FORTY-FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT 73 



County is high with 32 percent of the residents having licenses, based 

 on the 1950 census. 



In the 20 to 25 percent group are other mountain counties such as 

 Siskiyou, Del Norte, Humboldt, Inyo, Plumas, Modoc, and Lassen. Most 

 other rural counties fall in the 10 to 15 percent group. The lowest per- 

 centages of license buyers are found in the metropolitan counties of San 

 Francisco and Los Angeles, with only 6 to 7 percent buying licenses. 

 All in all, about 10 percent of Californians now buy licenses and this 

 compares favorably with other populous states where fishing is a favorite 

 recreation. 



The annual production of trout has changed very little in numbers 

 in the last few years. In 1949, 18,791,000 trout weighing 488,000 pounds 

 were planted, which is about the total weight that can be achieved with 

 present facilities. Of these trout 2,424,000 were of catchable size running 

 from 4 to 10 to the pound. As was pointed out in a recent publication, 

 although 83 percent of these larger fish are planted in the southern part 

 of the State, the catch and the number of trout anglers is about ecjually 

 tlivided between the two sections of the State and the total number of 

 trout taken, both wild and planted, is about equal north and south. The 

 ueAV ponds and hatcheries now being constructed will greatly increase 

 the number of catchable trout and the areas in which they can be dis- 

 tributed. 



The number of fish rescued was considerably less than in years gone 

 by. There are no longer great numbers of catfish and sunfish in receding 

 waters in the Central Valleys. In part because of dry years and in part 

 because of water control at Shasta and P^riant dams there are few^er 

 seasonal waters and fewer resulting fish to be rescued. It is very doubtful 

 whether the rescue of these prolific species for planting in waters already 

 carrying their capacity load was a paying proposition anyway. In South- 

 ern California the greatest amount of rescue salvage and transfer of 

 warm- water fish is required in order to supply stock for ponds and new 

 and transitory lakes. 



REPORT OF HATCHERY OPERATIONS 



With hatcheries and residential buildings suffering considerable 

 depreciation during the previous biennium, it became apparent that a 

 large amount of repair and new construction must be done in order to 

 keep existing facilities in operation and to add new hatchery facilities 

 necessary to cope with the ever-increasing number of anglers in Cali- 

 fornia. It was hoped that with the enactment of the Wildlife Conserva- 

 tion Act in 1947 and the subsequent allocation by that board of $2,187,200 

 for fish hatchery projects that a sound planned hatchery expansion and 

 rehabilitation program could be undertaken. This was only partly the 

 case, mainly because the Division of Fish and Game does not have its 

 own engineering staff and must rely upon the Department of Public 

 Works, Division of Architecture, for its engineering services. When re- 

 quest was first made to the Division of Architecture for engineering 

 assistance it was found that the division was completely occupied with 

 work for other state agencies having a higher priority. It was not until 

 the middle of 1950 that the Division of Architecture could undertake our 

 first fish hatchery projects. 



