332 Third Annual Report of the 



a bright orange color. Vast quantities are hatched, but better work 

 jould be done if they were hatched near the spawning grounds. 

 The fry are very small and difficult to hold in the tank. 



The smelt is ahead of all other fish for market value. Coming 

 in the Lenten season, just before shad appear on the coast and 

 before the trout season opens, Long Island smelt are in great de- 

 mand and always bring a good price. We did not collect as many 

 eggs as usual owing to the small size of the fish. The run was 

 very large but the fish were small. The extensive handling of the 

 eggs to separate them causes considerable loss, but still more 

 serious loss is due to overloading the hatching jars. 



Pike perch eggs were obtained from the Oneida Hatchery. 2,000- 

 000 fry were produced for planting in Lake Ronkonkoma. The 

 eggs arrived in fine condition, hatched well, and the results from 

 stocking should be good. Ronkonkoma Lake is a beautiful sheet 

 of water having an area of about 300 acres with a depth of nearly 

 70 feet. 



The work with sea bass should be greatly increased, and this 

 could be done if we had a boat to go to the fishing grounds for eggs. 

 Several men who fish for sea bass collect eggs, but in order to 

 extend the work we must have a boat. The men who pen the fish 

 for the late fall market do not want to have them handled as they 

 are difficult to strip without more or less injury because of the 

 hard spines. These fish are very valuable at certain seasons, and 

 pens built of brass wire netting often contain several thousand 

 dollars worth of fish. Had we the means of catching the fish we 

 could build pens and hold the bass until they are ready for strip- 

 ping. Small tanks or pens which would give us all the eggs we 

 could handle should be built at the hatchery. 



The lobster is hatched at the Auxiliary Hatchery on "Fort Pond 

 Ray, Montauk. Owing to a long spell of foggy, bad weather the 

 fishermen were unable to set their pots outside where they would 

 catch egg bearing lobsters. Not being properly equipped for this 

 work we were unable to make a good record. A motor boat is 

 much needed, to go to the several fishing stations to collect eggs. We 

 were limited to what came to Montauk Landing. Captain E. R. 

 Tuthill and other fishermen did what they could to help us. One 

 fisherman who sets pots around Block Island and in the race says 



