20* REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



5. — ACTUAL WORK OF PROPAGATION OF FOOD-FISHES IN 1875 AND 



1876. 



The Shad-Se£ison of 1$7G. 



The Potomac station. — In previous years several attempts were made 

 to obtain and liatch the eggs of sbad in Southern rivers, especially in 

 the Savannah and the Eoanoke. In consequence of their failure to ac- 

 complish results at all proportionate to the expense, it was determined 

 to begin the work of 1876 in the Potomac, where, as subsequently in the 

 Susquehanna, the work was j^rosecuted by Mr. Miluer, in co-operation 

 with Mr. T. B.Ferguson, the fish commissioner of Maryland. 



On the 8th of May a camp was established at Ferry Landing, near 

 Mount Vernon, and Mr. Frank N. Clark j)laced in charge. It was not 

 until the 13th of the month that any ripe fishes were found. The steamer 

 Lookout, belonging to the Maryland commission, was kept in constant 

 communication with other fishing stations near by; and as the result of 

 the operations, continuing until the 24tb, about 686,000 young fish were 

 hatched, of which 100,000 were shipped to North Carolina, and the re- 

 mainder placed in the Potomac Eiver. 



A larger number of young shad would have been secured but for the 

 loss involved in the upsetting of the hatching-boxes in consequence of 

 high winds, the great width of the river rendering it impossible to pre- 

 vent loss by such accidents. A boom of logs was kept anchored near 

 the boxes for their j^rotectiou, but this was not always sufficient. 



The shad-seines on the Potomac stopped work on the 23d of May with 

 a decided loss to the proprietors, showing conclusively that the serious 

 diminution in the abundance of shad and herring already referred to 

 has continued. 



The Susquehanna River station. — A second series of stations, six in 

 number, for the hatching of shad, had been started by Mr. Ferguson at 

 the mouth of the Susquehanna, near Havre de Grace, on the 9th of May; 

 and for some time before the camp was broken up at Ferry Landing, a 

 large number of young shad had been hatched out and turned into the 

 river. On this river, as on the Potomac, the active work of securing the 

 eggs and of hatching them out, as also of the distribution of the young 

 fish to Maryland waters, was conducted by Mr. Ferguson. Their ship- 

 ment and transportation to points outside of that State was under the 

 direction of Mr. James W. Milner, assistant United States commissioner. 



The total fish-production of the several stations on the Susquehanna, 

 at the head of Chesapeake Bay, was 3,741,000 fish, of which 2,143,000 

 were turned into the waters of Maryland and 1,597,500 shipped else- 

 where. 



An unusual scarcity of ripe males in the Susquehanna during the 

 season largely reduced the total yield of fertile eggs. A large number 

 of the shad were obtained from the drift, or gill-nets, which required to 

 be carefully watched, and the ripe fish removed while still alive. In 



