REPORT OF THE COMMISSIOISTER OF FISHERIES. 27 



3,484,000 eggs and were then liberated. The feature of this work to 

 be noted is that it is evident the commercial sahnon fishery on the 

 Penobscot is maintained entirel}' by artificial propagation, few, if any, 

 of the adult fish being able to escape the weirs and reach the natural 

 spawning grounds. Most of the eggs taken for the hatchery, after 

 being sufficiently developed to bear the journe}^ the last 18 miles of 

 which was made on sleds, were transferred to a substation recently 

 established for this purpose at Little Spring Brook, on the upper 

 Penobscot River, and the fry were scattered in the east branch of that 

 stream. In other words, the distribution, which has heretofore been 

 effected b}' transporting the fry in cars, v/as made this year practically 

 in the form of eggs, the special object of the change being to hatch 

 and plant the 3'oung fish at points much nearer their natural home in 

 the heaclwaters of the river than is possible when they are hatched at 

 Craig Brook. Here the parent fish would undoubtedly have spawned 

 had they been able to pass the many devices set for their capture in 

 the lower reaches. 



The importance of establishing a subsidiary" station on the upper 

 Penobscot was regarded as paramount to the operating of the Grand 

 Lake Stream station, where eggs of the landlocked salmon are col- 

 lected. As a result, there was a falling off in the total output of land- 

 locked salmon, but the Green Lake station produced a large quantity 

 of this valuable species. The demand for landlocked salmon within 

 the limits of Maine, where nearly all the eggs are collected, and also 

 in other States where this fish has been successfully acclimatized, 

 exceeds the supplj^, and an attempt will be made to increase the output 

 during the coming year. 



Although cod propagation was prosecuted vigorously, the results 

 were extremely unsatisfactory. The exceedingly cold and stormy 

 Weather, together with the scarcity of fish from the inshore fisheries, 

 offset the efforts of the collecting force, and many of the commercial 

 fishermen found it not worth while to keep their boats in commission. 



At Woods Hole the collection of eggs of the winter flounder was 

 not undertaken at the usual season because the fishing grounds were 

 covered with ice. When the ice disappeared, it was found that the 

 low water tempei-atures had retarded the spawning of the fish for a 

 montli, and the season's work in this branch was very satisfactory. 



At the end of the season several small lots of pollock eggs were 

 received, which produced 1,246,000 fry. 



The following innovation in lobster culture is worthy of note: As an 

 experiment, 7,081 seed lobsters were impounded and retained through- 

 out the winter. _In the spring, although only 4,748 remained, all of 

 these produced eggs except 030. The pound was leased with the idea 

 that the Boothbay hatchery would be ready to receive the eggs, but it 

 became necessary to transfer the fish-cultural operations to Gloucester 



