SUMMARY 



The program of stocking farm and ranch ponds with fish produced 

 at the national fish hatcheries was evaluated in January I96O by a 

 survey of 1,000 ponds. This sample, which was randomly chosen, 

 represents l/UOth of the number of ponds stocked in 1957 hy the 

 Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife with bass, bluegill, redoar 

 sunfish and catfishes. A questionnaire, approved by the Bureau of 

 the Budget, was employed in 25 States in connection with personal 

 interviews of pond owners or managers by fishery biologists and 

 hatchery personnel. 



Pond owners reported that their principal reasons for building 

 the ponds were to provide water for livestock (80 percent) and fish- 

 ing (70 percent) . Of those persons fishing the ponds, 52 percent 

 were men, 23 percent women, and 25 percent children. Eighty-two 

 percent of the ponds were described as providing excellent or satis- 

 factory fishing. Ponds provided fishing in 1959 at the rate of 6k 

 fisherman-days per acre. Bass and bluegill were the principal species, 

 with an average catch of 5^ bass and 276 bluegill and other sunfish 

 per acre. Catfish, including bullheads, contributed to the fishing 

 in 20 percent of the ponds. 



Twenty-one percent of the pond owners had added fish on their 

 own, and 30 percent of the ponds contained wild fish. In ponds 

 where fishing was unsatisfactory, too many small bluegills, muddy 

 water, and presence of wild fish were the reasons most commonly 

 advanced. 



Conservation programs of the Department of Agriculture provided 

 financial assistance to 7I percent of the pond owners toward the 

 costs of constructing the ponds; 8^4- percent reported they had received 

 technical guidance from the Soil Conservation Service. 



Assuming a productive life of at least 5 years, and projecting 

 the findings on 1,000 ponds to all ponds stocked by the Bureau, 

 from 1953 to 1957> it is estimated that more than 20 million man- 

 days of fishing were provided to at least 5 million persons in 1959^ 

 as a result of this program. 



These anglers are estimated to be 25 percent of all persons 

 fishing in fresh water that year, and to have exerted 5 percent of 

 the fishing effort. The cost to the Government for the fish stocked 

 in the ponds was under 5 cents for each man-day of fishing provided. 

 It must be concluded that providing fish from our national fish 

 hatcheries to stock farm and ranch ponds is making a substantial 

 contribution to the recreation of a large segment of our people, 

 and at a relatively low cost. 



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