PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1926 343 



(N. Y.) Fish and Game Association at Watertown, N. Y., was taken 

 advantage of promptly. The project controlled by the organization 

 was fitted to receive an adequate water supply from a small spring- 

 fed creek, and 80 rearing troughs of standard size were installed, 

 half of them being the property of the association. The bureau 

 supplies the young fish for stocking the project and furnishes the 

 services of an experienced man to care for them. As a result of 

 the first season's cooperative work at this point 287,000 trout 2 inches 

 and over in length were produced and distributed to applicants. 



EXPERIMENTAL FEEDING OF BROOD TROUT 



The Wytheville (Va.) station is conducting an experiment for 

 the purpose of determining the comparative value of various fish 

 foods in egg production. With this in view, the 3-year-old brood 

 stock at the station has been divided into two equal lots, one of 

 which is fed solely on beef heart and the other on sheep liver. An 

 equal division also has been made of the 4-year-old fish, one lot 

 being fed on beef heart and the other on sheep liver and mush. 

 When concluded, the results of this experiment should prove valu- 

 able in connection with future trout-cultural operations. 



SHAD HATCHING IN GEORGIA WATERS 



With the view of determining the value of the Ogeechee River 

 as a shad-hatching center, experimental shad propagation was under- 

 taken at Savannah, Ga., by the State authorities in the spring of 

 1926. Under the direction of the superintendent of the bureau's 

 Warm Springs station, whose services were loaned for the purpose, 

 a boat belonging to the State was outfitted to serve as a floating 

 hatchery and placed in readiness to assume the work on April 1. 

 A careful search maintained throughout the spawning period failed 

 to disclose the presence of any shad in spawning condition until 

 near the end of April, at which time 250,000 ripe eggs were col- 

 lected, fertilized, and incubated with only a slight loss. This 

 represented the only tangible result of the undertaking. 



COMMERCIAL FISHES 



The more important commercial fishes propagated by the bureau 

 during the fiscal year 1926 were the salmons of the Pacific coast, the 

 lake trout, whitefish, cisco, and pike perch of the Great Lakes 

 region, the cod, haddock, pollock, mackerel, and flounder of the 

 New England coast, the shad and river herring of Atlantic coastal 

 streams, and the buffalo fish of the Mississippi River region. Carp 

 in considerable numbers also were produced in connection with the 

 work on Lake Erie. 



PACIFIC SALMONS 



Fish-cultural operations at the 6 main stations and 15 substations 

 coming under this head were directed almost exclusively to the 

 propagation of salmon. The aggregate egg collections of the group 

 for the year shows a substantial increase as compared with last 

 year's figures. This was due partly to the resumption of propa- 

 gation work at the Afognak (Alaska) station and partly to the very 

 successful work accomplished in the Oregon field. 



