LXVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
character of the natural and artificial obstructions to the ascent of 
salmon. 
Mr. Mather’s report upon the results of his observations was pub- 
lished in the Bulletin of the IT. S. Fish Commission, vol. vii, for 1887, 
pp. 409-424. In a preliminary statement he describes the plantings 
that were made from 1882 to 1888, inclusive, amounting to over 2,000,- 
00() fry and 150 yearlings. These young fish were all liberated in good 
trout streams, chiefly in the Adirondack region of Essex and Warren 
counties, N. Y. Several adult salmon were taken in the Hudson Biver 
both in 1886 and 1887, some of which found their way to the markets 
of New York City. The salmon captured in 1888 could not have 
belonged to later plantings than those of 1884, up to which time 
only 864,600 fry had been placed in the river, and any comparison of 
results should be based upon that number. Mr. Mather experienced 
considerable difficulty in obtaining information respecting the catch 
of 1888, as a State law, passed in 1887, prohibits the taking of salmon 
on the Hudson Biver except with hook and line. Nearly all of the 
fish secured were captured incidentally in the nets of the shad fisher- 
men, who were naturally reluctant to testify against themselves or 
against their neighbors. The inquiry, however, finally resulted in a 
record of 134 salmon so obtained, but Mr. Mather estimates that fully 
four times as many were probably taken by this class of fishermen 
alone. Of the number mentioned, 28 were caught in Gravesend Bay, 
20 in New York Bay, 3 in Princess Bay, 5 along the New Jersey shore, 
and the remainder at points along the Hudson Biver as far up as 
Mechanicsville, 26 having been secured below the dam at Troy. The 
weight of these fish ranged from 5 to 26 pounds each, but very few 
weighed less than 8 or 9 pounds. 
As to gathering salmon spawn in New York waters for use in stock- 
ing the Hudson Biver, the above record indicates that there are at 
present only two localities where the prospects are at all favorable for 
obtaining the necessary parent fish, namely, below the dam at Troy 
and in Gravesend Bay. Considering that these fish are taken rather 
early in the year, it would, however, be necessary to pen them until 
the spawning season, and the water of the Hudson Biver below Troy 
is apparently too warm for this purpose during the summer. Deep, 
cool spots exist between Troy and Mechanicsville, and also at the latter 
place, to which the fish collected in the upper part of the river could 
be transferred, while the hatching station at Cold Spring Harbor, Long 
Island, might be used as the depository for those captured in Grave- 
send and New York bays. The number of eggs to be secured in this 
way would probably not be sufficient, however, to warrant the expense 
attendant upon the work until salmon have become more abundant 
in the river. 
All tributary streams suited to the spawning habits of salmon enter 
the upper part of the river, and the ascent of salmon to them is now 
