REPORT

OF THE

COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,

BUREAU OF FISHERIES, Washington, December 1, 1908.

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the operations of the Bureau of Fisheries for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908.

PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES.

OUTPUT.

The fish-cultural efforts of the Bureau in 1908 were directed chiefly to increasing the collection of eggs and the output of young fish. The possibilities of expansion and development in nearly every line are almost unlimited-depending largely on the funds and trained men available for opening up new fields-but the public need and popular demand seem best subserved under the present circumstances by the concentration of efforts for immediate results in quantity in the fields already occupied. Thus, with the same funds as during the previous year, the hatcheries in 1908 yielded 376,000,000 fish more than in any other year, and delivered about 458,000,000 eggs to State and foreign hatcheries. The total output was over 2,871,000,000 eggs and fish, of which over 2,400,000,000 were fish.

The conspicuous increases were in whitefish; silver, blueback, and humpback salmons, rainbow and brook trouts, large-mouth and small-mouth black basses, yellow perch and white perch, cod, flatfish, and lobsters, all of which were produced in greater quantities than ever before. There was likewise an increase in shad, due largely to improved conditions in the Albemarle region of North Carolina. The output of lake trout and pike perch fell behind the 1907 record, as did also that of chinook salmon and Atlantic salmon. Fluctuations in the production of many of the fishes handled are, however, inevitable, being due to weather and other conditions which can not be controlled.

Following is a table summarizing the distributions of fish and fish eggs during the past year. Of these distributions 440,161,000 eggs, 4,975,000 fry, and 49,800 older fish were delivered to various state fish commissions, and 3,997,725 eggs (salmon and trout) were shipped to foreign countries. On Lake Erie the Ohio and Pennsylvania fishery authorities cooperated with the Bureau in the collection of whitefish, lake-cisco, and pike-perch eggs.

SUMMARY OF DISTRIBUTION OF FISH AND EGGS, FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30,

Large as are the foregoing figures, they in no case exceed the actual need and in most instances fall far short of the requirements. The extent of the fisheries, the vast area and number of the waters to be stocked, and the results of overfishing and changed physical conditions, together with inadequate protection in many States, make imperative the most active prosecution of this work and its rapid expansion to meet special conditions.

A very large percentage of the fishes handled by the Bureau are deposited in public waters in accordance with the apparent demands and in response to the recommendations of those in charge of the various hatcheries. There is, however, a steadily increasing demand for certain kinds of fish to plant in the interior waters, both private and public, which indicates a growing popular interest in fish-culture and a more widespread appreciation of the great benefits that come from the utilization of small waters for the raising of food and game fishes. In 1908 the number of applications for such purposes reached 8,284, against 6,346 in 1907-the greatest increase so far recorded.

NOTES ON CERTAIN OPERATIONS.

New features of the work. The hatchery work in 1908, although so largely concentrated upon increasing the output, was not without new features. The yellow bass (Morone interrupta), prized as a

game and food fish in the Gulf States and the Middle West, was added to the list of species propagated; and in response to a growing and insistent demand there were distributed in several instances a brood stock of carp, which fish the Bureau has not been distributing for many years. Some waters not suited to any other species are suited to carp, and the purpose of the Bureau to supply this fish for such waters, preferably by transfer from other waters, should not provoke the criticism justly addressed to carp misplaced.

The collection of cod eggs by the Norwegian method, introduced about two years ago, has proved so satisfactory that it has superseded the former method as far as equipment permits, and will in time be generally adopted. The essential feature of the Norwegian method is that the brood cod are kept in suitable inclosures and allowed to spawn naturally, their eggs coming to the surface and being collected automatically. This is a much less expensive and more efficient way to obtain the eggs than was formerly practiced.

To increase the effectiveness of the Bureau's distribution of fish and at the same time to facilitate the office work, there has been established a card-index system by which will be preserved all obtainable data pertaining to plants of fish in the many thousands of ponds, lakes, and streams that the Bureau has stocked. This information will afford a complete fish-cultural history of the respective waters, and will be invaluable as a guide in the allotment of fish on application, showing readily what species are indigenous, what species have been successfully introduced or have failed to survive, and what species, by their habits or the habits of the fish already in the waters, would be an unsuitable addition.

