J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES.

REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONER OF CANADA.

The report.of Mr. William F. Whitcher, Commissioner of Fisheries of Canada, made to the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, on the operations of his department for 1874, is, like its predecessors, a document of very great value, and especially so on account of the very full and accurate statistics of the yields of the products of the sea and the rivers of the various parts of the Dominion.

According to this report, the condition of the fisheries generally is improving, their money value in 1874 amounting to $11,681,886, or an increase of nearly $1,000,000 over that of the preceding year. This, of course, embraces fish and fish products for exportation, while ten per cent., it is thought, should be added to represent the domestic consumption. The products of British Columbia, Manitoba, and the northwestern territories are not communicated.

Of the sum mentioned, Nova Scotia is credited with $6,652,000, New Brunswick $2,685,000, and Quebec $1,608,000, with smaller quantities for Ontario and Prince Edward's Island.

The report also includes an account of what has been done in the Dominion in the way of artificial propagation of the salmon; and we are informed that there are five fish-hatching establishments now in successful operation-namely, at New Castle (Ontario), Tadousac, Gaspé, Restigouche, and at Newcastle (New Brunswick). The quantity of eggs laid down in these five establishments exceeds four millions, of which about eighty-three per cent. will probably become young fish. Similar establishments are recommended for Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, the Eastern townships, and on Detroit River, near Sandwich. A favorable place has been found near the Narrows, among the Thousand Islands, on the Canadian shore of the River St. Lawrence, for hatching and rearing such fish as bass, pickerel, and muskallonge.

Special attention is called by the Commissioner to the importance of the salmon of British Columbia and Frazer's

River. Acknowledgments are made to the United States Fish Commissioners for the donation of a number of eggs of the California salmon, which were hatched at the establishment at New Castle, Ontario.

Of interest to some American salmon fishermen, who resort in so great numbers to the rivers of the Dominion for the purpose of taking salmon with the rod, is a table, giving the number of captures in all the rivers in the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. The largest credits are 1311 to the Restigouche, and 654 to the Nepissiguit. Next to these the Great Cascapedia furnished 418 fish, of an average weight of twenty-three and a half pounds, the largest fish weighing forty-eight and a half pounds.

NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES.

The Massachusetts Commissioners of Fisheries have published their ninth annual report, for the year ending January 1, 1875, which, like its predecessors, occupies a prominent part in the histories of state and national measures taken for multiplying the food fishes. The principal work of the Commissioners consisted in hatching the eggs and planting the young of the California and Maine salmon, and the hatching of shad in the Merrimac River at North Andover. A few land-locked salmon were also obtained from Sebec, and distributed to different parts of the state. The number of shad caught at Andover, in 1874, was 1680, which furnished 6,249,000 spawn. Of these 3,500,060 were hatched and distributed in various waters of the state. The average of the yield of eggs was 10,278 to each female.

NINTH REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF CONNECTICUT.

The ninth report of the Fish Commissioners of Connecticut, made to the General Assembly at the May session of 1875, has been published by these gentlemen, and contains the usual evidence of their activity and energy in prosecut ing the labor intrusted to them. They report a good deal of work in stocking the ponds of the state with black bass, as also in the hatching of shad in the Connecticut River, and their distribution. They are quite satisfied that the measures taken by the state to multiply this last-mentioned fish

have been successful, the number caught during the past season having been unusually great, and the price being correspondingly cheap, while, in addition to all this, the average size of the fish has been increased.

They report considerable difficulty in carrying out the laws of the state in reference to the establishment of fishpounds in Long Island Sound, having been enjoined from proceeding against certain delinquents by the societies sustaining such establishments.

They have much to say also of the prospect of success in regard to the introduction of the California salmon from the United States fishery on the M'Cloud River, thinking the fish to be eminently adapted to the waters of their state.

FIRST REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES OF

MICHIGAN.

