March 19, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
The Work of the Fish Commission. 
The following extracts are from the report of 
George M. Bowers, United States Commissioner 
•of Fisheries, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 
1909: 
In its important work of stocking the public 
waters with food fishes, and of furnishing food 
and game fishes for private streams, lakes and 
ponds, the bureau has followed established 
methods that have had for their main object 
the largest results at the minimum cost. The 
magnitude of the operations necessitates close 
scrutiny of the details of the expenditures, and 
it is noteworthy that in the fiscal year 1909 fhe 
volume of the fishcultural work was much larger 
than ever before, while the available appropria¬ 
tions were not increased. In other words, not¬ 
withstanding that labor and materials cost more 
than formerly, the Government has expended 
less money in order to produce and plant a defi¬ 
nite number of food fishes. This result has been 
achieved by greater efficiency and zeal on the 
part of employees and by extension of the fields 
■of operation. 
The fish hatcheries operated in 1909 numbered 
thirty-five and the sub-hatcheries, auxiliaries and 
egg-collecting stations numbered eighty-four; 
these were located in thirty-two States and Ter¬ 
ritories. The regular hatcheries may be classi¬ 
fied as follows with reference to the fishes propa¬ 
gated: Marine species, three; river fishes of 
eastern seaboard, five; fishes of the Pacific coast, 
five; fishes of the Great Lakes, seven; fishes of 
the interior regions, fifteen. 
In the following table* the output of the hatch¬ 
eries is summarized by species. From the ag¬ 
gregate figures given it will be seen that a new 
record has been made in the bureau’s fishcul¬ 
tural work, the total output of 3,107,131,911 fish 
and eggs, being 233,675,000 more than in 1908, 
the best previous year. 
One of the most noteworthy aspects of the 
fishcultural work is the increased interest in the 
utilization of private or semi-private waters for 
rearing food and game fishes. This interest ap¬ 
pears in all parts of the country and among all 
kinds of people, and is evidenced by the de¬ 
mands made on the bureau for desirable fishes 
for stocking purposes. During the year applica¬ 
tions were received for fish for planting in 10,- 
112 different bodies of water, an increase of 25 
per cent, over 1908 and of more than 400 per 
cent, over 1900. 
In considering the results of the fishcultural 
work it should be borne in mind that the con¬ 
ditions which determine success or failure often 
depend largely on physical and meteorological 
factors operative during the comparatively short 
spawning season for the different species. 
Storms, freshets, drouth, abnormal heat and 
cold, and other natural . agencies may render 
abortive the most thorough preparations and 
most active efforts at particular stations. The 
most serious drawbacks, however, are the arti¬ 
ficial conditions—dams, lines of nets, etc.—that 
prevent the spawning fish from reaching their 
spawning grounds in adequate numbers. 
The artificial propagation of the Atlantic sal¬ 
mon at the station near the Penobscot River in 
Maine was much less successful than formerly. 
The conditions in this stream are most unfavor¬ 
able for fish and fishculture, and it is not im- 
-un 
probable that the long-continued efforts of the 
bureau to maintain the run of salmon in the 
only remaining sa'mon stream on our Atlantic 
coast will prove unavailing. 
The output of lake trout and pike was larger 
than ever before. An important factor in the 
collection of lake trout eggs was the co-opera¬ 
tion of fishermen operating gasolene boats who 
took eggs and delivered them free of charge to 
the bureau’s agents. Favorable weather and the 
active co-operation of Pennsylvania and Ohio 
conduced to the unusually large output of pike 
perch. 
The drouth seriously affected the collection of 
salmon eggs in the Pacific States. An experi¬ 
ment with the sockeye, which may lead to an 
important outcome, was made on Puget Sound. 
Five hundred fish caught in traps at Point 
Roberts and donated to the bureau by one of 
the fishing companies were towed in a live car 
to an adjacent creek and held for the ripening 
of their eggs. Sufficient eggs were collected to 
warrant the belief that it will be possible to 
propagate large numbers of this most valuable 
species by impounding in fresh water salmon 
caught in the commercial fishing. 
With regard to the cultivation of the fishes 
of the interior waters, it may be noted that the 
season showed a marked increase in the output 
of catfish, black-spotted trout and landlocked 
salmon, the work with the last named species 
establishing a record as a result of improved 
methods at Grand Lake Stream. The produc¬ 
tion of brook trout from the eggs of wild fish 
fell off in both New England and Colorado as 
the result of drouth, and as in previous years 
the demands for this fish could be met only by 
the purchase of large numbers of eggs from 
private hatcheries. There were no material 
changes in the distribution of the various other 
fishes that are regularly handled. 
