392 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



main line of the railroad, the shipment is sometimes forwarded in care 

 of the train baggage-master. In a few instances shipments are made 

 by express. 



' In making allotments of fish on applications the bureau takes into 

 consideration the area of water to be stocked, size and number of fish 

 available for distribution, and the distance the fish can be transported. 

 The fish are distributed by the bureau as fingerlings or yearlings. 

 However, in some instances it is necessary to distribute a portion of 

 the output before this stage is reached in order to prevent over- 

 crowding. Pondfishes, such as bass and bream, are distributed from 

 three weeks to several months after they are hatched. Basses usually 

 range from 2 to 6 inches and sunfishes from 2 to 4 inches in length 

 at time of deliver}'. The commercial species, such as whitefish and 

 pike perch, are produced in large numbers and necessarily are handled 

 as fry. As a general rule, the bureau delivers fish in the order in 

 which the applications are received, and requests remain on file until 

 delivery of the desired species can be made. 



The bureau receives annually approximately 15,000 applications 

 for fish, about 70 per cent of which ask for the so-called warm- 

 water species such as bass, crappie, and bluegill, the remaining 30 

 per cent being for the various species of trout. While it is not diffi- 

 cult to meet the demand for trout, since they can be artificially incu- 

 bated and fed on liver until they are large enough to be distributed 

 or even until they have reached a legal size for catching, the situation 

 with reference to the warm-water fishes is quite different, as they are 

 nest builders and must be bred under nearly natural conditions. 



Sudden changes in temperature during the breeding season and 

 other factors over which there is no control make the output of a 

 pond station uncertain. Moreover, the spiny-rayed fishes, especially 

 the basses, are predatory in their habits, and when confined to small 

 water areas where the amount of natural food is limited they will 

 prey upon their own young. 



The primary requirement for the production of pondfish is ade- 

 quate pond space, and the bureau, with a total pond area of less than 

 200 acres, must spread the output of these ponds over hundreds of 

 thousands of acres of open waters. It is therefore apparent that the 

 bureau, with its limited facilities, can not furnish applicants many 

 fish. In fact, the custom is to deliver merely the nucleus of a brood 

 stock for waters in need of restocking, with the understanding that 

 the fish will be planted and given an opportunity to reproduce. The 

 bureau could not undertake to furnish enough fish annually to com- 

 pensate for those taken by anglers, so after the fish are received by 

 the applicant the work of conservation should begin, as no agency, 

 either public or private, can successfully maintain good fishing in a 

 body of water in which unrestricted fishing is allowed. 



Delivery of fish to an applicant in a remote section of the countrj' 

 can not be made until a sufficient number of applications have been 

 received from that section to warrant the expense of making a 

 messenger shipment. Shipments of trout from the bureau's eastern 

 stations are usually made during May and June, and applications 

 received after March 1 are carried on file for attention in the follow- 

 ing year. In the Eocky Mountain regions the distribution of trout 

 from stations is made from May to October, and applications from 



