The project was carried out as a joint undertaking of the 

 Branches of Fish Hatcheries and Fishery Management Services. 

 Hatchery managers and their assistants, hatchery production 

 biologists, fishery management biologists, and other fishery 

 personnel of the Bureau cooperated in the svirvey by conducting 

 personal interviews with pond owners and farm managers. General 

 instructions were provided all those making interviews, and a 

 single form (Budget Bureau No. U2-5923) was used. The name of 

 the pond owners, his address, acreage of the pond, and the fish 

 stocked were entered on the form in advance of the interview; 

 "all other data were recorded in the presence of the pond owner 

 or manager. 



FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY 



Findings will be presented under numbered headings corres- 

 ponding to the questions on the interview form, copy of which is 

 included at the end of this report. The 1,000 ponds reported had 

 an average area of I.7 acres. Data from the survey 'are summarized 

 in Table 1. 



(1) Purposes served by the ponds 



These were reported to be, to the nearest percent: livestock, 

 80 percent; fishing, 70 percent; irrigation water, 13 percent; 

 swimming, 9 percent; wildlife, 5 percent; other purposes, k percent. 

 Most pond owners gave at least two reasons for constructing the 

 pond, and these were given equal weight in tabulating the answers. 

 Water for livestock and fishing dominate the reasons given for 

 building the ponds in all regions. 



(2) Is the pond providing fishing ? 



In all, 958 of the ponds provided some fishing in 1959 • 

 Ninety three percent of the reports specified that fishing was 

 enjoyed by members of the family; 83 percent pennitted friends 

 to fish; 19 percent permitted tenants to fish; and 10 percent 

 permitted others to fish. Of those who reported no fishing 

 {k2 ponds out of 1,000), 22 gave no reason, 7 claimed loss of 

 water, 5 that the fish died, 5 did not allow any fishing, and 

 3 claimed that heavy mud and silt prevented fishing. 



(3) Is permission required for the public to fish the pond ? 



In reply to this question, 82 percent of the owners said they 

 required permission before allowing the public to fish; 13 percent 

 did not require permission; and 5 percent did not answer. This 

 does not indicate the percent of ponds actually open to public 

 fishing, which was not determined in the survey, except as indicated 

 in the replies to question No. 2. 



