PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF POOD PISHES, 1926 357 



Gloucester (Mass.) Station 

 [C. G. CoelesSj Superintendent] 



Pollock propagation at this station extended from early November to Janu- 

 ary 17, but could not be prosecuted to advantage during the first two mouths 

 owing to the severe storms that prevailed, and the egg collections of that 

 species up to the close of December were the most discouraging in many years. 

 Pollock were abundant on the fishing grounds and large numbers of them 

 were spawning, but on account of the unfavorable weather many of the 

 fishermen allowed their gill nets to remain in the water for from two to five 

 days at a time and when Anally they were hauled most of the fish contained 

 in them were dead. Weather conditions improved after January 1, and up to 

 the 10th of that month 400,000,000 eggs were taken, the work of a single day 

 netting nearly 100,000,000. The total number of eggs of this species collected 

 during the season was 69S,579,000. The collection of cod eggs for stocking 

 the Gloucester hatchery was undertaken on November 11, and by the close of 

 November about 50,000,000 had been secured. The indications at that time 

 were that cod would be plentiful throughout the winter, but early in December 

 virtually all the fish left the inshore fishing grounds, and this, together with 

 the scarcity of all other species of marine fish, caused the majority of the 

 gill-net fishermen to suspend operations temporarily. With the improvement 

 of weather conditions shortly after the 1st of March fishing was resumed, 

 and the daily egg collections from that time on to the end of the season on 

 April 30 were large, the total number of eggs taken amounting to 844,882,000. 



Du'ring the latter part of April the low density of the water caused by 

 heavy spring freshets made it necessary to plant 277,496,000 cod eggs on the 

 spawning grounds as soon as they were fertilized. Haddock were late in 

 appearing on the inshore fishing ground and were much later than usual in 

 spawning. As a rule haddock are taken in considerable numbers during 

 March, but no spawning haddock were seen in the spring of 1926 until April 11. 

 To April 30, the close of the spawning period, 119,304,000 eggs of this species 

 were collected. Early in March, as soon as weather conditions made it pos- 

 sible, fyke nets were set along the eastern shore of Gloucester Harbor with the 

 view of obtaining brood winter flounder, but on account of the cold backward 

 spring the catch was smaller than usual. The 295 gravid fish taken yielded 

 151.821.000 eggs. 



Offshore operations from this station were taken up on February 1 and 

 continuously prosecuted to April 2. Three experienced spawn takers were 

 detailed to the work, one being placed on an otter-trawl steamer and the other 

 two on hand trawlers. Although the spawn takers made more trips than in 

 past years, the catch of fish was unusually large, and every effort was put 

 forth to secure a record collection of eggs, the results of the work did not 

 meet expectations. This was because only a small percentage of the fish taken 

 were ripe. As an outcome of the work in this field 102,361,000 cod eggs and 

 50,787,000 haddock eggs were fertilized and planted on Georges Bank. 



Woods Hole (Mass.) Station 



[G. R. Hoffses, Superintendent] 



Generally favorable weather prevailed during the spawning season of the 

 fishes propagated in this region, and the outcome of the year's work was satis- 

 factory in the main. Early in October arrangements were perfected for acquir- 

 ing a brood stock of adult cod from the commercial fishing traps operating 

 at Newport and Narragansett Bay, R. I. The first lot was obtained on Novem- 

 ber 5, and later acquisitions swelled the receipts to 1.794 fish, all being of 

 desirable quality and so far as could be determined, equally apportioned as 

 to sex and sexual maturity. Unfortunately this station is not equipped with 

 proper means for transporting live fish from the fishing grounds to the station, 

 and a boat equipped with a small well for carrying lobsters had to lie chartered 

 at an expense of $100 per trip. It was estimated that this boat would carry 

 425 cod safely from the Newport field to the hatchery, a distance of about 4 

 hours' duration; but a trial trip with that number having resulted in a loss of 

 140. the numbers carried on later trips were successively reduced. This proved 

 of little avail, however, as on every trip the loss of fish amounted to 25 per 

 cent of the load carried, and it could only be concluded that the type of boat 

 used was not suited to the work. 



