PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 193 8 483 



put of game fish could advantageously be utilized in the stocking of 

 waters solely under Federal control. In fact, in some of the public 

 lands, hatcheries are operated solely for the restocking of waters 

 within the boundaries of such areas. Biological surveys have also 

 been conducted in a number of public domains and stocking pro- 

 grams drawn up. In an effort to rear the output of fish to a larger 

 size before liberating them, with the available funds, a number of 

 experiments in the feeding of cheaper foods such as various types of 

 meal, frozen fish, and offal from animals and fish have been carried 

 on. Of the 92 Bureau hatcheries that were on a productive basis 

 this season, all but 13 handled one or more species of game fish. 

 HoMever, most of these units are engaged solely in the propagation 

 of game varieties. Strictly game and pan species distributed from 

 these stations numbered 160,655,000 during the fiscal year, which 

 was an increase of more than 34,000,000 over that of the previous 

 season. There was a definite increase in the production of 11 dif- 

 ferent varieties of game fish. Included in these were the largemouth 

 and smallmouth black bass and all the main varieties of trout except 

 Loch Leven. The following data covering the activities of the indi- 

 vidual stations will, however, give a better understanding of tho 

 nature of the season's work. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN TERRITORY 



Inasmuch as the activities at the Yellowstone Park station con- 

 tinued into parts of 2 fiscal years, the following data cover the sum- 

 mer of 1937. All previous egg-collection records for blackspotted 

 trout, Montana grayling, and rainbow trout were broken in this field. 

 A grand total of 47,341,960 eggs was collected, of which number 70 

 percent were used to restock park waters. Electrical fences were 

 used at several of the trap sites to protect adult trout from bears dur- 

 ing the spawTiing season. All suckers caught in traps were utilized 

 for fish food or destroyed. This season marked a new high in tourist 

 travel in Yellowstone Park and fishing was reported better than dur- 

 ing the previous year. 



At the Spnngville, Utah, station, 2,072,000 rainbow eggs were col- 

 lected from brood stock. This station also handled brook, black- 

 spotted, and Loch Leven trout, grayling, and a limited number of 

 pondfish. 



The Bear Lake substation reported a normal production of five 

 species of trout. W. P. A. employees were engaged in making vari- 

 ous improvements to buildings, ponds, and grounds. 



.Although the Elephant Butte, N. Mex., station was incomplete, a 

 good production of bass and simfish was obtained from the few ponds 

 in service. 



The Dexter, N. Mex., station's output of pondfish exceeded that 

 of any previous year, over 1}^ million fingerhng fish being distributed. 

 Most of these were handled by the New Alexico Department of Game 

 and Fish under the same agreement as heretofore. Three small 

 buildings were constructed, ponds excavated, and various other im- 

 provements made to station buildings, water-supply system, and 

 grounds, under the auspices of W. P. A. 



The output of the Santa Rosa, N. Mex., substation was limited 

 because the ponds were too unproductive of food organisms to pro- 