Rescue of fishes from overflows.-The collection of fishes from overflowed lands of the Mississippi Valley was successfully conducted this year, but with increasing evidence of the need of more stations. These collections are at present depended upon to supply desirable pond and stream fishes to many applicants throughout all the Middle West and the South, and there is much greater demand than can be met. The deficiency, however, is not in the lack of obtainable fish, for millions are left to waste. By reason of the remoteness of many of the waters for which the fish are desired, it is impossible for the Bureau's cars and messengers to accomplish the necessary travel within the collecting season; and in the absence of convenient or adequate storage ponds none of the fish can be held for later distribution. It is most important for this work that there be established along the upper Mississippi stations with large pond capacity for the retention of rescued fish.

As a source of general supply for applicants, however, the overflow collections are necessarily unreliable. The flood seasons are variable and the periods of collecting consequently uncertain. In the interest of economy and efficiency, it is essential that the more remote regions shall be provided with hatcheries, which will furnish the desired fish to applicants in those respective localities, leaving the fishes collected from the overflowed districts to be distributed near by. Culture of striped bass.-The hatching of striped bass continues to be unsatisfactory, and the persistent difficulties that the Bureau has encountered point to the possibility that artificial propagation of this species upon any adequate scale may never be feasible, at least on the Atlantic coast. A removable adversity, however, is the ex

cessive fishing at the mouths and in the lower waters of streams, which prevents so large a proportion of the fish from reaching the spawning grounds, thus curtailing the Bureau's hatchery work as well as interfering with natural reproduction; and this condition, coupled with the doubtful practicability of artificial propagation in any case, leads to the conclusion that in the Atlantic Coast States the need of the striped bass is protective legislation. It may be said, indeed, that the future of this fishery is largely dependent upon the protection accorded the spawning fish.

Acclimatization of the lobster on the Pacific coast.-Efforts to establish the eastern lobster on the Pacific coast of the United States have been continued, and much the largest plant of adult lobsters ever attempted has been made in the waters of Puget Sound. In November, 1907, a carload lot of lobsters in charge of a special attendant was taken from the Atlantic coast to Seattle, the lobsters packed in wet seaweed, held in shallow trays, and kept at a low temperature en route. There was only a small loss in transit, and 1,011 fully grown lobsters, 470 being egg-bearing, were safely deposited on suitable bottom about the San Juan Islands.

Some results of fish-culture.-Results of the propagation of whitefish in the Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Erie, have been unmistakably evident during the past year, and the commercial fishermen unanimously credit the abundance of fish to the work of the hatcheries; the catch during 1907 and the first half of 1908 was larger than in any equal period for fully twenty years. The numerous and long unrewarded attempts to acclimatize the chinook salmon in New England waters have borne their first noteworthy fruit in Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, where many of these fish have recently been captured and identified. Whether this valuable species will succeed in establishing itself in this lake remains to be seen. Fishermen all along the New England coast report a remarkable increase in the abundance of lobsters; this is shown by a larger catch and a reduction in the price paid by consumers, and is believed to be the outcome of the largely increased plants of fry during the past few years.

SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY.

PEARL-MUSSEL INVESTIGATIONS.

An important biological investigation during the past year has been addressed to the distribution and habits of pearly mussels in the Mississippi Valley and to experiments in mussel culture. The pearlbutton industry of the United States has an invested capital of $2,000,000 and produces an annual output valued at about $6,000,000, but the supply of fresh-water mussels which constitute its raw material is becoming rapidly exhausted, and the industry will eventually cease to exist unless relief is afforded. The Bureau is now endeavoring to locate all possible sources of supply and to determine the extent of the depletion which has occurred, is making studies of the habits of the mussel in order to recommend necessary regulation of the fishery, and is experimenting in artificial propagation. The culture experiments have been successful almost from the beginning, and the work is even now being conducted on a scale promising practical results. Congress, moreover, at the solicitation of the pearl-button interests and