PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1926 379 



While recent improvements to the distribution cars and their 

 equipment have almost doubled their carrying capacity, it has not 

 been possible to reduce the cost of maintenance or the cost of repairs. 

 Out of every $5 expended in the distribution of fish by the cars, 

 $2 must be applied to maintenance and repairs. This leaves only 

 about GO per cent of the allotment for travel, subsistence, and inci- 

 dentals. It is out of this 60 per cent that any savings must be 

 effected. 



The cooperative stations were not prepared to receive fish at the 

 time when transfers could have been made most economically, hence 

 the fish had to be carried at the rate of 400 or 500 to the can. Had 

 it been possible to ship them in March or April, 1,500 fish could have 

 been carried in a can. 



ALLOTMENT OF FISH TO APPLICANTS 



In alloting fish to applicants, the bureau considers (1) the avail- 

 able stock of the species assigned, (2) the size of the fish at the time 

 the distribution is made, (3) the number of applications to be filled, 

 (4) the extent of the water area to be stocked, and (5) the distance 

 involved in making the delivery. It endeavors in every case to 

 furnish a sufficient number of young fish for the establishment of 

 a brood stock, and the recipient is expected to see that the fish are 

 furnished adequate protection until they have had time to mature 

 and stock the waters through natural reproduction. While it is rec- 

 ognized that large bodies of water should receive more fish than 

 smaller ones, it does not seem wise to honor applications for large 

 water areas to the exclusion of smaller though perhaps not less im- 

 portant waters. It is the policy to apportion the output of the 

 bureau's hatcheries in such a manner as will permit the filling of all 

 applications listed. Requests for fish frequently are received from 

 individuals living in sections remote from a fish-cultural station 

 and in a region whose waters already abound with desirable fishes. 

 In a case of that kind the bureau does not consider it proper to 

 incur the expense of sending a small number of hatchery-reared fish 

 to an applicant and he is notified to that effect. 



TIME OF DELIVERY 



It is the policy of the bureau to fill applications in the order of 

 their receipt and to deliver the assigned fish as soon as possible there- 

 after. Certain phases of the distribution work, however, should be 

 thoroughly understood in advance by prospective applicants. 



The high cost of shipping fish compels the bureau to exercise rigid 

 economy in planning the work of its cars and messengers. The 

 delivery of fish to an applicant remotely situated can not be made 

 until a sufficient number of applications have been received from 

 that section of the country to warrant the expense of making a 

 messenger shipment. The bureau can not carry a stock of fish for 

 delivery on demand, and when the supply of one year is exhausted 

 all unsupplied applicants must wait until the succeeding year's out- 

 put is available. Trout shipments from the bureau's eastern stations 

 begin in March, and all applications from the Eastern States re- 

 ceived after the 1st of March are carried on file for attention the 



