46 REPORT OP THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



great numbers of persons who fish in Bear Lake and the easy manner 

 in which the trout are taken when conditions are favorable, indicates in 

 our judgment the necessity for a longer closed season. We do not 

 believe any lake of the size of Bear Lake can stand the drain on its fish 

 supply for years, without there being a marked decrease in numbers of 

 adult fish. Bear Lake can easily be kept stocked by artificial propaga- 

 tion, but there is a limit to the area in which fish can thrive in Bear 

 Lake during periods of low water, and as a precautionary measure we 

 would recommend that the people who have the greatest interest in 

 Bear Lake assist us in asking the Legislature for a longer closed season. 



YOSEMITE EXPERIMENTAL STATION. 



With the intention of keeping the streams of the Yosemite Valley 

 adequately stocked with trout fry, the Commission, during the fall of 

 1917, made a survey of conditions obtaining in the Valley with refer- 

 ence to the establishment of a hatchery. A suitable site was obtained 

 for a fine hatchery near Happy Isles and application was made to the 

 Department of the Interior for a lease to the property required for our 

 operations. We were given every assurance by the Yosemite Park 

 officials that the Department would give us a suitable lease, and pend- 

 ing the outcome of negotiations for the same, we took advantage of a 

 temporary permit granted us to establish an experimental hatchery 

 on the site, in order that it might be definitely determined as to the 

 practicability of the location for the propagation of trout. Arrange- 

 ments were made with the State Department of Engineering for the 

 preparation of suitable plans for the permanent hatchery. 



The experimental station was established during the fall and winter 

 of 1918 and was opened up for operations in the spring of 1919. Four 

 hundred thousand rainbow, black-spotted and steelhead trout eggs 

 were shipped to the station and the resulting fry w^ere reared and 

 planted in the streams and lakes of the Yosemite Valley with the co- 

 operation of the Park officials. The fry were held in the hatchery until 

 the middle of October and it was thoroughly demonstrated that the 

 location was in every manner suitable for fishcultural purposes. The 

 fry produced were vigorous and healthy and attained an unusual size 

 in the few months that they w^ere reared in the hatchery. Owing to 

 improvements and repairs being made at the other stations, the work 

 on the Yosemite Hatchery was deferred until such time as conditions 

 were more favorable. 



WAWONA HATCHERY. 

 The Wawona Hatchery w^as operated during the last two years in 

 the building constructed in 1918, on the site of the old hatchery. All 

 of the old equipment was installed in the new building, as at that time, 



