REPORT ON THE PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF 



FOOD FISHES. 



By John AV. Titcomb, AssiMdut in Charge. 



GENERAL EESULTS. 



The usual work of propagatiou and distribution of food fishes was 

 prosecuted during- the past fiscal 3'ear, 44 species receiving attention 

 at the various hatcheries; many of tliese species and four or five addi- 

 tional were collected from the overflowed lands of the Mississippi and 

 Illinois rivers; and the lobster also was propagated. The total output 

 was 1,267,334,385 fish and eggs, exceeding that for all previous years 

 except 1902. 



The total output maintains a more or less constant increase from 

 3^ear to year, but the results from any particular branch of fish cultural 

 work necessarily vary, owing to seasonal conditions. Shad operations 

 were prosecuted with the same energy as heretofore, but in spite of 

 all possible efforts there was a marked decrease in the number of 

 eggs collected at every station. At Bryan Point this was somewhat 

 compensated for by the fact that the yellow perch work, conducted at 

 the same time, was attended with very good success, over 23,000,000 

 young perch being hatched and planted in the Potomac River. At 

 Gloucester, N. J., on the Delaware River, where the I^ish llawh was 

 engaged in the collection of shad eggs, the season was especially 

 poor for the commercial fishermen and but few ripe shad were caught. 

 The natural spawning grounds on the Delaware appear to have under- 

 gone an entire change, and Howells Cove, one of the best spawning- 

 grounds on the river a few years ago, which jaelded in 1901 nearly 

 60,000,000 eggs, produced the past season 344,000. At Edenton, N. C. , 

 the shad season was the most unsuccessful in point of Qgg collections 

 since the establishment of the station. At Battery station, Mar^^- 

 land, at the mouth of tlie Susquehanna River, about the average 

 number of eggs was taken, the output being 37,397,000 eggs and fry. 

 The total product of this station was materially augmented by the 

 hatching and distribution of 29.850,000 white perch. 



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