forest, fish and game commissioner. 317 



Chautauqua Hatchery 



To the Forest, Fish and Game Commission: 



The output of fish at this hatchery this year is the largest since the 

 hatchery has been in operation. The fish distribution was as follows: 

 Brook trout fry, 275,000; fingerlings, 76,500; lake herring, 2,240,000; blue 

 pike, 300,000; maskalonge, 5,796,000, of which 1,600,000 were poor fry. 



The artesian water works well for trout. The growth is very rapid. 

 The eggs hatched in January and fish were distributed in August. The 

 largest had then grown to be about five inches in length. The output of 

 fingerlings could be increased by putting in another rearing pond in the 

 small creek that runs through the hatchery ground. 



This year efforts were made to hatch herring. Through the courtesy 

 of the Desmond Fish Company and the fishermen of Dunkirk, men were 

 placed on the tugs and eggs collected and sent to this hatcher} 7 and Cale- 

 donia for hatching. This experiment proved to be very successful here. 



The maskalonge work was also highly satisfactory. A pumping station 

 was installed and water taken from the lake for hatching and gave good 

 results. But we had bad luck in carrying the fry. We were about half 

 through distributing when the fish began to die. I was unable to learn the 

 cause but the water had a very bad smell and a specimen sent to the State 

 Department of Health to be analyzed was found to be polluted. The 

 experiment was also tried of collecting blue pike eggs at Dunkirk. The 

 take of eggs was not as large as expected as the run of pike was light. The 

 eggs were sent to Caledonia and Constantia and this station. Those sent 

 here did not turn out very well. 



In the spring the high water washed out about seven feet of lake front, 

 which was replaced with cobblestones and gravel. 



The hatchery needs painting, otherwise it is in good condition. 



Pumps at Chautauqua 



The pumps for taking water from Chautauqua Lake arrived at Bemus 

 Point February 10, 1909, and Mr. Van Nouhuys was to be there on February 

 2 2d to install the pumps. On February 25th, Mr. Brown wrote that the 



