30 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



in output as compared Avith previous years, this being made possible 

 largely by favorable weather conditions in the latter part of the 

 season, which permitted the commercial fishermen to operate their 

 boats and handle their nets at the time tlie fish were on the spawning- 

 grounds. However, in the Saginaw Bay field, in Michigan, the 

 collection of pike-perch eggs was brought to a sudden close a few 

 days after the opening of the season by a severe storm that de- 

 stroyed many of the nets belonging to the commercial fishermen. 

 The need of a hatchery at some point on Saginaw Bay to take care 

 of the immense numbers of pike-perch and yellow-perch eggs now 

 being wasted in the fisheries in that field, is as great as formerly. It 

 it estimated that approximately 1,000,000,000 eggs of each of these 

 species are lost each year owing to the lack of proper hatching facili- 

 ties for handling them. The eggs can not be successfully hatched at 

 any of the interior stations because the water conditions there are 

 not suitable, and the cost of transferring the eggs to distant hatcheries 

 and returning the fry to the parent waters would be prohibitive^ 

 even if water conditions were favorable. 



In compliance with demand, carp propagation in the western end 

 of Lake Erie was prosecuted, as heretofore, from the Put in Bay 

 (Ohio) station and about 82.000,000 fry were liberated in Portage 

 River and adjacent waters. Through the courtesy of Port Clinton 

 (Ohio) fishermen, the bureau installed and operated a temporary 

 hatchery in one of the fish houses. 



No attempt was made to collect whitefish eggs in the extreme 

 western end of Lake Erie, as there were not sufficient fish on the 

 grounds to warrant the fishermen in operating their nets. The fall- 

 ing off in the run of whitefish in this section of the lake in recent 

 years is attributed to trade wastes from the Raisin, Maumee, and 

 Detroit Rivers. The fishermen are convinced that the fish are seek- 

 ing new spawning grounds, and most of the egirs obtained durinf^ the 

 season were derived from fish taken in the vicinity of Middle Bass, 

 North Bass, and Catawba Islands, and Port Clinton, Ohio. There 

 was a good run of fish in these fields, and the Put in Bay hatchery 

 was filled to capacity with eggs, the total collection amounting to 

 385,820,000. 



PROPAGATION OF PACIFIC SALMONS. 



There was an excellent run of sockeye salmon in the vicinity of 

 the Afognak (Alaska) station. No trouble was experienced in secur- 

 ing all the eggs the hatchery could care for, and it was estimated 

 that not over one-fourth of the available fish were used in the spawn- 

 ing operations. The take of eggs of this species for the season 

 amounted to 53,835,000. On account of the warm weather during 

 August and September the eggs advanced to the hatching sta<re fully 

 three weeks earlier than under normal conditions, but no difficulty 

 was encountered in holding the fry on the trays until the proper 

 time for their distribution. A new method of transporting the 

 fry, suggested by Alfred Nelson, was tested with good results. The 

 fry were moved on trays stacked on a Yukon sled, with a tarpaulin 

 covering, and it was found they could be transported in this way 

 without bad effects Mdien out of the water for as long as half an 

 hour. A number of eggs that had been placed as an experiment in 



