REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



Department of Commerce and Labor, 



Bureau of Fisheries, 

 Washington, December 1, 1908. 

 Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the opera- 

 tions of the Bureau of Fisheries for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

 1908. 



PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES. 



OUTPUT. 



The fish-cultural efforts of the Bureau in 1908 were directed chiefly 

 to increasing the collection of eggs and the output of young fish. The 

 possibilities of expansion and development in nearly every line are 

 almost unlimited — depending largely on the funds and trained men 

 available for opening up new fields — but the public need and popular 

 demand seem best subserved under the present circumstances by the 

 concentration of efforts for immediate results in quantity in the fields 

 already occupied. Thus, with the same funds as during the previous 

 year, the hatcheries in 1908 yielded 376.000,000 fish more than in any 

 other year, and delivered about 458,000,000 eggs to State and foreign 

 hatcheries. The total output was over 2,871,000,000 eggs and fish, 

 of which over 2,400,000,000 were fish. 



The conspicuous increases were in whitefish; silver, blueback, and 

 humpback salmons, rainbow and brook trouts, large-mouth and 

 small-mouth black basses, yellow perch and white perch, cod, flat- 

 fish, and lobsters, all of which were produced in greater quantities 

 than ever before. There was likewise an increase in shad, due 

 largely to improved conditions in the Albemarle region of North 

 Carolina. The output of lake trout and pike perch fell behind the 

 1907 record, as did also that of chinook salmon and Atlantic salmon. 

 Fluctuations in the production of many of the fishes handled are, 

 however, inevitable, being due to weather and other conditions which 

 can not be controlled. 



Following is a table summarizing the distributions of fish and fish 

 eggs during the past year. Of these distributions 440,161,000 eggs, 

 4,975,000 fry, and 49,800 older fish were delivered to various state fish 

 commissions, and 3,997,725 eggs (salmon and trout) were shipped to 

 foreign countries. On Lake Erie the Ohio and Pennsylvania fishery 

 authorities cooperated with the Bureau in the collection of whitefish, 

 lake-cisco, and pike-perch eggs. 



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