458 U. S. BUKEAU OF FISHERIES 



HATCHERY FISH-CULTURAL NOTES 

 DECISION REGULATING FISHING IN THE QUINAULT RIVER 



Under date of December 15, 1924, new regulations governing 

 salmon fishing in the Quinault River were approved and promul- 

 gated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. With the view of regulating 

 fishing within the reservation the regulations contain a clause pro- 

 viding for the collection of a royalty from Indians catching more 

 than a specified amount of fish. The enforcement of this provision 

 created so much dissension among the Indians occupying the most 

 advantageous fishing grounds that they requested an injunction 

 restraining the department from enforcing the regulations. 



The case was taken up in the Federal court at Tacoma, Wash.,, 

 and a decision rendered late in April was to the effect that the 

 Indians have the right to fish within the waters of the reservation 

 at any point and at any time. It also decreed that the entire system 

 of fishing locations is untenable, and that one Indian has as much 

 right to a certain location as another. Another important feature 

 of the decision is that the department is authorized to enforce only 

 such regulations as the tribe may see fit to adopt. 



According to this decision the Government has no jurisdiction 

 over the fishing in the Quinault reservation, and apparently there 

 is nothing to prevent the Indians from fishing even in Quinault 

 Lake. This means the depletion of the sockeye salmon of the 

 Quinault River, because the Indians are permitted to fish in its 

 lower reaches as long as the salmon runs justify it, and then to 

 follow the runs to Quinault Lake and there resume fishing on the 

 spawning grounds. 



FISH CONSERVATION IN WEST VIRGINIA 



The fisheries authorities of the State of West Virginia are thorouglily 

 alive to the importance of restocking the streams of the State with the 

 more valuable species of fish, and have recently passed very eft'ective 

 protective laws. Many of the streams have been closed to fishings 

 and wardens have been employed to patrol them constantly. 



An effort is being made to eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the 

 pollution of the waters of the State, and if the present plan can be 

 carried out successfully West Virginia will rank among the foremost 

 States in the matter of conservation. 



EXPERIMENTAL FEEDING OF YOUNG TROUT 



Early in the year the bureau conducted feeding experiments at 

 several of its stations for the purpose of determining the value of 

 fish meal as a food for trout. 



On January 26 two lots of j^oung trout, each containing 1,000 fish 

 and weighing 10 ounces, which had previously been fed for 30 days 

 on beef heart exclusively, were segregated at the Wytheville (Va.) 

 station. One lot was fed on a mixture of beef heart and fish meal in 

 equal proportions, while the other (the control lot) continued on a 

 beef-heart diet. At the close of the test, on February 26, the control 

 lot numbered 869 and weighed 17.5 ounces, while the other lot had 



