44 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIE,^. 



THE EGG HARVEST. 



The natural deposit of sjtawu by the Atlantic salmon in the rivers of 

 the United States occurs during the months of October and November. 

 In artificial operations at ]>ead Brook it has rarely been necessary to 

 begin spawning before October 22, or to close later than November 15.* 



Dead Brook is commonly at a very low stage in August and Septem- 

 ber, but it rarely fails that before October 20 there is a very material 

 increase in volume. Whenever a sudden rise occurs, even in August 

 or September, imprisoned salmon are at once excited to activity, and 

 any aperture in the upper barrier sufticient to admit the body of a 

 salmon is sure to lead to loss. As the breeding season approaches the 

 sensitiveness of the fish to such influences increases, and a rise about 

 October 20 is followed by a general movement of the salmon upstream 

 in search of spawning-grounds. Advantage is taken of this circum- 

 stance to entrap them at the upper barrier, where a small pound with 

 a board floor and a barbed entrance, like that of a weir, is constructed a 

 few days in advance. The success of this traj) depends on the stage of 

 the water, and it is always the case that a portion of the fish fail to 

 enter it, so that the final resort is to a seine, with which the recalcitrant 

 salmon are swept out of pools where they are wont to lie. 



The fish are dipped from the trap or from the seine with soft bag-nets, 

 such as are used in collecting them at the beginning of the season, 

 assorted according to sex and condition, to facilitate manipulation, and 

 placed in floating wooden jjens, which are moored to the bank in front 

 of the spawn-house. These pens are about 12 feet long and 4 feet wide, 

 with grated sides and floors, affording sufficient circulation of water, 

 and, although indispensable for the convenient manipulation of the fish, 

 the confinement in such narrow quarters leads to considerable chafing 

 of noses and tails, and if long continued affects the development of the 

 sexual functions of the female unfavorably, retarding the maturity of 

 the eggs and even affecting their quality. The capture of the fish 

 from the brook is therefore delayed to the point of risking the deposit 

 of some of the earliest eggs in the brook rather than the possible 

 injuries in the pens. 



The spawn-taking operations begin as soon as any females are ready 

 to yield their eggs. A scarcity of males in breeding condition has never 

 yet occurred at this station at the beginning of the season, and hardly 

 ever at its close. Among the earliest captures there are always a few 

 unripe fish, but invariably by the last day of October all are ripe. 



The spawning-house consists of a single, plain room, with two doors. 

 From one of the beams hangs a steelyard and a bag, in which salmon 

 are weighed. At one end is a stove, in which a fire is built in very 

 cold weather. At the other end is a graduated board, upon which the 



* In Canadian rivers the dates are but a little earlier. Thus at the Gasp6 hatchery, 

 in the Province of Quebec, in 1894, the work of spawning began October 10 and closed 

 November 2. 



