REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 57 



ADDITIONAL FISH-CULTUKAL STATIONS. 



New Yorl: — In response to a rosolntion of the United States Senate 

 of December 18, 1890, directinij- the U. S. Fish Commissioner to report to 

 it upon the desirability of tlie Government's establishinf;- a tish-hatchery 

 in northern New York, near the St. Lawrence liiver, the following com- 

 munication was addressed to the President of the Senate : 



II. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 



ll'ashuif/tou, I>. C, January 36, 1S91. 



Sir: In obedience to Senate resoliitiou of December 18, 1890, directhig the U. S. 

 Coujinissiouev of Fish and Fisheries to report to the Senate as to the desirability of 

 the establishment of a fi.sh-hatchery in northern New York, near the St. Lawrence 

 River, I have the honor to report as follows : 



The basin of the St. Lawrence, inclnding Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain and 

 the innumerable smaller lakes and tribntary streams which drain into these, com- 

 jtrises fully one-half of the area of the State of New York, abont one-fourth of the 

 State of Vermont, and on the Canadian side a more considerable drainage area. 



In Lake Ontario whitefish were formerly very abundant. The value of this fishery 

 has declined year by year, and at present the production is relatively iusiguilicaut 

 compared with the whitehsh fisheries of Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan. 



In the waters referred to a like decline was in progress, but those who were inter- 

 ested ill those lisheries were prompt to recognize the' necessity of legislation to 

 restrain and regulate the methods and apparatus and seasons of capture. 



Artificial i>ropagatiou was also systematically resorted to to supplement and rein- 

 force natural reproduction, and whitefish hatcheries were established by the States 

 of Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin and by the Canadian Government. Entering the 

 held at a later date, the U. S. Commission has established stations for the collection 

 and hatching of whitefish at Alpena, Mich., Duluth, Minn., aud Put-in Bay, Ohio. 



The result of the cooperative fish-culture work by the Canadian, State, and United 

 States Fish Commissions has been not only to arrest the alarming decline that was in 

 pi-ogress, but to determine a. marked increase in the catch of whitehsh in those 

 waters in whicli iish-cultural work has l)eeu carried on. 



The marked contrast between the present conditions of the whitefish fisheries of 

 Lake Erie aud Lake Ontario sharply delines and emphasizes the necessity of artifi- 

 cial propagation as a means of maintaining and improving our important commer- 

 cial fisheries and of creating such in waters Avhere they have not before existed. 



We can not afford to neglect so important an economic resource — one which gives 

 such substantial and valuable returns for moderate expenditures. 



We can not expect individual enterprise to undertake such work in public waters 

 in the expectation of jirivate gain. Men, however public-spirited, will not sow the 

 seed of a harvest which all men may gather. Our lakes and rivers and coast waters 

 must be farmed by the Government for the general use and under such regulations 

 as will establish and maintain the largest production. 



Another important commercial species which formerly existed in Lake Ontario in 

 marvelous abundance, but which is now so rare as to bo an object of curious interest 

 when seen, is the Atlantic salmon. Sixty years ago each season it ascended the St. 

 Lawrence in vast numbers and swarmed in all its tributaries. Following both shores 

 of Lake Ontario it ascended all the smaller streams which fall into it and which 

 afl'ord suitable spawning-grounds for the mature fish and favorable nurseries for the 

 fry during their period of river life. 



The following extract from the annual report of the department of marine aud 

 hsheries of Canada for the year ending June 30, 18fjy, will be instructive as well aa 

 suggestive. 



