LXXIV - REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ture prevented good work, tlioiiirh large numbers of eggs were secured. 

 Arrangements Lad been made to pen pike percli as an experiment at 

 Monroe Piers and Put in Bay, but the operations were not as successful 

 as bad been anticipated. Contrary to expectation, the fish did not 

 stand transportation or confinement as well as the white-fish, though 

 apparently they are more hardy; but this may have been due to the 

 higher temperature of the water at the time of the collection and pen- 

 ning of these fish. It was also found impossible to carry as many of 

 these fish in the tanks on the steamer, due probably to the warmer 

 water. From this season's work it appears that pike perch will not 

 yield good eggs after being held in confinement more than three days, 

 and that the males can not be used more than once. 



The i)ercentage of fertilization from the fish confined in the pens 

 at Monroe Piers was exceedingly small. During the season 2,771 were 

 penned, of which 1,48G were females. After the eggs had been stripped 

 2,038 were returned to the fishermen, the remaining 133 having died in 

 the pens. The 1)56 females stripped yielded 84,675,000 eggs, an average 

 of 88,572 per fish. 



The temperature of the water at Monroe Piers averaged 55^° during 

 the 15 days collections were made; but it varied greatly, frequently 

 changing 5° to 6° in a half hour, according as the wind or tide set in or 

 out at the mouth of the river. Its maximum was 60°. 



At Put-in Bay 252 fish were penned, 111 of them being females. 

 These yielded 3,187,700 eggs, an average of 72,447 per fish. 



As soon as the eggs are received at the station they are placed in 

 5-gallon kegs for about 24 hours and a gentle stream of water is allowed 

 to flow over them. At the expiration of that time they are placed in 

 jars, 3^ quarts to each jar. At the end of three days they will have 

 swelled to a bulk of about 4i quarts. To attain the best results the 

 eggs should be worked with the least amount of water possible to keep 

 them in motion. This is very important, as experience shows that 

 two jars of equally good eggs will produce very different results if 

 one is worked rapidly and the other slowly. 



Of the 493,000,000 eggs collected, 65,030,000 were transferred to the 

 Alpena and Caj>e Vincent stations. The others were hatched at the 

 station and planted on the spawning-grounds in the vicinity of Put-in 

 Bay, Port^Clinton, Monroe Piers, and Toledo. They commenced hatch- 

 ing on May 4 and by May 17 plants amounting to 198,540,000 had been 

 made, all in Lake Erie with the exceiition of a few million used for 

 stocking lakes in Indiana. 



Toward the close of the season the fry were sent out in a 400-gallou 

 tank on the steamer Shearwater, instead of in cans or kegs in the usual 

 manner. This very much simplified the work of planting, as the fry 

 were drawn from the tanks in the hatchery by means of a 1-inch 

 rubber hose acting as a siphon to the tank on the vessel. In this way 

 the vessel was loaded in about fifteen minutes, whereas it requires 

 from two to three hours to do the work in the ordinary way. Careful 



