50 REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



time that a dam is constructed, the natural movements of the fish are 

 obstructed and the fish in that stream are affected by it. 



The fish in the great majority of our streams ascend the streams dur- 

 ing the spawning season to reach their natural and most favorable 

 breeding places. They also move from one part of the stream to 

 another in search of food, as well as to adapt themselves to temperature 

 conditions. The fish descend to the lower readies of the large rivers 

 that drain the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Kings, Kern, Kaweah, Tule, 

 Klamath, Eel and other river basins during the fall and winter, when 

 the water is cool, and ascend these streams when the temperature of the 

 water rises in early summer. If their movements are obstructed by 

 dams, the natural propagation is seriously interfered with as well 

 as their movements to the upper reaches of the streams when the tem- 

 perature rises. It is essential that proper fishways be constructed 

 to allow of the free passageway of the fish as the law provides. The 

 amount of water necessary to allow fish to ascend the fishways and pass 

 above the dams is very small compared with the normal flow of any 

 stream. Spring and fall, the period of the year when the fish are 

 moving, is the period of the maximum flow in the majority of the 

 streams, and there is always sufficient water for the fishways, as well 

 as for the power plants and irrigationists. 



There is a tendency on the part of some of the water-users to take 

 all the water from the streams regardless of the fish life that is 

 derstroyed. While we realize the importance of the water to generate 

 electricity and for irrigation purposes, there is always enough in our 

 streams to allow the migratory fishes to ascend the streams above the 

 dams at the time they are naturally inclined to do so. In a great many 

 instances where large dams are constructed, and lakes formed, the 

 fishing area is increased instead of diminished, if the owners of the 

 dams will allow the public the right to fish in the waters stored behind 

 their dams. The provision in Section 637, relative to the "right to fish" 

 in any of the waters impounded by dams should be rigidly enforced 

 as the owners of the dams deprive the public of valuable waters by 

 the construction of dams, even if enough water is allowed to pass the 

 dam, to maintain fish life. 



The flows of the streams are generally reduced to such an extent 

 below the dams that the value of the stream for angling purposes is 

 greatly reduced, particularly during the period of the minimum 

 flow in the late summer and fall. Therefore, the owners of dams should 

 be compelled to allow the public to fish in all waters held in storage or 

 where it is dammed up for any purpose, as the right of the public to 

 fish in the waters of the state should not be denied. It is one of the 

 greatest sources of recreation known and is growing more popular with 

 all classes every season. 



