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REPORT. 



To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, at 

 its January Session, 1878: 



The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries submit their eighth annual 

 report. 



The hatching-house and all its appurtenances at Ponegansett are in 

 excellent condition. Owing to the failure of our springs last fall, 

 1877, we did not think it best to attempt the hatching of the Califor- 

 nia salmon eggs offered us by Prof. Baird, as failure would have been 

 assured and the eggs wasted, so that the past year we have done noth- 

 ing with salmon. 



Our plan lias been to watch as carefully as possible for the appear- 

 ance of salmon in the streams stocked by us the previous years. The 

 presence of dams in large numbers on the various streams, and the 

 presence of innumerable traps and pounds in the bay, made the return 

 of the fish to the upper waters an impossibility, and their reaching 

 even the mouth of the streams a problem. 



When the present Commissioners first assumed office these facts 

 were fully thought of, and the question whether any attempt had bet- 

 ter be made without first causing fish ways feo be put over all the dams 

 was agitated. 



The expense of this would have been very large, and the opposition 

 would have been great, and much litigation would have ensued in 

 consequence, and still, unless the obstacles were removed, and traps 

 and pounds abolished, success would have been more than doubtful. 



