272 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



In regard to fish, protection means both preservation and propaga- 

 tion. The remarkable fecundity of the fish isi an ever-growing amaze- 

 ment to the student of ichthyology. The ova are smaller than in any 

 other class of animal, yet the ovaries in many fish are larger than the 

 rest of the body. Taking advantage of this fecundity, with the aid of 

 modern science and appliances, it should be possible to maintain in our 

 Great Lakes and other waters the approximate balance of fish that 

 nature intended, which, as before pointed out, is in all probability the 

 optimum — that is, always provided that the system of artificial propa- 

 gation works hand in hand with reasonable protection of the adults of 

 the various species during the periods that they are engaged in the repro- 

 duction of their species, for to rely on artificial means alone to accom- 

 plish the work of nature is to court disaster. 



In this Province a close study should be given to the selection of 

 the most suitable varieties of fish for the different inland waters. As an 

 illustration of this may be quoted the salmon trout of the Great Lakes. 

 This most excellent food fish, when planted in the confined areas of our 

 lesser lakes, never seems to attain the same game qualities as the species 

 indigenous to the particular lake; neither is their flesh, as a rule, so 

 palatable. Many of our inland lakes have salmon trout peculiar to 

 themselves, and it Avoulid seem well, under any system of provincial 

 hatcheries, to make provision for maintaining these varieties and testing 

 their suitability for surrounding waters. 



It has been impossible, in view of the many questions that have pre- 

 sented themselves to be dealt with by this Commission, to accumulate 

 suffieient detailed information on the establishment and working of 

 hatcheries on the most modern, practical, and economical basis, to 

 draw up a scheme for provincial hatcheries to be presented with this 

 interim report, but such a scheme will be prepared and presented with 

 the full report at a later date. 



Meanwhile, your Commissioner would most strongly urge upon 

 Your Honour the adoption of the principle of provincial hatcheries, to 

 be scattered throughout the Province, in locations selected with a view 

 to the easy gathering of the spawn, and general facilities for distribu- 

 tion over the area to be fed by each, the whole system being so devised 

 as to deal with all classes of food and game fisih, and fish known +o be 

 the natural food of same, as it is only by maintaining the balance of 

 nature that the best results can be obtained. 



Possibly no enterprise in the world is so dependent upon the skill, 

 faithfulness, and enthusiasm of those in charge as that of fish hatch- 

 eries. The work of a whole season may be ruined and the expenditure 

 of oomsiderable sums of money wasted, by a few hours' negligence. 

 Ontario is placed in the happy position of being able to take advantage 

 of the experience of, and expensive investigations undertaken by, not 

 only practical hatchery men and state fish culturists, but also by scien- 

 tific university professors and experts, in the United States and other 

 countries. 



