64 Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania. 



food fish, like the shad, became more and more scarce, till from being 

 in those waters in great abundance they were rarely met with. 



While the Fish Commissioners of the state recognized the value of 

 the pike-perch as a good fish, and viewed with concern its rapid destruc- 

 tion, not only in the Susquehanna, but in Lake Erie, one of its native 

 homes as well, they were so situated that they were unable to do much 

 towards their increase until 1889. In that year the attention of the 

 United States Commission was also directed to the matter, and that 

 year the latter body hatched about 12,000,000 fry at Sandusky, Ohio- 

 These were turned over to the Pennsylvania commissioners, who de- 

 posited the greatef number of them in the Susquehanna river and its 

 beautiful tributary, the Juniata. Then believing that the waters of the 

 Delaware and the Schuylkill were also well suited for this species of fish, 

 the remainder were planted in the upper waters of the first and in the 

 other near the city of Reading. These fry in the Delaware and Schuylkill 

 took kindly to their new quarters and grew with marvellous rapidity, so 

 much so that in March of the present year one was caught at Diagman's 

 Ferry which weighed nine pounds and three-quarters, while large num- 

 bers have been caught which tipped the scales at four and five pounds. 

 For the most part these pike-perch remain in the upper waters, being 

 seen most abundantly at Lackawaxen, Hancock and Deposit. 



In the same year (1889) the Pennsylvania commissioners also began 

 the hatching of pike-perch eggs, using their new hatchery at Erie, and 

 they distributed nearly 9,000,000 young fish of this species. In 1890, 

 from the same place the commissioners sent out 13,545,000 pike-perch 

 fry, and one year later they hatched the enormous number of 40,600,000, 

 within 3,000,000 of the total number of young shad that were hatched 

 and placed in the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers between 1889 and 

 1891. Not content with this enormous number, the commissioners re- 

 doubled their efforts and last year hatched out and planted nearly as 

 many pike-perch, as had been encumbated by them in the previous years 

 combined, the figures being for 1892, 59,000,000, for 1889-91, 63,135,000. 

 Most of these young fry were placed in the waters of Lake Erie, but a 

 vast quantity were deposited in the Susquehanna, upper Delaware and 

 their tributaries. Large numbers were also planted in all the larger 

 lakes of Wayne county, and some in those of Pike county, notably Silver 

 Lake, near Dingman's Ferry. 



Wherever they have been placed they have succeeded. In the Dela- 

 ware, as already noted, many large fish have been caught, and the stock 

 is increasing naturally ; some have been captured in the Schuylkill river 

 below Eeading, and the fish of this species have increased to a marked 

 degree in the Susquehanna. So marked has been the success of this 

 endeavor, that the commissioners have strong hopes, can the present 

 beneficient laws be maintained and enforced, that the pike-perch will be- 

 come next to the shad, one of the most important of the interior food- 

 fishes financially. 



