larger size. 



In 1928, 511/2 per cent of the bureau's output of trouts, salmons, 

 grayling, and warm-water fishes, including sunfish, basses, crappie, 

 pike, and pickerel, which are of chief interest to the angler and also 

 of considerable commercial importance, Avas distributed as fingerlings. 

 About 60,000,000 eggs were assigned to States or foreign Govern- 

 ments for rearing in their hatcheries. 



