25. Washington, D. C. Dec. 31, 1886.
REPORT ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF FISH AND EGGS BY THE U. S.
FISH COMMISSION FOR THE SEASON OF 1885-86.
Go to to Part 2
By Marshall McDonald.
The distribution of young carp, whitefish, shad, and various species of Salmonidae is made chiefly by car or detached messenger service, the organization of which the present year was the same as that of 1884. The distribution of eggs and of carp and trout to applicants not located sufficiently near to the centers of distribution is made by express.
During the season of 1885 the cars of the Commission were moved 74,805 miles, as follows:
Car No. 1, N. Simmons in charge...............................24,939
Car No. 2, Geo. H. H. Moore in charge......................34,061
Car No. 3, J. F. Ellis in charge ..................................15,805
Total...................................................................... 74,805
Of the above transportation, 26,212 miles were furnished by the railroads gratuitously, and 48,593 miles were paid for at the rate of 20 cents per mile. The Commission is indebted to the personnel and management of the railroads for much courtesy, consideration, and dispatch.
The following summaries of the number of fish and embryonized eggs distributed show (1) the distribution by.species, (2) the station whence they were derived: '
Fish and eggs furnished for distribution by the stations during the season of 1885-'86.
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US Fish Commission
Summary of distribution for the season of 1885-86
" Of this number, 550 were one or more years old.
t Of this number, 1,791 were one or more years old.
Of this number, 4,664 were one or more years old.
~ Of this number, 1$7,414 were for private ponds and 161,370 for public waters.
The details of distribution summarized above are as follows:
(a) WHITEFISH (Coregonus clupeiformis)
Of this species 42,800,000 eggs were distributed from Michigan stations the present season and were allotted as follows:
To the State commissioners, to be hatched and planted in public waters. 34,800,000
To foreign countries (international exchange) ...........................................6,000,000
To other U. S. Fish Commission stations .................................................2,000,000
Total...................................................................................................42,800,000
The eggs which were retained and hatched at the stations yielded 92,000,000 fry, which were distributed as follows:
To Lake Michigan ....................................................29,000,000
To LakeSuperior........................................................ 6,000,000
To Lake Huron........................................................ 30,000,000
To Lake Erie............................................................15,000,000
To Lake Ontario.......................................................12,000,000
Total ......................................................................92;000,000
The distribution was made by two cars instead of one, as heretofore, with the result of securing greater dispatch in the work and distribution of fry under better conditions.
(b) MORANKE (Coregonus albula).
We are indebted to the courtesy of the Deutsche Fischerei-Verein for two consignments of eggs of this small species of whitefish. The total number received aggregated 150,000, which were allotted as follows:
To C. G. Atkins, Bucksport, Me., for hatching and planting in Maine waters....100,000
To F. N. Clark, Northville, Mich., for stocking lakes in Northwestern States......50,000
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US Fish Commission 1886
PAGE 386
(c.) BROOK TROUT (SalvOinusfontinalis).
Eggs of this species are collected at the Northville Station from fish reared in ponds. The number furnished for distribution during the winter of 1885-86 was 145,000, which were assigned as follows:
To State commissioners and individuals .....................................................50,000
To Wytheville Station, United States Commission, for hatching and rearing...50,000
To foreign countries (international exchange) .............................................45,000
Total.................................................................................................... 145,000
The eggs retained at the station to be hatched yielded 25,000 fry. Of these 4,000 were distributed to applicants in Michigan and Indiana, and the balance retained at the station for rearing.
(d) LAKE TROUT (Salzelinus namaycusla).
The eggs of this species distributed by the U. S., Fish Commission are all collected at the Northville Station. The total assignments of eggs the present season aggregated 1,031,000; these were distributed as follows:
To State commissioners and individual applicants ...............................406,000
To other United States stations, to be hatched and reared ...................450,000
To foreign countries (international exchange) .....................................175,000
Total................................................................... .........................1,031,000
The eggs retained at the station yielded 115,500 fry, which were disposed of
as follows:
To applicants in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan .............................. 75,500
Retained at the station, to hatch and rear ....................................40,000
(e) RAINBOW TROUT (Salmo irideus).
