56 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



time shortage of funds compelled the discontinuance of the work 

 though a considerable amount of territory was left wholly untouched. 

 The field in general embraced all lowland areas lying between Pres- 

 cott, Wis., and Andalusia, 111. The Homer station and the substa- 

 tions at Marquette and Bellevue, Iowa, and at La Crosse, Wis., were 

 employed as holding and distributing points for the fishes collected 

 in their vicinity. A small amount of rescue work was also done in 

 the State of Louisiana in cooperation with the Louisiana Conserva- 

 tion Commission, and at the Friar Point (Miss.) station under the 

 immediate direction of the superintendent of the Tupelo station. 



The number of fish handled at all points in the rescue field during 

 the season amounted to 139,799,031, and all of them were released in 

 suitable adjacent waters with the exception of 1,164,952, or less than 

 1 per cent of the whole. These were shipped to applicants in various 

 parts of the United States by means of the bureau's distribution cars 

 and messengers. The most prolific fields were in the vicinity of La 

 Crosse, Wis., the substation at that point handling 58,135.611 fish in 

 the course of the season and furnishing a material part of the output 

 of rescued fish supplied to applicants. A table showing the number 

 of fish of each species produced and the output from each distributing 

 center may be found on page 11. The average cost of the work per 

 thousand fish rescued was about 19 cents. 



In accordance with an agreement entered into with the Louisiana 

 Conservation Commission cooperative rescue operations were taken 

 up in Mississippi River waters of the State on October 23, 1922. 

 After removing the fish imprisoned in barrow pits near Baton 

 Rouge, the men, boats, and equipment were transferred for further 

 work to Bayou Sara, thence to Angola, and finally to the Atchaf alaya 

 River in the vicinity of Simmesport. After a careful survey of the 

 conditions at this latter point it was decided that the probable re- 

 sults of the contemplated operations were too small to justify the 

 expenditure involved, and on November 17 the bureau withdrew 

 from the field. As a result of the cooperative work in this terri- 

 tory 451,487 fishes of miscellaneous species were removed from tem- 

 porary waters and returned to the main channel of the river. For 

 its prosecution the State furnished the use of a launch and a house- 

 boat, to serve as living quarters, and the bureau provided the serv- 

 ices of two experienced fish culturists. 



The appreciable falling off from the output of the preceding year 

 in the rescue field was the direct result of the natural conditions 

 encountered in the work. Contrary to the usual experience, the 

 flood stage of the Mississippi River was unduly protracted by con- 

 tinuous rains, and the lowlands Avhere spawning occurs were not 

 cut off from the main channel, as in other years, until after a large 

 percentage of the young fish hatched had returned to it of their 

 own accord. 



The work was conducted to much better advantage than ever be- 

 fore, as the services of the special rescue personnel recently provided 

 for bv Congress were available throughout the season. Under pres- 

 ent arrangements the work of the fishing crews detailed to various 

 parts of the field can be personally supervised and directed by men 

 trained in the rescue operations, thus insuring greater efficiency than 

 has heretofore been possible and at the same time effecting a con- 

 siderable reduction in cost. 



