82 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



the fiscal year 1921 were widely disseminated, the distribution reach- 

 ing ]n-actically every State in the Union and the Territories of Alaska 

 and Hawaii. Consignments of fish e^jjs were also shipped to the Gov- 

 ernments of Canada, France, and Switzerland, and an allotment of 

 fish was forwarded to an applicant in Mexico. 



Fully 9-3 per cent of the output is represented by important com- 

 mercial species — the salmons, shad, whitefish, pike perch, yellow 

 l)erch, lake trout, cod, pollock, haddock, flounder, buffalofish, and 

 carp. All of such fishes are planted on or adjacent to the spawning 

 areas where the efj^js originate, or the eggs are consigned to State 

 commissions for incubation and distribution in nonproductive waters 

 where conditions appear to favor the development of new fisheries. 

 (See }). 87.) Included under the head of the commercial fishes are 

 the large numbers of food fish annually salvaged from the overflowed 

 territoiy along the Mississippi Kiver and at other points (see pp. 7 

 and 78) , a branch of the work that has become one of the most popu- 

 lar, practical, and beneficial of the bureau's activities. 



Among the more important species propagated for the stocking of 

 interior waters are the brook, rainbow, and blackspotted trouts, the 

 largemouth and smallmouth black basses, rock bass, sunfish, crappies, 

 and catfish. While the numbers of such fishes are by comparison 

 small, representing only 7 per cent of the aggregate output, the im- 

 portance of this work is not to be underestimated. It is this branch 

 of its work which brings the bureau in close contact with the general 

 public, as is evidenced by the large number of applications received 

 each year, and the interest thus aroused in the fisheries can not be 

 other than beneficial. The economic value of the work is large. 

 In most instances the reports received from applicants regarding the 

 results obtained from planting fish furnished by the bureau are of a 

 highly satisfactory nature. (See p. 88.) 



SUMMARY OF DISTRIBUTION TO ALL APPLICANTS. 



The following table shows in summarized form how many and what 

 species of fish and fish eggs out of the net product of the hatcheries 

 and rescue stations for the fiscal year 1921 were delivered to all appli- 

 cants, both in the United States and Territories and in foreign coun- 

 tries. Only a small percentage of the immense numbers of fish res- 

 cued from overflowed lands was delivered to applicants, the great 

 bulk having been returned to the original watei-s, as is shown in the 

 table on page 7. 



