Belding. — Stocking State Waters 141 



and recreation. (2) More business from vacationists. 

 (3) A larger food supply. (4) New cottages and pleas- 

 ure resorts upon our inland waters, developing taxable 

 property. 



Biological survey. — The first step toward forming a 

 systematic basis for future stocking is a biological sur- 

 vey of the inland waters. A complete biological survey 

 would include a detailed study of each pond or stream 

 with its intricate correlation of plant and animal life ex- 

 tending not over one, but over several years. With the 

 state commission the extent and thoroughness of such a 

 survey is necessarily limited by expense and practical re- 

 sults. In Massachusetts the following plan of work has 

 been followed in order to obtain the necessary informa- 

 tion for practical stocking with the least expenditure of 

 time and money, and for this reason completeness has 

 been sacrificed. Nevertheless, a thorough biological ex- 

 amination of the important waters in any state is of spe- 

 cial value when carried on in a systematic way for a 

 series of years, especially when it is connected with ex- 

 perimental work upon fish in typical waters. 



Three years ago Massachusetts began a survey of its 

 inland waters in order to obtain the necessary informa- 

 tion for systematic stocking. For this work a method of 

 obtaining a knowledge of the ponds and streams at a 

 comparatively slight expense was evolved. The work was 

 divided into four parts, and was carried on during the 

 summer months, when time and funds were available. 

 The first step, a study of the ponds and lakes, was fol- 

 lowed by an investigation of the coastal streams up which 

 the alewives, or branch herrings, once ran in large num- 

 bers, while the third was the classification and descrip- 

 tion of the smaller brooks and streams. The fourth, as 

 yet incomplete, comprised a study of the fishing poten- 

 tialities of the larger rivers, and was intimately con- 

 nected with that great bugaboo of anglers — pollution. 



This preliminary study by no means completes the 

 problem. Succeeding it should come more careful and 

 detailed work, designed to ultimately increase the supply 



