DIFFICULTIES IN FISH CULTURE. 365 



frequent and the temperature is low. Great losses of eggs frequently take 

 place on account of bad weather, either from shock in transportation to the 

 hatcheries or by sudden and unavoidable freezing. 



It is sometimes hard to locate the spawning grounds of lake trout 

 and white hsh, because the fish may desert certain places which the)* have 

 frequented for years and must be sought elsewhere. Very often it is observed 

 that an excess of males may occur without any corresponding females, or 

 there mav be plentv of ripe females and no suitable males. Thousands of 

 eggs have been lost for this reason. Occasionally State employees while 

 collecting or developing eggs in certain waters are attacked and injured 

 by evil disposed persons or the hatching apparatus is damaged at night. 

 Would-be criminals are sometimes very unfriendly to fish culture. 



Certain trout as, for example, the black spotted or red throat, intro- 

 duced in the East originally from Colorado, refuse to yield their eggs in 

 ponds or they may become egg bound and unable to void them. I remem- 

 ber such an instance at Northville, Mich., and it has probably been noted 

 at many other places where ponds are small. In one of the lakes near 

 Saranac Inn, however, where these trout have ample room, the difficulty 

 is partly overcome. 



Dam 5 in streams 



Impassable dams in rivers and creeks of New York greatly restrict 

 the up-stream movements of fish as their spawning season approaches. 

 They also make opportunities for unthinking and unprincipled persons to 

 capture large numbers of fish illegally while assembled near such obstruc- 

 tions for spawning purposes. At a point on the Oswegatchie River, for 

 example, a dam more than 200 feet long occupies the whole width of the 

 stream and stops every fish on its vernal ascent intent on reproduction. 

 Sturgeon, pike perch, black bass, maskalonge, etc., come down from Black 

 Lake and are stopped by the dam. They spawn there and then return to 

 the lake. Certain people are always on the lookout for these fish and they 

 catch them by day and at night without regard to law or common sense. 

 What is true of tins obstruction applies equally to all and their number is 

 legion. Fishways have been introduced at a few points, but they have 

 generally been destroyed by ice or freshets for want of proper construction. 