Eggs of this species are collected for propagation and distribution at Baird Station, California; Northville Station, Michigan; and Wytheville Station, Virginia. At Baird Station the eggs are obtained from wild native fish. At Northville and Wytheville Stations the breeders have been reared from eggs artificially impregnated at Baird Station and hatched and reared at the stations.
The total production available for distribution was as follows:
From Baird Station, California:
Hatched and planted in McCloud River.....................................28,700
Hatched for ponds at station ...................................................11,300
Forwarded to applicants and Eastern United States stations ......246,000
From Northville Station, Michigan:
Forwarded to applicants ...........................................................5,000
Hatched for rearing at station ,,,...............................................30,000
From Wytheville Station, Virginia:
Forwarded to applicants ..........................................................30,000
Retained at the station to be hatched and reared .......................106,000
Total .....................................................................................517,000
Our experience, extending over a number of years, has clearly shown that the results from planting the fry of any of the species of Salmonidae are disappointing and wholly incommensurate to the expenditure incurred.
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Bulletin of the US Fish Commission
PAGE 386
Instances are rare in which substantial or even appreciable results have been obtained by planting young fish just before, or at the time, the absorption of the sac is complete. This is to be attributed to the fact that usually the streams stocked abound in cottoids, darters, and other species of predaceous fish of small size, which pursue and prey upon the helpless young fish so assiduously that few if any escape capture.
It has been determined, therefore, to retain the young fish at the stations and rear them till they have attained a length of from 4 to 6 inches, and are, consequently, of such size and vigor as to dominate the waters in which they are placed. The percentage of loss in rearing is, it is true, very considerable, but probably not greater than would occur in open waters not infested by predaceous fish; and, since fish of this size are comparatively exempt from natural casualty, it is probable that one pair of yearling trout will contribute as much towards the stocking of the waters as would a plant of several thousand fry.
A beginning in this new direction was made the present season. Rainbow trout, from 4 to 7 inches in length, to the number of 4,664, have been distributed from the Northville and Wytheville Stations. The distribution from Northville was made to lakes and other protected waters in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan; that from Wytheville to the headwaters of the Shenandoah, in Augusta County, Virginia, to the tributaries of the Potomac River in Washington County, Maryland, and to a number of spring-fed cold-water ponds in Maryland, Southwest Virginia, and Tennessee.
(f) ATLANTIC SALMON (Salmo salar).
The eggs of this species distributed by the Commission are all furnished by the collecting station at Bucksport, Me. The production for the year aggregated 1,251,000, which were distributed as follows:
To the commissioners of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.........751,500
To Cold Spring Harbor, for Delaware and Hudson Rivers .................500,000
Total ............................................................................................251,500
(g) SCHOODIC OR LANDLOCKED SALMON.
The station at Grand Lake Stream, Maine, reported 222,000 eggs of this species as available for assignment. These were distributed as follows:
To the State commissioners .............................................130,000
To foreign countries (in exchange) .....................................40,000
Transferred to other United States stations .........................52,000
Total ..............................................................................222,000
(h) BROWN TROUT (Salmo fario).
Three consignments of eggs of the brown trout (Salmo fario) were received from Germany.
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PAGE 389
The first consignment of 64,000 eggs from the Deutsche Fischerei- Verein arrived in very bad order and proved a total loss. The second lot of 40,000 eggs from the Deutsche Fischerei-Verein reached New York in good condition. A third lot of 50,000 eggs of this species from Max von dem Borne arrived in excellent condition. The entire number, aggregating 90,000 good eggs, were allotted as follows:
To Wytheville Station, Virginia..............................................3,000
To Northville Station, Michigan ..........................................23,000
To Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, NewYork....................63,000
To James Nevin, superintendent, Madison, Wis.....................1,000
The subsequent disposition of these eggs and details of waters stocked will be found in the reports of stations.
(i) SHAD (Clupea sapidissima).
