BRIEF NOTES ON FISH CULTURE IN MICHIGAN. 



By DwiGHT Lydell 

 State Fish Culturist, Comstock Park, Mich. 



This is to be but a very brief outline of two or three points 

 in extension of the paper which I presented at the meeting of the 

 Society at Ottawa, in 1920, under the title, "Progress in Practical 

 Fish Culture." It has occurred to me as of possible interest to 

 direct attention to the marked expansion of fish-cultural work now 

 going on in the State of Michigan. As a result of these efforts the 

 state will, it is believed, equal the efforts in any other state in the 

 production and distribution of food and game fishes. We are build- 

 ing a number of new fish hatcheries and these, together with the 

 ones already in use, will give a total of 16 plants. Their locations 

 and the species propagated are as follows : Detroit, perch and wall- 

 eyed pike; Drayton Plains, perch, bluegills, and large-mouth bass; 

 Hastings, bass, perch and bluegills ; Mill Creek Station, perch, blue- 

 gills, bass, wall-eyed pike and trout; Paris, trout; Harriette, trout; 

 Grayling, trout ; Sidnaw, trout ; Sault Ste. Marie, trout ; Harris- 

 ville, trout and bass ; Wolverine, trout ; Oden, trout ; Thompson, 

 trout, bass, perch and bluegills ; Marquette, trout ; Watersmeet, 

 trout ; and Benton Harbor, perch, bass, bluegills and trout. 



We are making preparations to handle at least 25,000,000 brook 

 trout each year, and at least 8,000,000 of these will be raised to 

 fingerlings or past the fry stage. One of the important reasons 

 why this is being done is because of the fact that in the spring 

 the condition of the roads and of weather makes it almost impos- 

 sible to plant fry in some of our northern waters, especially in 

 those of the upper Peninsula. 



Further attention is called to propagating bluegills, which mat- 

 ter was also referred to in the article presented in 1920. There 

 have been some developments since which may be of interest. In 

 preparing the rearing ponds they are drawn dry in the fall an3 

 left dry until well frozen out. In some cases they are left dry afl 

 winter. In the spring they are generally fertilized, if necessary, 

 and then a small flow of water is turned on to let the temperature 

 increase gradually. Water fleas soon become very numerous and 

 that is about the time we introduce our bluegills. 



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