PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 19 2 8 341 

 INTRODUCTION 



During the fiscal year 1928 the bureau was more than ordinarily 

 successful in its work of hatching, rearing, and distributing food 

 and game fishes. From all parts of the country it has received re- 

 ports of greater production of fish in waters stocked by the bureau, 

 particularly in Pennsylvania, New York, and other Eastern States, 

 where anglers state the trout fishing has improved greatly. 



In several sections of the country, it is true, the output of the 

 Government hatcheries has been insufficient to rehabilitate declin- 

 ing commercial fisheries, but it is hoped that all of the obstacles that 

 so far have prevented the complete success of the bureau's work 

 at such places may be overcome soon. 



The greatest improvement in fishing conditions has taken place 

 in the localities wdiere cooperative fish nurseries are being operated 

 by the sportsmen themselves, as well as by other organizations, 

 in rearing fish provided by the Bureau of Fisheries. jSIany de- 

 lighted owners of small natural or artificial ponds and lakes that 

 have been stocked with fish from Federal hatcheries have re- 

 ported that, though some of them contained no fish life whatever 

 l)efore being stocked by the bureau, they have provided an aston- 

 ishing number of food and game fishes. 



The efficac}^ of artificial propagation is evidenced in the rehabili- 

 tation of the runs of the commercially valuable salmons of the 

 Pacific coast and Alaska. By making heavy plants of eggs of these 

 species over a period of years, streams that had no native popula- 

 tion of the more valuable forms have become self-supporting. The 

 same has been done with the lake trout in certain sections of the 

 Great Lakes. The maintenance of the remnant of the Penobscot 

 salmon run and such slight improvement as it has shown in recent 

 years can be traced to the work of the hatchery at Craig Brook, 

 Me. In the Madison Valley in IVIontana a magnificent run of Loch 

 Leven trout has been built up to the point where 60 per cent of the 

 eggs produced can be. removed and planted in other waters, the 

 remaining 40 per cent being sufficient to provide an adequate stock 

 of fish for the parental waters. 



Following is a detailed statement of the progress made in this 

 branch of the bureau's Avork during the year ended June 30, 1928 : 



Part 1. — FISH PRODUCTION: PROPAGATION AND 

 RESCUE WORK 



SPECIES HANDLED 



During the year the propagation and rescue work of the bureau 

 affected 46 species of fish, as folloAvs : 



CaTFISHES (i^ILURID.^) : 



Catfislies (Ictalurus sp. and Leptops sp. ). 



Horned pout (Ai)ieii(ni.'i nebKlosKs). 

 Suckers ( Catostomid.e ) : P.nffalo tisli (Ictiobus sp.). 

 Paddlefishes ( roLYDONTiD.ii ) : Paddlefisli (Polydoii spathula). 

 Carp (Cyprinid.e) : 



Common carp {Cyprinus carpio). 



Goldfish {Carassinn auratus). 



