12 PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES. 



THE DISTRIBUTION. 



The first consideration in the distribution of the product of the 

 hatcheries is to make ample return to the waters from which eggs 

 have been collected. The remainder of the fish are sent to appli- 

 cants throughout the country for stocking state waters, fishing pre- 

 serves, private ponds and streams, etc., and are delivered free of 

 charge to the applicant, at the railroad station nearest the point of 

 deposit. In 1905,4,908 such applications were received, an increase 

 of 1 5 per cent over the previous year, and a demand so far in excess 

 of the resources of the Bureau that many applications had to be con- 

 tinued on file, to be filled from the succeeding year's stock. The 

 output especially of black bass (both large-mouth and small-mouth), 

 crappie, and the catfishes was inadequate, although many more of 

 these fishes were produced in 1905 than in any previous year. 



Fishes are distributed at various stages of development, according, 

 to the species, the numbers in the hatcheries, and the facilities for 

 rearing. The commercial fishes, such as the shad, whitefish, lake 

 trout, pike perch, cod, etc., which are hatched in lots of many million, 

 are necessarily planted as fry; it is customary to distribute them 

 just before the umbilical sac is completely absorbed. Atlantic sal- 

 mon, landlocked salmon, and various species of trout in such num- 

 bers as the hatchery facilities permit are reared to fingerlings from 

 1 to 6 inches in length; the balance are distributed as fry. The 

 basses and sunfishes reared at fish-cultural stations are distributed 

 from the time the young rise from the spawning beds until they 

 have reached such size as makes it impracticable to feed them in 

 the hatcheries; the last lots distributed are usually of fish 3 to 5 

 inches in length. The numerous kinds of fishes collected in over- 

 flowed lands — basses, crappie, sunfishes, pike and pickerel, catfishes, 

 yellow perch, buffalofish, and others — are 2 to 6 inches in length 

 when taken and distributed. Eggs are distributed only to state 

 hatcheries or to applicants who have facilities for hatching them. 



The difference in methods of hatching applicable to the different 

 species is a determining factor in the supply of particular fishes 

 available for distribution, and consequently of the number allotted 

 to individual applicants. The area and character of the water to 

 be stocked must likewise be considered, for the same water area 

 which would receive a million pike perch fry would perhaps be assigned 

 no more than 200 or 300 black bass 3 or 4 inches long, or four to 

 eight times that many if the bass were planted as fry. The explana- 

 tion is in the fact that pike perch can be propagated by the hundred 

 million, while black bass, hatched by other methods or collected from 

 overflowed lands, can be produced only in comparatively small num- 

 bers. The Bureau does not attempt to assign any applicant more 



