PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1987 483 
over the previous year. Promising experiments were conducted, 
looking toward the rearing of shad and striped bass in ponds. Favor- 
able results were also achieved in the hatching of white perch and 
herring. Again, in cooperation with the State of North Carolina, the 
Edenton personnel assisted in hatching striped bass at the Weldon 
substation. A new hatchery and water supply system was installed. 
Egg collections were rather limited, due to restrictions on fishing and 
the new equipment caused some loss of fry until corrections were made. 
Supplementing its hatching activities on the Edisto River, the 
Orangeburg, S. C., station developed a new shad unit on the Black 
River. However, unfavorable water conditions and other adverse 
factors reduced total egg collections to about 650,000, and the fry 
production was very poor. In the aggregate the shad hatchery 
production for the entire Atlantic Seaboard surpassed the records of 
the past several years. 
GAME-FISH PROPAGATION 
Upon noting that only about 126 million of the total hatchery pro- 
duction of 1937 consisted of strictly game or pan species, the angler 
may be inclined to feel that this phase of the work has been neglected. 
As a matter of fact, however, the funds, facilities and personnel 
assigned to the propagation of sport fishes were fully as large as were 
the assignments for the propagation of food and commercial varieties. 
Game fish are “hand raised’? and many are planted at the legal size. 
Transporting them to the myriads of lakes and streams which are to 
be stocked is also an expensive procedure. The aggregate production 
of game trout was somewhat lower than in the previous year, but an 
increase was recorded for bass. 
Much of the aquicultural research is directed toward perfecting the 
artificial propagation of the game fishes and this has resulted in the 
adoption of many improved practices. Selective breeding, food 
research, and disease studies have all contributed to the maintenance 
of angling as one of our most important outdoor recreations. Supple- 
menting this is the fact that virtually all of the new hatchery con- 
struction has been for the purpose of building up the stock of sport 
fishes. With the States and the Federal Government setting aside 
and improving tremendous areas suitable for stocking, the need for 
augmented production of trout, bass, and panfish has never been 
greater. 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN TERRITORY 
The tremendous amount of Federally owned land in the Rocky 
Mountain States constitutes a pressing need for increased production 
of trout. Emphasis is placed upon fishing as one of the recreational 
assets of this territory, and while the Bureau’s output is distributed 
to various public waters, the National Forests alone could well utilize. 
the entire production. 
Considering the activities of the individual stations, in Utah the 
Springville hatchery suffered a slight reduction in the collection of 
rainbow trout eggs from station brood stock. By shipments from 
other stations the production of fingerlings was kept up to satisfactory 
levels. One small pond was utilized for the production of bass for 
which there is a limited demand in that section. The depredations of 
birds greatly curtailed the output. 
