40 REPORTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 



The possibility of saving enormous numbers of eggs of marine fishes 

 by placing spawn takers on fishing vessels was experimentally tested 

 in March and April, 1919, Three spawn takers were detailed to ac- 

 company fishing craft to Georges Bank with instructions to take eggs 

 from any ripe cod and haddock that might be caught, fertilize, meas- 

 ure, and plant them overboard. As a result of seven trips, 73,200,000 

 haddock eggs and 58,950,000 cod eggs were thus treated. Two men 

 made four trips on trawl-line vessels and took 32,600,000 haddock 

 eggs and 26,280,000 cod eggs during 46 days. One man spent 30 days 

 on three trips on an otter trawler, and during that time secured, fer- 

 tilized, and planted 40,600,000 haddock eggs and 32,670,000 cod eggs. 

 The value of work of this nature would seem to depend on the active 

 cooperation of the fishing vessels. If the operations are to be of a 

 magnitude that "uall make them worth while, a man or several men on 

 each fishing vessel should be assigned the task of fertilizing the eggs of 

 the ripe fish brought aboard the vessel. 



LOBSTER HATCHING. 



Lobster hatching has practically been abandoned. The Bureau 

 was never able to conduct it on a scale sufficiently extensive to pro- 

 duce any noteworthy effects on the supply, in the face of incessant 

 fishing and a very general disregard for provisions of law affecting 

 egg-bearing and short lobsters. 



From the remnant of 8,000,000 lobster eggs carried over from the 

 previous year's operations at the Boothbay Harbor station, 7,500,000 

 larval lobsters were produced and liberated in local waters in July. 

 At the request of the Maine authorities, 2,000 stripped lobsters which 

 the State had purchased and still owned were held at the Bureau's 

 pound at Pemaquid from the beginning of the fiscal year until Septem- 

 ber. When the lobsters were collected, it was discovered that a very 

 heavy mortality had resulted, only 624 lobsters being found. 



Lobster hatching in recent years was possible only under conditions 

 that violated fundamental principles of business and biology. The 

 Bureau was willing to continue the work year after year in the hope of 

 bringing about a widespread observance of law by affording the fisher- 

 men a means of disposing of their berried lobsters and by constantly 

 keeping before the fishermen the need for saving the lobster eggs and 

 immature lobsters. This course, however, could not be indefinitely 

 continued under prevailing conditions, and Congress has now placed 

 such limitations on the expenditure of the fish-cultural appropriation 

 as to make it doubtful whether the lobster hatching can be legally 

 conducted in the existing situation. 



The outlook for the lobster from the standpoint of the public is dis- 

 tinctly gloomy in most sections, but the fishermen, as a rule, are well 

 satisfied so long as the present outrageous prices prevail. A recent 

 episode, doubtless typical of numerous communities, serves to indicate 

 how difficult is the task that confronts the State officials. The lob- 

 stermen of a certain locality were called together and informed of the 

 desire of the State to secure their support in carrying out the provi- 

 sions of law for the protection of egg-bearing and short lobsters. The 

 meeting then voted on the proposition, and more than 80 per cent of 

 the lobstermen in the community signified their intention to continue 

 to ignore the law. 



