PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1927 689 
The advantages that lie in having the sportsman himself raise the 
fish so that he may catch them later ave (1) that he will receive a larger 
assignment than ordinarily would be made on a regular application; 
(2) fish frequently larger than the legal size limit are planted; (3) the 
fish are immediately at hand, so that distribution can be made without 
the confusion and hurry incident to receiving fish from a messenger; 
and (4) it is possible to exercise greater care in planting the stock. 
The chief advantage is that under the nursery plan an organization 
will have a carload of fish in October, whereas otherwise it would 
receive only a few cans of small fish in the spring from one of the 
bureau’s hatcheries. The bureau gains (1) by having its distribution 
costs cut through handling a large proportion of its fish in the spring 
as advanced fry or small fingerlings; (2) by being able to utilize all 
its rearing facilities for the pr roduction of fingerlings to meet demands 
from sections where no nurseries have been. established ; and (3) by 
arousing the interest of the public and awakening it to a realization 
of the necessity for further stocking of waters and of the difficulties 
that limit the production of fish. 
Commercial fishermen are becoming convinced of the value of rear- 
ing pools and of the necessity for their adopting this means of increas- 
ing their business. The Alpena (Mich.) station has undertaken the 
rearing of lake trout in cooperation with an organization of fishermen 
in a near-by town. Several of the States also have made private fish 
nurseries an important part of their programs. The plan has become 
well established, the initial difficulties have been overcome, and the 
advantages have been made evident. There remains the task of 
standardizing the practices and procedure and expanding the plan 
to cover territory not yet included. 
OUTPUT 
There were distributed to applicants during the past fiscal year or 
returned to original waters 6,481,073,000 eggs, fry, fingerling, and 
larger fish, in spite of the fact that a larger percentage than usual of 
the 1927 hatch is being held over for distribution as fingerlings in 
1928. Of the above number, 190,502,000 were distributed as finger- 
lings, a decrease of 108,792,7 00 as compared with last year’s figures, 
and of which 1.9 per cent were purely game species, particularly trouts 
and pondfishes. The remainder were species that are the basis of the 
commercial fishery, although they may also be considered game fishes 
in certain respects. 
83420—28—2 
