PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1927, 685 
INTRODUCTION 
With changing conditions in many streams throughout the United 
States it has become increasingly difficult to maintain the supply of 
fish by natural reproduction, and artificial propagation and stocking 
of waters are being depended upon more and more, with the result 
that the demand for fish for this purpose is considerably greater than 
existing facilities of the bureau can satisfy. The bureau has striven 
to meet this increased demand by enlisting the aid of other agencies. 
Its cooperative efforts have included the development of the plan 
suggested by Secretary Hoover of inducing sportsmen’s clubs and 
individuals to operate fish nurseries or rearing ponds; the greater 
interchange of facilities and aid between Federal and State fisheries 
authorities; and the advising of individuals and organizations as to 
the best means for developing their water resources. 
During the past year more than 50 cooperative fish nurseries were 
established and many requests were received to inspect sites to 
determine their suitability for such purpose. The bureau has 
cooperated with virtually every State in which the fisheries authorities 
are interested in a comprehensive plan of fish stocking. Finally, by 
correspondence, the distribution of publications, and by actual 
inspection of many areas proposed for fish-cultural use the bureau 
has rendered aid to individuals and organizations interested in 
conserving and increasing the fish supply. 
The earlier conception of the functions of the fish-cultural division 
of the bureau was that of an agency for introducing a brood stock of 
fish in barren waters and for substituting new and more desirable 
species in waters that already supported fish life. The planting of a 
brood stock that, when protected, would replenish the waters by its 
natural increase was considered adequate. "Nowadays it is not 
expected that natural reproduction will offset the drain in the more 
thickly populated and heavily fished regions, and it is understood that 
if fish are to be taken from the waters they must first be placed there. 
This refers especially to the game species, whose production and 
distribution are the most difficult and expensive part of the bureau’s 
fish-cultural work. 
During 1927 more than 6,000,000,000 eggs of the cod, haddock, 
pollock, and winter flounder were collected; over 500,000,000 eggs 
of the whitefish and cisco were handled; a similar number of pike- 
perch eggs was taken; and the number of eggs collected from the 
various species of Pacific salmons amounted to over 100,000,000. 
Such operations represent a waste or by-product recovery in the 
truest sense of the word, as, particularly in the case of the marine 
species, the fishes of the Great Lakes, and the shad, the eggs would 
be lost otherwise in marketing the parent fish. 
Inasmuch as the commercial species listed above are released 
largely in the egg or fry stage, the unit cost of producing them is low. 
Certain species, such as the shad and salmon, can be reared to the 
fingerling size successfully, and the question arises as to whether the 
greater expenditure required for such a plan would not be justified by 
the greater benefits derived. Wherever possible without occasioning 
too great a demand upon its funds, the bureau is endeavoring to 
make this its policy. When the public comes to realize that there 
is a unit cost in the hatchery production of fish, just as there is in the 
