oo REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Island, Md., station, which is equiped for the handling of 200,000,000 
eggs, and where as many as 210,000,000 eggs were formerly secured, 
were a failure, only 2,866,000 being produced. ‘The expense involved 
in the operation of steam boilers and pumps was reduced by the in- 
stallation of a 5-horsepower gasoline pump, which was used exclu- 
sively at times when hatching operations required only a limited 
supply of water. 
From the brood yellow perch secured on the Susquehanna River 
in March and April 64,933,000 eggs were obtained, which yielded 
41,825,000 fry. White-perch eggs to the number of 357,250,000 were 
collected at the mouth of Elk Creek, near Henderson Point, Md., but 
large losses due to imperfect fertilization reduced the output to 
175,330,000 fry. Consignments of yellow-perch and white-perch 
eggs, aggregating 36,850,000, were donated for development at the 
State hatcheries in New J ersey and Massachusetts: 
The propagation of the alewife, which was undertaken in an ex- 
perimental way last year, was prosecuted on a more extensive scale 
during the spring of 1915, with a resulting output of 4,851,000 fry. 
On Albemarle Sound the climatic and other physical conditions 
during the spring of 1915 were identical to those of last season, which 
proved unfavorable to the shad operations at the Edenton, N. C. 
station. Although every field where there was a possibility of secur- 
ing spawn was covered by experienced spawn takers, and the scope 
of the work was extended to fields in the lower end of the sound here- 
tofore unoccupied, the result of the season’s work shows a decrease 
of 6,333,000 in the output of shad fry as compared with the previous 
year. The 39,040,000 eggs received at the hatchery from all sources 
yielded 22, 990, 000 fr y, most of which were distr ibuted in Nor th Caro- 
lina, although liberal plants were made in suitable waters in adja- 
cent Southern States. 
The usual preparations for propagating striped bass on the 
Roanoke River at Weldon, N. C., were completed early in April. 
Suitable traps in which to capture the brood fish and pens for hold- 
ing them were located at advantageous places in the river, seven col- 
Jecting points being established adjacent to grounds operated by the 
commercial fishermen. The prospects in April for a large run of fish 
were very encouraging, but early in May theriver fell to a very low stage, 
and clear water prevailed throughout the spawning season. Abnor- 
mally high temperatures hastened the spawning of the fish, and many 
of them deposited their eggs in the river. Owing to excessively low 
water and the faulty construction of the retaining boxes, the penning 
operations were a failure, as many of the fish held injured themselves 
so badly that they died before their eggs ripened. 
The first eggs were secured April 25, and from that time on clans 
tions in limited numbers were made until the end of the spawning 
season, on May 17, 2,500,000 constituting the largest take of a single 
day. ‘The difficulty experienced last year in obtaining ripe male fish 
at the time eggs were available was again encountered, and large 
losses of eggs occurred through lack of a fertilizing medium. In one 
instance two females weighing 40 and 35 pounds, respectively, and 
carrying approximately 5,000,000 eggs, were taken in traps, but as 
no males were at hand, all of the eggs were lost. 
The total egg collections amounted to 11,295,000, from which 
6,640,000 were hatched. The discrepancy between the collections and 
