PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF POOD FISHES, 192 8 361 

 SPINY LOBSTERS 



At the request of the Florida shellfish commissioner, an employee 

 of the Boothbay Harbor (Me.) station was detailed to Florida to 

 initiate artificial propagation of the spiny lobster. Panul'mis ai-gus. 

 The work was conducted at Key West with equipment furnished by 

 the State, and several million egxrs were hatched. The State of Flor- 

 ida defrayed all the expenses of the undertaking. This is the first 

 record of the successful propagation, of this shellfish on a large scale. 



HESEN FRY TRAP 



The fry-collecting device developed at the Fairport (Iowa) bio- 

 logical station in connection with experimental pond-cultural work 

 has been utilized at other stations. The basic principle of this 

 apparatus is the same as that of the ordinary commercial pound 

 net or salmon trap. A leader to the shore diverts the migrating 

 fry into two '' hearts," from whence they pass, by means of a fun- 

 nel, into an inclosure that retains them. Being continuous in opera- 

 tion, the trap will catch all of the fry in a pond within a short time. 

 Several of the pond stations have tested this trap and have found 

 it to be very useful. 



PENNING LAKE TROUT 



The superintendent of the Cape Vincent (X. Y.) station reported 

 a collection of lake-trout eggs virtually twice as large as that taken 

 tlie previous year and credits the increase to the fact that a larger 

 number of fish had been penned. The quality of the eggs was 

 superior to the average secured by commercial fishermen. 



COMMERCIAL FISHES 



The original purpose of the Bureau of Fisheries was to propagate 

 the food fishes, and in accordance with this design the bulk of the 

 output of the fish-cultural stations consists of species of commercial 

 value. During the past year 97.3 per cent of the total output was 

 composed of species that are not classed as game fish. Emphasis 

 is placed upon the work with the strictly marine forms, such as cod, 

 pollock, and haddock, and upon the anadromous fishes, particularly 

 the shad and herring and to some extent the Pacific salmons. This 

 constitutes a recovery of a by-product and replaces a resource that 

 otherwise would be lost. All of these forms are caught for market, 

 and in many cases the eggs would constitute a total loss were it not 

 for the bureau's spawn takers and hatchery men. Mackerel and 

 striped-bass eggs were incubated during the past year, these opera- 

 tions having been resumed after a cessation of several years. 



PACIFIC SALMONS 



The periodicity of the runs of the five species of salmon is respon- 

 sible for yearly fluctuations in output. Consequently there were 

 recessions in the output of certain varieties, such as the sockeye 

 salmon, but increases in the production of other varieties permitted 



