Conservation Commission. 201 



The pikeperch at Constantia are caught very largely in trap- 

 nets by our men. These nets have also taken common pike, 

 pickerel, yellow perch, strawberry bass, chubs, suckers, bullheads 

 and lawyers or burbot. 



The number of pikeperch taken for the Oneida hatchery in 

 1911 was 136,311, an increase of more than 36,000 over the num- 

 ber taken in 1910. Of these the number of females stripped was 

 3,130, and the number of males 16,343. The females furnished 

 1,215 quarts of eggs, estimated at 150,000 to the quart. 



In April when the pikeperch are spawning in Scriba creek, 

 at Constantia, the stream is filled with small yellow perch and 

 minnows which come up to feed upon the eggs and fry of that 

 species. The percentage of pikeperch fry which escapes the 

 depredations of enemies in Scriba creek is so small as to be 

 hardly worth consideration, and herein lies one great advantage 

 of artificial culture; the Oneida hatchery averages about 90 per 

 cent, of fry from the eggs taken, and the fry are planted in 

 smaller lots where the enemies are less abundant. 



On May 12, 1911, the pikeperch at the Oneida station were 

 practically all hatched, and the planting of the fry was well 

 advanced. 



On April 20, 1911, Mr. Chester K. Green, of Cape Vincent, 

 !N". Y., had only a few pikeperch in the pens at his station, and 

 some of them were nearly ready to spawn. The ice up to that 

 date had been very heavy in Lake Ontario, the water very cold 

 and as a consequence fishermen had taken only a few fish. 



The work was conducted at Mud creek. The first take of eggs 

 was on April 21st, about three weeks later than the normal spawn- 

 ing season. During the first week of the spawning season 16,- 

 000,000 eggs were secured. 



Yellow Perch. 



At Constantia, N. Y., yellow perch began to spawn April 25, 



1911. Foreman Scriba collected a large number of gravid fish, 



and placed them in a large tank near the stripping-house. The 



eggs hatched duly and resulted in planting 95,000,000 of fry 



