PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



Division of Fish Culture: This division constituting the 

 largest division in the bureau from the view of number of 

 personnel employed is engaged chiefly in promotional work. 

 The field organization, at the points most distant from 

 Washington, is directed by district supervisors, of whom 

 there are three, one for the Pacific Coast and Alaska, one 

 for the Rocky Mountain area, and one for the Mississippi 

 Valley. Eastern hatcheries are supervised from headquar- 

 ters. The operation of the four fish-distribution cars is sub- 

 ject to a superintendent responsible to the commissioner. 



The major work of the division is the erection and main- 

 tenance of fish hatcheries, but in addition it directs fish- 

 salvage operations along the Mississippi River, returning to 

 the river or to adjoining streams fish stranded in the sloughs 

 after the spring floods. As the adjacent states are gradually 

 taking over this type of work the operations of the bureau 

 tend to confine themselves to the Upper Mississippi Wild 

 Life Refuge which is directly under federal control. 



The output from the hatcheries during the fiscal year 

 1932, which was fairly typical, amounted to over seven 

 billion eggs, fry and fingerlings, 38 representing a slight de- 

 crease over the previous year. The output was divided as 

 follows: game fishes (non-commercial, thus omitting lake 

 trout and pike perch) 1.5 per cent; anandromous species 

 (forms which resort to fresh water to spawn) 3.3 per cent; 

 commercial species of interior waters, 17 per cent; marine 

 species, 78 per cent; and miscellaneous, 2 per cent. Practi- 

 cally every form of fresh- water fish was included among 

 the forty-nine species which were propagated or handled by 

 rescue crews during the year. Although the marine fishes 

 constitute the largest numerical percentage, they were limited 

 to relatively few species because many marine fishes are 



38 Report of the Commissioner, Bureau of Fisheries (1932), p. 533. 



