200 kg of trout per minute can be loaded onto trucks 

 from concrete raceways. 



In addition to loading distribution trucks and 

 transferring fish between ponds, the pump can be 

 attached to a grading device. With this device about 

 200 kg of fish per minute can be sorted by size. 



TRAINING SCHOOLS 



The federal government operates three in-service 

 training schools for training fish culturists. These 

 schools are located in Spearfish. S.Dak.; Marion, 

 Ala.; and Leetown. W. Va. They were established 

 to provide essential technical training in the field of 

 fish hatchery management. Operation of the 

 schools is oriented to the activities of the Bureau of 

 Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and includes such to- 

 pics as nutrition, pathology and disease control, 

 I fish-cultural development, and general fish hatch- 

 ery management. In addition, strong emphasis is 

 placed on the use of hatchery fish in managing open 

 waters. 



Although the primary goal is to provide trained 

 fish culturists for the National Fish Hatchery Sys- 

 tem, there has been increased interest in recent 

 years from state and foreign agencies in sending 

 trainees to the schools. The trainees may already 

 have a broad academic background in biology, but 

 the art of application must be learned through prac- 

 tice. The training schools serve as a link between 

 the academic world and the actual hatchery opera- 

 tion. In fact, T. Sana, a native of Japan, completed 

 our fish disease course at the Leetown National 

 Fish Hatchery last year. 



this man-made habitat. They will migrate to the 

 ocean to live and grow. Three to seven years later 

 they will return to the Sacramento River as vigor- 

 ous fighting game fish and also valuable, nutritious 

 food. Some individuals may weigh 30 kg, and where 

 1 kg of fish migrated to sea from the spawning 

 channel, 50 kg will return. Most of the returning fish 

 will be captured by either sport or commercial 

 fishermen before they reach Tehama-Colusa, but 

 sufficient numbers will reach the canal to assure 

 perpetuation of the run. 



Operation of the spawning channel is both an 

 engineering and a fish cultural challenge. The en- 

 gineering challenge will be in operating the mam- 

 moth traveling bridge which will service the canal. 

 The bridge will span the canal, and travel its length 

 via motorized carriages running on rails along the 

 sides of the canal. It will serve as a working plat- 

 form from which biologists and engineers can ma- 

 nipulate both the fish and their environment for 

 optimum production. An underwater viewing 

 chamber will be suspended from the bridge to per- 

 mit the observation of the movements and behavior 

 of the fish. Elaborate gravel cleaning devices will 

 flush deposited silt from the channel after each 

 spawning season. Young fish will be sorted, 

 counted, and representative numbers marked as a 

 means of evaluating the contribution to the Pacific 

 salmon fishery. 



These and other changes that have taken place 

 during the last few years in fish hatcheries, reflect 

 an emerging scientific approach to the ancient art of 

 fish culture. 



TEHAMA-COLUSA SALMON 

 SPAWNING CHANNEL 



A totally different approach to intensive fish cul- 

 ture is the Tehama-Colusa multipurpose water di- 

 version project and spawning channel in California. 

 Built to divert water for irrigation purposes from the 

 Sacramento River, the upper 5.5 km of this canal 

 will function as a spawning channel for 60,000 

 Chinook salmon. 



Access to the spawning channel will be control- 

 led to allow optimum numbers to lay their eggs at 

 one time. The eggs will incubate in the canal, and 

 the resulting young fish will live and be fed there 

 until they are ready to migrate to sea. 



When the spawning channel reaches full capac- 

 ity, up to 60 million chinook salmon will begin life in 



REFERENCES 



BOWEN, J. T. 



1970. A history of fish culture as related to the develop- 

 ment of fishery programs. //; N. G. Bensen (editor). A 

 century of fisheries in North America, p. 71-9.1. Am. 

 Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. 7. 

 BURROWS, R. E., and H. H. CHENOWETH. 



1970. The rectangular circulating rearing pond. Prog. 

 Fish-Cult. 3::67-80. 

 BURROWS. R. E., and B. D. COMBS. 



1968. Controlled environments for salmon propagation. 

 Prog. Fish-Cult. .M):I2.V136. 

 DAVIS. H. S. 



1953. Culture and diseases of game fishes. University of 

 California Press, Berkeley. 323 p. 

 HAGEN. W.. and J. P. O'CONNOR. 



19.'i9. Public fish cuhure in the United States, 1958. A 

 statistical summary. U.S. Fish. Wildl. Serv.. Circ. 58, 

 44 p. 



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