REPORT 



OF THK 



COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



Department of Commerce and Labor, 



Bureau of Fisheries, 

 Washington, December 26^ 1911. 

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

 of the Bureau of Fisheries for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911. 



PROPAGATION OF FISHES. 



general review of the work. 



The fish-cultural operations of the Bureau, consisting of the propa- 

 gation and distribution of fishes for public and private waters in the 

 interior sections of the country and of the lobster and important 

 marine fishes to replenish the waters along the north Atlantic sea- 

 board did not vary materially from those of preceding years. The 

 efforts were directed chiefly toward the development of present re- 

 sources and the increase of the output by the extension of operations 

 over a wider tei^itory in fields contiguous to existing stations. 



The possibilities for fish-cultural work are practically unlimited, 

 being gauged only by the funds and experienced men available for 

 opening up new fields. This is particularly true with reference to the 

 Pacific coast salmons, the trouts of the Kocky Mountain region, the 

 commercial fishes of the Great Lakes, and the anadromous and ma- 

 rine species of the Atlantic coast. With the basses, sunfishes, and cat- 

 fishes, whose eggs can not be handled artificially and which are 

 propagated under natural conditions in ponds, a more thorough 

 understanding of the requirements of food supply and environment 

 has carried this work also beyond the experimental stage and to 

 equal possibilities of cultivation. 



One new station was added to the service with the completion of 

 the plant at Homer, Minn., where fish-cultural work was inaugu- 

 rated at the beginning of the year. The stations ojDerated numbered 

 in all 36 permanent and 90 auxiliary and collecting stations, located 

 in 33 States. At these stations upward of 40 species of food and game 

 fishes were handled. 



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