Downing. — Hatcheries on the Great Lakes 129 



station for the collection of herring eggs were turned over 

 to the Ohio people. Their collection of eggs from these 

 fields has been as follows : 



Year Number of Eggs Collected 



1906 228,640,000 



1907 46,440,000 



1908 84,470,000 



1909 171,164,000 



1910 285,960,000 



1911 290,456,000 



If this take of herring eggs collected from the fields 

 originally operated by the U. S. Bureau be added to those 

 mentioned in the table, a far greater increase would appear. 

 The table shows that the average take of eggs for the first 

 thirteen years, was 407,696,000, while the average total 

 from the same fields during the past seven years, including 

 the herring eggs collected by the Ohio people which rightly 

 belong in these figures, reaches the enormous sum of 

 1,103,747,000, or a little less than three times as many as 

 the average for the first period of thirteen years. 



The greatest increase perhaps has been in the pike-perch 

 work. The writer remembers that before this excellent 

 food fish was propagated at the hatcheries, the catch 

 had fallen off to such an extent that many of the 

 fishermen did not set their nets for the spring catch, as 

 there were not enough pike-perch being taken at that time to 

 warrant putting the nets into the lake for the spring fishing. 

 At the present time the spring fishing for pike-perch is the 

 more profitable of the two seasons. 



We believe that the above, facts will bear us out when we 

 say there is no doubt whatever but that the propagation of 

 food fishes is of great benefit, not only to the commercial 

 fishermen and dealers, but also to the general public as well. 



DISCUSSION 



Mr. Meehan : I might say that to those figures should be added an 

 average annual number of between 350,000,000 and 400,000,000 taken by 

 Pennsylvania, which would swell that great total considerably. I do 

 not think New York collected any from Lake Erie, but those figures 