Species whose cultivation was undertaken for 
the first time in 1909 are the smelt, the white 
bass and the yellow bass. The smelt (Osmerus 
mordax ) is one of the most popular food fishes 
of the New England States, in coast waters, in 
streams and in lakes. Preliminary cultural oper¬ 
ations in connection with the Green Lake (Maine) 
station resulted in the collection of 35,610,000 
eggs, and from the experience gained it is ap¬ 
parent that artificial propagation may be con¬ 
ducted on a large scale, and that the eggs may 
safely be shipped for long distances. Besides 
its excellent edible qualities the smelt is valu¬ 
able for planting in lakes containing trout and 
landlocked salmon as a food for those fishes. 
Experiments in the propagation of the white 
bass (Roccus clirysops) have begun at the Mam¬ 
moth Spring (Arkansas) station, and the indi¬ 
cations are that work on an extensive scale is 
possible. The yellow bass (Morone interrupta ) 
has been successfully handled at the same sta¬ 
tion, where it has been demonstrated that the 
fish will reproduce naturally in artificial ponds, 
and also that the eggs may be taken and fer¬ 
tilized artificially; the incubatory period is five 
days in a water temperature of 59 degrees F. 
The important work of rescuing fishes from 
the sloughs formed by the overflows of the 
Mississippi and Illinois rivers has been con¬ 
ducted under favorable conditions. Large num¬ 
bers of valuable food fishes have been restored 
to the rivers, and many of the younger fish have 
been utilized for stocking public and private 
ponds and streams throughout the country. 
Operations of a similar nature were undertaken 
on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the fall 
of 1908, on the occasion of the annual emptying 
of the canal. As the water falls the fish that 
have entered the canal from the river collect in 
the deeper places where they would eventually 
be destroyed, and to these points the bureau sent 
seining crews which collected the fish and trans¬ 
ferred them to the adjacent parts of the Poto¬ 
mac. About seventy-five miles of the canal were 
thus covered and 47,674 food fishes, consisting 
mostly of black bass, crappie, sunfish, rock bass, 
warmouth bass, catfish and suckers were saved. 
The work, however, was less successful than 
was anticipated, for the reason that persons liv¬ 
ing along the line of the canal were permitted 
to seine on some of the best grounds before the 
bureau’s men arrived. 
FISHCULTURAL RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES 
For many years the Government of New Zea¬ 
land has been introducing American fishes into 
waters originally deficient in desirable food and 
game fishes. The experiments have been ad¬ 
dressed largely to the salmon, trout and white- 
fishes, and the bureau has made many consign¬ 
ments of the eggs of these fishes to this dis¬ 
tant colony. The results of the introduction of 
the rainbow trout were, manifested at an early 
date, and it has long been known that New Zea¬ 
land affords the best rainbow trout fishing to 
be had anywhere in the w r orld. Over 40,000 
pounds have been taken by anglers in one sea¬ 
son from two small lakes, and the value of this 
species to the colony for sport and food is be¬ 
coming greater each year. It is only recently, 
however, that the outcome of the transplanting 
of other important species has been seen. From 
information communicated by the fish commis¬ 
sioner of New Zealand, it appears that the blue- 
back or sockeye salmon have become established 
in some streams, and that the chinook salmon, 
resulting from eggs sent from the bureau’s Mc¬ 
Cloud River station in 1901 and subsequent years 
appeared in certain rivers in considerable num¬ 
bers in 1908 and 1909 and has already become 
the subject of artificial propagation, 238,000 eggs 
being collected in 1909. 
In response to requests reaching the bureau 
through the Department of State, fish ova to the 
number of 568,150 have been donated to foreign 
countries as follow's: 
ARGENTINA. 
Blueback salmon . 100,000 
Brook trout . 50,000 
Chinook salmon . 200,000 
Lake trout . 50,000 
Landlocked salmon . 15,000 
Rainbow trout . 25,000 
Silver salmon . 92,000 
FRANCE. 
Brook trout . 10,000 
Lake trout . 10,000 
GERMANY. 
Rainbow trout . 16,150 
Total 568,150 
Through the courtesy of the Canadian fishery 
authorities the bureau, as heretofore, has main¬ 
tained at Rossport, Ontario, as an a 'junct of ,n>‘ 
Duluth (Minnesota) hatchery, a st.t. 
collection of eggs of the lake trout. 
• STUDY OF FISH DISEA! FT. 
The bureau has continued tc 
the diseases to which fish, par 
under domestication, are liable, and during the 
past year has devote 1 special consideration to 
*The totals alone are given. 
