48 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



As a result of the constantly dwindling lobster fisheries on the lower 

 part of the Massachusetts coast, and the inability of the Woods Hole 

 station to secure supplies of seed lobsters, as heretofore, from Con- 

 necticut waters, owing to differences existing between the State fishery 

 authorities and the fishermen, the lobster work of this station has 

 so narrowed in scope as to become unprofitable. The seed lobsters 

 collected for the station in 1912 numbered only 330, as compared 

 with 1,194 in 1909, the output of fry in 1912 amountmg to only 

 3,283,000. In view of these facts the eftorts in this direction m Mas- 

 sachusetts will hereafter be concentrated at the Gloucester station, 

 where the results are more in proportion to the expense involved. 



Investigations were continued by the superintendent of the Woods 

 Hole station, with the view of undertaking the artificial propagation 

 of the menhaden, but without overcommg the difficulty heretofore 

 experienced of securmg ripe fish of both sexes at one time. It is 

 doubted if any tangible results in the propagation of this fish can be 

 attained until more definite laiowledge is gamed as to its life history 

 and spawning habits. 



MIDDLE ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS. 



While there was no apparent increase over recent years in the run 

 of shad in the Potomac River, a record was established in the take 

 of shad eggs at the Bryans Point station, the collections amountmg 

 to 88,727,000 and the yield of fry to 81,000,000, or 92 per cent of the 

 eggs obtained. The nearest approach to this record occurred in 1903, 

 the egg collections of that year numbering 86,370,000 and the output 

 of fry to 69,772,000. The high degree of success is attributed to the 

 uniformly favorable weather and water temperatures during the 

 spawning season, which permitted of the capture of a larger percent- 

 age of fish with uninjured eggs, and also to improved methods of 

 handlmg. Though the take of eggs of yellow perch at this station 

 was somewhat curtailed by cold weather at the beginning of the sea- 

 son, the output of fry amounted to over 192,000,000. The regular 

 hatchmg apparatus at the station being msufficient to accommodate 

 all of the eggs, large numbers were placed in cylindrical galvanized 

 wire baskets and suspended by tarred marlin lines from fence w^ire 

 strung horizontally between light pine poles planted 20 feet apart. 

 The baskets thus attached were lowered to within a foot of the bottom 

 in an 8-foot depth of tidewater, and in this manner the eggs were 

 successfully and economically hatched. 



At the station on the Susquehanna River there was no material 

 increase in the output of shad fr}^. The small take of eggs, although 

 to some extent attributable to high winds and low water tempera- 

 tures prevailing during the spawning season, was principally due to 

 the causes which have operated detrimentally in past years — inade- 



