28 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



take to furnish stock for waters that need nothing but reasonable 

 protection to restore them to full productivity, 



RELATIONS WITH STATES IN FISH CULTURE. 



To meet the heavy demands by tourists and automobile parties 

 upon the fishing in the waters of many States, the State authorities 

 have had either to increase the production at their own hatcheries 

 or to work in closer harmony than heretofore with the bureau. 

 The cooperative relations thus established have been beneficial to 

 both parties and in many instances have resulted in more economical 

 and efficient work than would otherwise have been possible. 



In several parts of the country eggs are collected conjointly by 

 the bureau and the State fish commissions. In some instances the 

 bureau's personnel is lent to the State authorities for the develop- 

 ment of egg-collecting fields with the understanding that an equitable 

 division of the eggs or the resulting fry will be made. In the south- 

 ern districts of the Mississippi Valley young fish are removed from 

 more or less inaccessible waters, where they are crowded together in 

 large numbers and serve only as pi'ey for larger fish, and are placed 

 in a more suitable environment, that they may eventually be of benefit 

 to the public. In the upper Mississippi Valley assistance is rendered 

 by the neighboring States in transferring fish from landlocked pools 

 to tributary waters of tlie Mississippi River wliere favorable condi- 

 tions exist. In several cases surplus eggs have been exchanged by 

 State organizations' and the bureau with advantage to both parties. 



With the increasing demand for fish other cooperative relations 

 between the bureau and the States have assumed larger proportions. 

 The bureau is constantly calling the attention of various State 

 officials to the necessity for more adequate laws for the protection of 

 the food and game fishes within their boundaries. At the present 

 time legislation of this character is lacking to a greater extent in the 

 Southern States than in any other part of the country. The fisheries 

 of the South have not as yet become so depleted as in many parts 

 of the North, and, owing to the natural productivity of southern 

 waters, the need for protective legislation has not become so 

 imperative. However, the large influx of tourists to the Southern 

 States during the winter months is rapidly changing the situation, 

 and unless these States adopt measures for the protection of fish, 

 particularly during the spawning season, their waters will soon be 

 in a state of depletion. Not only are the laws inadequate but very 

 few States in this region make any additions to the existing stock by 

 the introduction of fish produced at their own hatcheries. 



The cooperative relations that have heretofore existed between the 

 bureau and the Canadian fisheries authorities have been continued. 

 Every year the bureau's station at Cape Vincent, N. Y., collects large 

 numbers of whitefish and cisco eggs on the Canadian side in the 

 Bay of Quinte, and not only turns over a portion of such collections 

 to the Canadian hatcheries but also liberates in Canadian waters a 

 certain percentage of the fry produced. The bureau has also received 

 from the Canadian authorities consignments of Atlantic-salmon 

 eggs and has returned in exchange eggs of the rainbow, brook, and 

 blackspotted trout. This cooperation between the two countries has 



