Ameri'can Fisheries Society. 137 



STURGEOX HATCHING IN THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN 



BASIN.* 



BY LIVINGSTON STONE. 



Somewhat of the mystery formerl_v surrounding the taking 

 and fertilizing of sturgeon eggs on a large scale has been re- 

 moved, only to he replaced by the appearance of difficulties 

 which seem even now to be almost insurmountable. Only three 

 years ago, it was a mystery why the net fishermen, while they 

 caught plenty of parent sturgeon with eggs in all stages of ma- 

 turity, never caught any with wholly ripe eggs in them. Xow 

 that we know the reason of this to be that ripe sturgeon caught 

 in nets, throw all their eggs in their efforts to liberate them- 

 selves, the difficulty arises of securing the parent fish before they 

 throw their eggs. 



We adopted various devices, this spring, to accomplish this 

 object. We set trap nets in the two rivers and also in the lake, 

 but the sturgeon would not go into the trap nets. We set gill 

 nets in various places in both tlie Lamoille and the Missisquoi 

 rivers, and we had these nets overhauled every hour, 

 night and day. We also overhauled and examined all the 

 parent sturgeon in the pens every day, but somehow most of the 

 ripe fish eluded us in one way or another before their eggs could 

 be secured. In some instances, even when we had a night guard 

 on duty, parent fish caught at night l)y the fishermen, and put in 

 confinement were stolen before morning, the high price paid for 

 caviare sturgeon (i. e., female sturgeon with nearly ripe eggs in 

 them) Ijeing a sufficient incentive to poachers to incur unusual 

 risks in stealing them. At other times, ripe fish gilled at night 

 and safely conveyed to the pens by the fishermen would spawn in 

 confinement before morning, thus eluding the spawn takers. At 

 another time, — this was on the 13th of May, — a large ripe 

 fenude sturgeon of nearly a hundred pounds in weight was found 



* The opprations referred to in this paper were conducted under the auspices of 

 the United States Fish Commission, by the writer, very ably assisted by Mr. Myron 

 Green, in Northwestern Vermont, in the Missisquoi River and the Lamoille River, 

 tributaries of Lake Champlain, and in the Lake itself. 



