PROPAGATION AND DISTEIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1925 469 



vicinity of Put in Bay, Toledo, Catawba, Middle Bass, and North Bass Islands. 

 In view of the small collections, no shipments of either green or eyed eggs were 

 made to other points, and all fr\? hatched were distributed on the natural spawn- 

 ing grounds within a radius of 10 miles from the station. 



As compared with the results of former years the outcome of the pike-perch 

 season's egg collections was fairly satisfactory, 218,200,000 eggs being secured. 

 Of these, 177,775,000 were obtained in the Toledo field. Heretofore there has 

 nearl}^ always been a scarcity of large female fish, but last season such fish were 

 captured in considerable numbers. The majority of the large fish were unripe, 

 however, and many millions of eggs were lost because they were not in condition 

 for propagation. 



The collection of yellow-perch eggs was much larger than usual, exceeding last 

 year's by more than 22,000,000. They were of good quality and produced a 

 high percentage of strong, vigorous fry. One consignment of 6,000,000 green 

 eggs was shipped by messenger to the Mammoth Spring (Ark.) station, and from 

 the remainder 19,968,000 fry were hatched and liberated in Lake Erie. 



Owing to unusually low water in the lake during June, the carp-propagation 

 work was somewhat disappointing. Between June 2 and June 25 44,875,000 

 eggs were taken and from them 31,500,000 fry were hatched and distributed. 

 All plants were made in the Portage River several miles above Port Clinton, 

 Ohio. 



Cape Vincent (N. Y.) Station and Substations 



[J. P. Snyder, Superintendent] 



Active fish-cultural operations began at this station on October 18, when the 

 work of collecting lake-trout eggs at Stony Island, N. Y., was undertaken. 

 Heretofore practically all eggs of this species collected for the station have been 

 obtained in the Province of Ontario in the vicinity of Pigeon and Simcoe Islands. 

 Early in the fall preparations were made for the resumption of collecting opera- 

 tions in those fields, but a few days before the opening of the spawning season 

 the islands were visited by a representative of the Ontario government, who 

 notified the local fishermen that all eggs secured by them in those fields were to 

 be turned over to the provincial hatcheries. The closing of the fields to the 

 bureau left only two possible sources of supply for lake-trout eggs — Stony Island 

 and Charity Shoals — which yielded a total of 114,000. The station also received 

 200,000 eyed eggs from the Charlevoix (Mich.) station. The fry resulting from 

 both lots were delivered to applicants and planted in New York State waters. 



The collection of whitefish eggs was again seriously curtailed by the refusal 

 of the provincial authorities to permit the bureau's men to enter some of the 

 more important fields on the northern side of the lake. The station was allowed 

 to collect any available eggs in the vicinitj- of Brighton, Cobourg, and Port Hope, 

 Ontario, but the results of the work at all these points were disappointing, due to 

 unfavorable weather. Storm after storm occurred in rapid succession, destroying 

 the nets and discouraging the fishermen. Only 8,100,000 eggs were secured at 

 the three points. 



On the New York side of the lake eggs were collected in the open waters near 

 Cape Vincent as well as in Chaumont Bay, where there was a fairly good run of 

 large whitefish. One of the peculiarities of the run in this section was that only 

 a comparatively few small fish were in evidence. The run along the open shore 

 of the lake was the largest that has occurred in many years, but weather conditions 

 were extremely unfavorable. During a period of nearly two weeks at the height 

 of the spawning season there was only one day when the nets could be lifted. On 

 that occasion approximately 17,000,000 eggs were secured. In the somewhat 

 better protected waters of Chaumont Bay the nets were lifted oftener and a 

 fairly good collection of eggs resulted. Of the total number secured — 55,485,- 

 000 — 420,000 were shipped in the eyed stage to applicants. The remainder 

 were hatched, producing 36,500,000 fry, all of which were planted in Chaumont 

 Bay and on other spawning grounds of the species. 



Operations for the collection of cisco eggs were conducted in Chaumont, 

 Fairhaven, and Sodus Ba3's on the American side of the lake and in Wellers Bay 

 on the opposite side, permission to enter this field having been obtained from the 

 Canadian authorities. In these four fields approximately 188,000,000 eggs were 

 taken, the collection exceeding that in the fall of 1923, though the catch of fish 

 was the smallest in some years. This falling off in the catch appeared to be 

 general in all sections of Lake Ontario and can not be accounted for. The 

 vegetable growth which formed on the whitefish and cisco eggs during the previ- 

 ous year gave no trouble last season. 



79810— 26t 3 