The first report of the State Commissioners and Superintendent of Fisheries of Michigan for the years 1873-74 has just been published, and exhibits the operations of a very energetic and active board for the period mentioned. A hatching-house has been established at Pohagan, near Niles, where large numbers of whitefish, salmon, and salmon-trout have been hatched out, and distributed throughout the state. A great deal has already been accomplished by means of the liberal appropriations on the part of the state toward restocking the waters with useful fishes; and should these labors be continued for a few years, Michigan will have but little to ask for in reference to the restoration of her former very extensive fishery privileges.

The Commissioners first appointed were Governor John J. Bagley, George Clarke, and George H. Jerome. Mr. Jerome has, however, been appointed Superintendent of the State Fishery Establishment, and his place on the Commission has been filled by the appointment of Mr. A. J. Kellogg.

The fish most important to Michigan at present is the whitefish, which occurs on every side of the state, and has heretofore constituted the basis of a very extensive business. The decrease, however, has been more and more marked year by year, and it is quite probable that but for the efforts which have been initiated, and are likely to be continued, on the part of the state, the economical value of these fish would

have been practically done away with. By restoring their original abundance, and even more, and adding the shad, the California salmon, and the Eastern salmon to the number of the inhabitants of the Great Lakes, and introducing the land-locked salmon into the lakes of the interior, the problem of cheap food for the people in Michigan will be measurably solved.

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF

MINNESOTA.

The first annual report, for the year 1874, of the State Fish Commissioners of Minnesota has just been printed by order of the Legislature. In this the Commissioners, Messrs. Day, Austin, and Latham, call attention to the great propor tion of water acreage in Minnesota, and the advantages of the state for fish-culture. According to their calculation, there are, exclusive of Lake Superior and Lake Pepin, and of rivers, no less than 1,601,848 acres of inland lakes alone, or about three and one third acres of water to every hundred acres of land. In addition, the Commissioners claim for the state the existence of some of the most important food fishes of the West, chief among which they consider the whitefish. This is of very great importance to the inhabitants of the state, and nearly 20,000 Indians in Northern Minnesota subsist almost exclusively upon it. An account of the measures taken for the disposition of the shad and salmon placed at their command by the United States Fish Commissioner is also presented by them.

FIFTH REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF RHODE

ISLAND.

The fifth annual report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island, made to the General Assembly in January, 1875, has been published, and contains an account of what has been done by the Commissioners in pursuance of their trust. The efforts of the Commissioners have been largely directed toward restocking the rivers of the state with salmon, of which about 200,000 young were introduced into sundry rivers, particularly the Pawtuxet. Many young salmon were seen in the stream during 1874, and the prospect of success is very encouraging.

The Commissioners render their acknowledgments to the United States Fish Commission for a large supply of young shad placed in the Pawtuxet and other rivers.

An extended distribution of eggs and spawn of trout was also made. A good deal was also done with black bass; and it is probable that before long every considerable body of water in the state will be supplied with this fish.

In an appendix to the report is given a list of the various laws that have been passed for the regulation of the fisheries. in Rhode Island.

REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA FOR 1874.

The State Commissioners of Fisheries of Pennsylvania have published their report for the year 1874, and give a satisfactory exhibit of their activity during the year. They remark that, owing to some as yet unexplained fatality, the indications of the increase of black bass during the year are not so great as they had expected, and that the number of young fish caught in the streams is much less than that of the previous seasons. They suggest that this may be in part due to the covering up of the spawning-beds and the destruction of the spawn in consequence of heavy freshets during the critical season.

Attention is called to the destructive character of the pound nets and other fishing improprieties in Lake Erie, and the action of the Legislature is invoked for a remedy.

The fish-way, constructed at great expense, for the passage of shad at the Columbia Dam, the Commissioners believe, with the alterations recently made, will be adequate to its object. During 1874 the low stage of water and other circumstances combined to prevent the upward passage of the fish for a certain part of the season, although, when a sufficient flow passed through the chute, a considerable number are supposed to have ascended.

The shad-hatching operations of the past season were conducted on the Susquehanna River, just below the Columbia Dam, and from 174 spawning fish 3,205,000 eggs were obtained (an average of rather less than 18,500), and 3,065,000 young fish hatched out. The work extended from the 29th of May to the 24th of June: The highest temperature observed in

S