34 U. S. BUREAU or FISHERIES. 



The effect of this is that so many nets are operated bj^ the fisher- 

 men that they are not able to lift them at proper intervals, and the 

 fish taken are either dead or the quality of their egfjs impaired. 

 Durinor the spawning season in the fiscal year 1921 there was a 

 ^ood catch of fish and weather conditions were generally favorable, 

 but for the reasons stated the eo;n; collections were unsatisfactory, 

 both as to quantity and quality. This applies to both the lake trout 

 and the whitefish. The egg collections amounted to 30,876,000 of 

 the lake trout and 12,080,000 of the whitefish, and all of them were 

 incubated at the Charlevoix hatchery. The loss on the former 

 amounted to 59 per cent and on the latter to 51 per cent. The 

 output of the station was augmented by the transfer of 59,120,000 

 whitefish eggs from the Put in Bay station and 25,000 steelhead eggs 

 from the Birdsview (Wash.) field, the fry from both lots entering 

 into the general distribution. 



The piKe-perch work on Saginaw Bay was fairly successful, but it 

 does not represent by any means the potential value of this region 

 as an egg-collecting field. The spawning season extended from 

 March 26 to April 16, during which period 284,290,000 eggs were 

 taken. Of this number 54,050,000 were deposited on the spawning 

 grounds after being fertilized and 223,200,000 were sent to the De- 

 troit hatchery of the Michigan Fish Commission for incubation. 

 The iuiportance of the work in this field has been mentioned on sev- 

 eral occasions and funds should be forthcoming to place hatchery 

 facilities in this field for the full development of the work. 



Fi'om the Northville station there were distributed 475,000 brook- 

 trout fry and fingerlings, resulting from eggs purchased of commer- 

 cial fish-culturists, and 90,500 rainbow trout were produced from 

 eggs transferred from the AYest Virginia and Missouri stations of the 

 bureau. Approximately 31,200 smallmouth black bass reared from 

 the Xorthville station brood stock were also distributed, and at tlie 

 close of the year there remained in the station ponds about 75,000 

 bass and 2,000 rainbow-trout fry. 



PUT IN BAT (OHIO) STATION. 

 [S. W. Downing, Superintendent.] 



Owing to quite generally favorable weather conditions in Lake 

 Erie and to the close c()0])eration of the commercial fishermen, the 

 whitefish work of the Put in Bay station resulted very satisfactorily, 

 though the spawning season was unusually late. Between November 

 20 and December 12 eggs to the number of 376,500,000 were collected 

 from fishermen operating in the various fields and placed in the Put 

 in Bay hatchery. Of these, 141,060,000 were secured in the vicinity 

 of TV)rt Clinton, Ohio; 93,840,000 at Tsle St. Cieorge; and smaller 

 numbers from the fisheries around Toledo, Middle Bass Island, and 

 Catawba Island. In the former prolific whitefish field near Monroe 

 Piers, Mich., no eggs whatever were obtained, as fishing operations 

 were brought to a close very early in the spawning season by a heavy 

 and protracted wind and rain storm which came on just as prepara- 

 tions had been completed for the penning of the partially ripe fish. 

 Shipments of green and eyed eggs aggregating 139,870,000 were for- 

 warded to various State and Federal hatcheries and 7,000,000 fer- 