Shad for distribution were contributed as follows:
Battery Station, Susquehanna River ....................................10,725,000
Fish Hawk Station, Delaware River ......................................8,063,000
Central Station, Potomac River ..........................................15,531,000
Steamer Lookout ...................................................................340,000
Total............................................................................... 34,659,000
In this distribution liberal plants of shad fry have been made in the Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Delaware, and the minor tributaries of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.
A summary of the distribution by river basins is as follows:
Rivers and minor tributaries of Chesapeake Basin..................14,137, 000
The Delaware and tributaries.................................................8, 403,000
Hndson River......................... ..............................................1,250,000
Tributaries of Narragansett Bay.................................................850,000
Tributaries of the Albemarle ..................................................1,500,000
Streams draining into the South Atlantic...................................2,050,000
The Mississippi and minor tributaries of the Gulf of Mexico ......4,561,000
Colorado River of the West ......................................................998,000
Snake River, Washington Territory...............................................10,000
Willamette River, Oregon .........................................................900, 000
Total*................................................................................. 34,659,000
*Of this number of fish which started from the stations, there perished before reaching destination, 1,861,000, as follows:
On trip to Willamette River, Oreg............................................850,000
On trips to Congaree and Green Rivers, S. C......................... ...575,000
On trip to Colorado River, Ariz................................................150,000
On trips to Fox and Illinois rivers, Ill...........................................96,000
On trips to Ocklockonnee and other Georgia Rivers ....................75,000
On trips to Blue, Smoky, and Republican Rivers, Kans ...............65,000
On trips to Appomattox and other Virginia Rivers.,.......................25,000
On trip to Narraganset Bay..........................................................25,000
Total ............. ......................................................................1,861,000
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Page 390
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION.
The attempt to acclimate the shad in the Colorado River of the West, which was begun in 1884, has been continued the present season, during which 848,000 fry were sent out by car No. 2, in charge of George H. H. Moore, and planted in good condition. Should the experiment prove successful, we may expect to see the plant of 1884 reappearing as full-grown, mature fish in the spring of 1887 or 1888.
The conditions that have determined the selection of the Colorado River of the West for this important experiment in acclimatization and afford reasonable.egpectation of successful results, are as follows:
The waters of the Colorado are exceptionally free from alkaline salts. The spring and summer temperature of the waters and other favorable characteristics make it probable that the young shad will find in them a congenial habitat during their sojourn in fresh waters. Great profusion of minute forms of animal life abounds in the waters. Every condition would therefore seem to be favorable to the early stages of life of the shad. If, after migrating to saltwater, they do not become wanderers, as the shad planted in the Sacramento River have done, there is every probability that the experiment will be successful.
Since the Colorado River empties into the head of the Gulf of California, which stretches south for 700 miles towards the equator before joining the ocean, it is probable that the high temperature of the waters of its more southern portions will serve as a bar, or temperature wall, to prevent the shad from passing southward into the open ocean.
Should this anticipation be realized, the shad, when mature, must necessarily find their way back to spawning ground in the Colorado and Gila Rivers.
An unsuccessful attempt was also made the present season to stock with shad the streams of the Seattle region of Washington Territory; 900,000 vigorous fry were selected and sent out by car No. 2, in charge of Mr. Moore, one of the most experienced and careful messengers of the Commission.
The experiment was hazardous, because the number of days required for uninterrupted transit from Washington to Seattle marks the limit of time within which transportation can be safely effected. A detention of three days en route,,caused by the washing away of bridges, resulted in almost total loss of shipment. Only 50,000 were alive on arrival at Portland, Oreg. These were deposited in the Willamette River, near that city.
A table of distribution of young shad, showing 18,871,000 planted during the season of 1885, will be found on pages 384 and 385 of the Fish Commission Bulletin for 1885. That table should be amended as follows:
Number of shad planted as given in the table ...........................18,871,000
Planted in Delaware River by steamer Fish Hawk ......................8,063,000
Planted in Susquehanna River from Battery Station....................5,524,000
Planted in Delaware River by steamer Lookout ...........................340,000
Total.....................................................................................32,798,000
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