REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 7 
The comprehensive scope of the fish-cultural work is shown by the 
fact that egg collections and hatching operations were conducted in 
32 States and Alaska, while the distributions reached every State and 
Territory. The larger part of the output is planted in public waters 
on the initiative of the Bureau or on the recommendation of the State 
authorities, but the fishes adapted for ponds, smaller lakes, and the 
minor interior waters are mostly consigned on individual applica- 
tions. The distribution of this latter class of fishes involved railroad 
travel aggregating 637,716 miles, of which 146,544 miles were cov- 
ered by the special cars of the Bureau and 491,172 miles by detached 
messengers. About 80 per cent of the railroad transportation was 
paid for at varying rates, but 116,665 miles of free transportation 
were afforded by certain companies which appreciated the advantage 
accruing from the stocking of waters along their lines. 
Recognition of the value of the Bureau’s efforts in maintaining 
and increasing the fish supply of public and private waters is evi- 
denced by the widespread interest manifested in its work by people 
in all sections of the country. The feasibility of cultivating fish in 
ponds on farms is attracting general interest, and of the many thou- 
sand applications for food and game fishes received during the year 
fully 80 per cent called for species suitable for stocking artificially 
constructed ponds and natural inland waters of small area. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the Bureau is annually increasing 
its facilities, it experiences difficulty in meeting the constantly grow- 
ing demand for fish to stock the public and private waters of the 
interior. ‘This apples with special force to the black basses, crappies, 
sunfishes, catfishes, and other fishes adapted to culture in ponds, most 
of which are not susceptible of propagation by the artificial means 
employed with the salmons and trouts, but must be produced through 
the natural reproduction of brood fish carried in ponds. 
The expansion of the Bureau’s fish-cultural operations is neces- 
sarily limited by the funds provided and the number of experienced 
men available for the work. Large unproductive and potentially 
valuable fields for the enlargement of the salmon operations exist 
in Alaska and the Pacific States; more extensive fish-cultural work 
is demanded for the maintenance of the commercial fisheries of the 
Great Lakes, while there are practically unlimited areas in the Rocky 
Mountains, Middle, Western, and Southern States which would prove 
of inestimable value for fish culture were funds available for 
developing them. 
HATCHERIES OPERATED. 
During the fiscal year 1915 fish-cultural operations were conducted 
at 50 permanent hatcheries and at 76 subhatcheries, auxiliaries, and 
egg-collecting stations. The stations which have been undergoing 
construction at Louisville, Ky., and Orangeburg, 8. C., are now nearly 
completed, and some fish-cultural work was accomplished at each 
during the year. One new station has been added to the service by 
the partial completion of the hatchery at Saratoga, Wyo., which will 
soon be in condition for the prepagation of fish on asmall scale. A site 
has been selected for a fish-cultural station at Springville, Utah, and 
an appropriation of $50,000 has been provided by Congress to cover 
