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DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISHERIES 



No. 9 



The following comparative statement shows the progress that has taken 

 place in connection with the work of biological surveys in recent years: 



*See report for 1928. 



Special Studies 



In addition to the summer survey work outlined above, the Department's 

 temporary and permanent staff of fish culturists, biologists and technicians 

 investigated problems relating to fish culture and the fisheries pertaining to — 



1. Closure of water areas. 

 3. Removal of coarse fish, and transfers of 

 fish from one body of water to another. 

 6. Pollution. 

 8. Water-levels. 



2. Sites for hatcheries and rearing stations. 



4. Mortality of fish. 



5. Operation of commercial nets and hooks. 

 7. Dams, screens, and fishways. 



9. Miscellaneous subjects. 



(a) A preliminary report on the individual weights of lake herring (L. artedi) taken in pound 



nets off the county of Lambton, Lake Huron. 



(b) Feeding experiments with speckled trout. 



(c) An investigation of the most suitable natural environment for lake trout fingerlings 



(continued from 1930). 



1. Closure of Water Areas 



The question of sanctuaries for fish and in fact for all wild life, is one which 

 is gaining more and more public interest, attention, and support. A fish sanctuary 

 may be defined as an area which is closed permanently to all fishing in order 

 that the fish and all other life in the area may have an opportunity to live and 

 thrive unhampered by the encroachment of man. These sanctuaries act as, — 



1. Sources of replenishment for immediately adjacent water areas. In 

 other words, the fish multiplying in these favourable areas would spread to 

 other parts of the same waters. 



2. Areas where spawning fish, both game and commercial species, may 

 spawn unmolested. Such an arrangement, to a large extent at least, obviates 

 the necessity of establishing closed seasons for commercial fish, which may 

 vary from year to year and from lake to lake according to the latitude and 

 altitude. By such means we prevent depletion of the permanent breeding 

 stock, taking each year only the natural increase from it. 



3. With sanctuaries at our disposal we are in a better position to study 

 the factors involved in natural productivity and allied phenomena. 



Before areas are set apart they are subjected to the strong light of biological 

 investigation to determine the advantage of closure against commercial fishing, 

 game fishing or both. During the year, nine specific inland water-areas were 

 studied from this standpoint and in addition, the inshore waters along the 



