34 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



sprino; rains sometimes cause the coastal waters to become so fresh 

 that it is impossible to handle eggs of the marine species at the 

 Gloucester hatchery, and under such conditions the spawn takers are 

 instructed to carefully fertilize the eggs and plant them on the 

 spawning grounds. The total cod-egg collections for the season 

 amounted to 306,960,000, and owing to the water conditions 124,- 

 060,000 of this number were fertilized and planted immediately. 

 The haddock eggs secured were for the most part obtained from 

 fish caught on the inshore grounds, especially during March and 

 April, when 90 per cent of the collection was made. Collections 

 earlier in the season were curtailed by heavy storms. 



CULTIVATION OF FISHES OF INTERIOR WATERS. 



The output of brook, blackspotted, rainbow, and Loch Leven 

 trouts for the fiscal year amounted in round numbers to 20,000,000, 

 a decrease of approximately 4,000,000 as compared with the pre- 

 vious year. Brook-trout operations at the Leadville (Colo.) station 

 were very successful, and the large stock of eggs obtained produced 

 a good percentage of vigorous fry, which were planted in the waters 

 of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Five hundred thousand eggs 

 of this species were diverted to the Glacier Park hatchery for in- 

 cubation and stocking the waters of that reservation. In cooperation 

 with the State authorities, the superintendent of the Springville 

 (Utah) station made a successful brook-trout egg collection, and 

 after retaining a sufficient number of eggs to meet local require- 

 ments, 1,959,000 were shipped to other stations of the bureau and 

 State hatcheries. 



In an effort to establish a source of supply for steelhead eggs in 

 eastern waters, a consignment of eggs of that species was shipped 

 from Birdsview (Wash.) to Manchester (Iowa) station, the result- 

 ing fry to be reared for a brood stock. 



The Meadow Creek station, in Madison Valley, Mont., was oper- 

 ated for rainbow-trout propagation as a subsidiary of the Bozeman 

 (Mont.) station. A 6-inch wood pipe line was installed for the 

 purpose of securing water from a spring and avoiding the use of 

 creek water for incubation. The egg collection was somewhat 

 smaller than that of the average season, due principally to adverse 

 weather conditions during the spawning period. Through coopera- 

 tion with the State of Montana, this station was kept open beyond 

 the usual closing time, in order that the fry might be cared for 

 until they had reached a suitable age for distribution in local waters. 

 This avoided the heavy expense of shipping the eggs and returning 

 the resulting fish from the main hatchery at Bozeman, and at the 

 same time the loss was smaller and the fish better than would have 

 otherwise been possible. By exchange, the bureau received a large 

 number of blackspotted trout eggs from the Montana fisheries au- 

 thorities. These eggs were considerably earlier than those produced 

 in the Yellowstone park field and made possible a much more ad- 

 vanced distribution than usual from the Bozeman (Mont.) station. 



Operations in Yellowstone Park were conducted by the superin- 

 tendent of the Leadville (Colo.) station, who, with a force assembled 

 at Gardiner, entered the park on May 25. The station was opened 

 and racks installed in all suitable streams on the west side of the 



