56 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



in the Penobscot River and held in the Dead Brook inclosiire pending 

 the development of their eggs, in accordance with the usual custom. 

 At spawning time, in late October, the 190 iish of this lot remaining 

 yielded 672,000 eggs. This stock of eggs was increased through an- 

 other exchange with the Canadian Government, whereby the station 

 received 1,000,000 Atlantic-salmon eggs in return for an equal num- 

 ber of eggs of the landlocked salmon, rainbow trout, and black- 

 spotted trout, these being supplied from other stations of the bureau. 

 Both lots of Atlantic-salmon eggs were incubated with excellent re- 

 sults. The resulting fry to the number of 1,334,000 were deposited 

 in Maine rivers, principally the Penobscot, and approximately 

 100,000 fingerlings remained on hand at the end of the fiscal year. 



During June, 1922, the attempts made to purchase adult salmon for 

 a source of egg supply for the coming year met with rather indif- 

 ferent results. The bureau's recently adopted policy of refusing 

 longer to pay a so-called bonus of 60 cents per fish for careful 

 handling in addition to the market price, together with its decision 

 to reduce the average weight of the fish acquired, influenced most of 

 the fishermen to sell their catch in the open market rather than to 

 the bureau. Only three fishermen cooperated in obtaining the 51 

 brood fish secured. 



The attitude of these fishermen is difficult to understand. Most 

 of them express themselves as being in accord with the work, and 

 they readily concede that, because of the unnatural conditions now 

 existing in the Penobscot, the run of salmon in the river is ap- 

 parently dependent on the output of the hatchery. They also recog- 

 nize that the salmon fishery has afforded them remunerative employ- 

 ment each season for many years. At the same time they are un- 

 willing to accept this form of business insurance without receiving 

 extra compensation for the small amount of trouble involved in 

 holding the fish for the bureau's agents, although it entails no mone- 

 tary loss from the sale of their fish and insures the salvage of a large 

 percentage of the prospective progeny and the ultimate release of the 

 adult fish, for which they will receive the full market value. 



The spring run of salmon in the Penobscot appeared to be light, 

 but reports were received, apparently from reliable sources, of the 

 presence of large numbers in the Penobscot and Dennys Rivers 

 during August. It was stated by observers that the run of fish in 

 both these streams was larger than for a long period of years. The 

 run in the Dennys River is particularly noteworthy, since for many 

 years this once important salmon stream has been quite barren of 

 the species. Largely through the efforts of the bureau a fishway 

 has been installed in the dam at Dennysville and, beginning in 

 1917, the river has been stocked annually with salmon fingerlings 

 hatched from eggs taken in the Penobscot River. Present con- 

 ditions with reference to Atlantic-salmon propagation are not en- 

 tirely satisfactory, and the meagerness of accurate information con- 

 cerning many details of the matter suggests the desirability of a 

 rather thorough canvass of the situation. 



Fish-cultural operations in connection with the humpbacked 

 salmon in Maine waters were undertaken in the fall of 1921 for the 

 second time. During September and October employees of the Craig 

 Brook station obtained from the Dennys River, at Dennysville, Me., 



