48 DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISHERIES No. 9 



excellent co-operation in this respect from the commercial fishermen under the direc- 

 tion and guidance of the Branch. This team play resulted in a satisfactory produc- 

 tion of eggs of commercial species and their resultant fry for re-stocking suitable 

 sections of the Great Lakes and commercially fished inland waters. Lake trout are 

 sought after by anglers to a considerable extent in the inland waters of the Province; 

 these waters also receive necessary replenishment from time to time with hatchery 

 stock. 



It should be pointed out that an important principle is involved in the estab- 

 lishment of hatcheries on the various Great Lakes and connecting waters, namely, 

 that the eggs collected from such areas are cultured in water of similar composition 

 to that in which the species cultured live and thrive in a natural state, and in which 

 the fry artificially cultured will ultimately be planted. Behind the establishment 

 of district hatcheries there is also the same underlying principle. 



The temperature of the water in these commercial fish hatcheries is, general- 

 ly speaking, the same as the water over the natural spawning grounds where the 

 young fish are developing from the time the eggs are laid on these grounds in the 

 fall, during the winter, and until they hatch in early spring. In the hatchery, how- 

 ever, the eggs are protected from the hazards of a natural environment and are, 

 therefore, carried over a critical period in the life-history of the fish. 



Speckled trout spawn was collected from breeders retained in our breeding ponds 

 at Dorion, Sault Ste. Marie, and Normandale. Brown trout eggs were collected from 

 a breeding stock at Mount Pleasant and rainbow trout eggs from a breeding stock 

 at Normandale. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Very little distribution is done at this period of the year, but during an ad- 

 vanced spring the fry of the whitefish and herring, especially the former, hatch 

 rapidly and must be distributed, since they can be held in the tanks in the hatchery 

 for a limited period only. The distribution made in accordance with directions is- 

 sued by the Branch was as follows: 



Whitefish 



Lake of the Woods 4,0'00,00t) fry 



Lake Erie 96,620,000 " 



Lake Ontario (proper) 10,000,000 " 



Bay of Quinte 20,000,000 " 



Total 130,620,000 " 



Herring 



Lake Erie 100,000 fry 



The following distribution of lake trout eyed eggs was carried out on an ex- 

 change basis: 



Federal Hatchery at Banff, Alta lOO.-OOO eyed eggs 



Federal Hatchery at Middleton, N. S 1*02,800 



Hatchery at French River, U. S. A 700,000 " 



Pendleton Oreille Hatchery 1*00, 0*00 " 



Hatchery at Colville, Washington 200,000 " 



State Fish Hatchery, Canaan, Vermont 209,80*0 " 



Government Hill Hatchery, Augusta, Maine . 102,800 



State Fish Hatchery, Colebrook, N. H 308,400 " 



Monmouth Hatchery, Monmouth, Maine . . . 102,800 " " 



Total 1,926,600 " 



The arrangement with the Canadian Hatcheries was made through the De- 

 partment of Fisheries, Ottawa, whereby eyed lake trout eggs were exchanged for 

 10*0,000 eyed Kamloops trout eggs from Kamloops hatchery, British Columbia. 

 The exchange with the United States hatcheries was on the basis of an equal quantity 

 of eyed speckled trout eggs in return for an equal quantity of lake trout eggs. 



