REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 15 
to applicants aggregated 692,732, or less than 3 per cent of the total 
number handled. 
The importance of this work arises from (1) its insignificant cost, 
(2) the inevitable waste of the fishes unless they are salvaged, and 
(8) the recognized edible qualities of all the fishes thus saved and 
the great mass of wholesome food they represent. The results are 
such as merit adequate financial support, so that the whole vast ter- 
ritory may be adequately covered each year and every available young 
food fish that would otherwise perish may be saved for ultimate con- 
sumption by man. 
ACCLIMATIZATION. 
In November, 1917, a carload of adult eastern lobsters, numbering 
6,000 equally divided as to sex, was sent from Boothbay Harbor, Me., 
via Bath, to Anacortes, Wash., in charge of Superintendent E. E. 
Hahn. The lobsters arrived at their destination on November 13, 
having been in transit since the 7th instant. The loss was only 5 per 
cent, and the shipment was regarded as the most successful of its 
kind. After a lot of 60 was reserved for experimental work, the lob- 
sters, all in a very healthy, vigorous condition, were transferred to 
live cars, towed to the San Juan Islands, and liberated at selected 
oints. 
F This was the sixth lot of adult lobsters sent by the Bureau to 
Puget Sound in recent years in the effort to establish this valuable 
creature on the Pacific Coast. In arranging for the shipment special 
precautions were taken, not only in the selection of the stock, but 
in the preparation of packing cases and material. The consignment 
included only individuals that had been carefully hardened in ad- 
vance. The experience of the previous year having demonstrated 
the utility of a special barrel, built with shelves in the center at 
intervals of 6 inches and provided with ice compartments on either 
side, 40 such barrels, or a sufficient number to hold .ne-third of the 
shipment, were constructed. The remaining lobsters were carried in 
130 specially designed crates, two layers to the crate, and in 90 large 
boxes having one layer each. All straw used for packing was first 
immersed in strong brine. All the packages carried well, but the lob- 
sters in the shallow boxes with brine-soaked straw were somewhat 
stronger, and this method has apparently advantages over the others 
and leaves little to be desired for long-distance shipments. 
Arrangements are being made to conduct a thorough search for 
eastern lobsters in Puget Sound, by setting regular lobster pots in 
charge of competent fishermen. As showing the apparent adapta- 
bility of the lobsters to these waters, it may be noted that those 
reserved from the November shipment and retained in a live car at 
Anacortes remained in excellent condition, taking culled canned 
salmon regularly, and sustaining a loss of only four, until January 
17, 1918, when they escaped during an unusually high tide. 
Noteworthy results have attended the acclimatization of the hump- 
back or pink salmon on the coast of Maine, and the possible economic 
outcome appears to justify a continuance of the work. 
From a shipment of 1,000,000 humpback eggs from Puget Sound 
arriving at the Craig Brook station in November, 1917, 934,235 fry 
