26 KEruKT OF 8TATE BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONEK.S. 



The last t\V(i years liave been busy ones at this station, esjtecially the year just closed, 

 when there was expended on these grounds the iflOjtiDO ai)proin-iated at the last session 

 of the Legislature. All of the work and improvements were absolutely necessary. 

 The help came when it was most needed. In efficiency and ca^tacity we have gained at 

 least six years. All of the improvements are of a duralilo and permanent character. 

 We now have eighteen trout-rearing ponds and eleven nurseries. While they require 

 consideral)le labor to keeji them clean and in such order that the fish will thrive, they 

 have been provided with drains so that one pond can be emptied at a time, affording 

 better opportunities for sorting the fry, which important work must be done system- 

 atically and by skilled hands, in order that no injury will be done the fish. I find that 

 after the first six months the young fish should be sorted every sixty days, owing 

 to unequal development. The smaller and weaker ones always fall victims to the more 

 precocious and larger ones of their own kind. 



The amount of food required for our pond fish will be considerably increased during 

 the coming season. We now use on an average of 240 pounds of prepared food per day. 

 With its ])resent e(iuii)ment, this station, in my judgment, will compare favorably 

 with the best in the United States. With an attractive and comfortable home on the 

 grounds and the constant danger that threatened our water supply removed, there is a 

 sense of security and comfort that was never experienced before by myself or other 

 emi)loy6s of this station. 



We will probably secure this fall and winter 300,000 Eastern brook-trout eggs, 200,000 

 Loch Leven trout eggs, and if our thirty months' old Rainbow trout come up to expecta- 

 tions, 600,000 to 750,000 Rainbow trout eggs. In forecasting the take of eggs, it is diffi- 

 cult to make a close estimate on young fish. As a rule, only thirty per cent of the females 

 come to nuiturity between thirty months and three years old. I am expecting fully that 

 many to come to maturity this season. After this season, if no epidemic breaks out 

 among the fish or unless some accident happens, the adult spawners will increase very 

 fast. Next season the output should reach l,000,0t)0 Rainbow and from 1,000,000 to 

 1,500,000 Eastern brook-trout eggs. The increase from that time on will be rapid. 



We have devoted considerable time and labor to beautifying the grounds, putting 

 out shade and ornamental trees, which not only render them more attractive to our 

 summer visitors, but furnish shade and protection to the fish in the ponds, besides 

 supplying them with a certain amount of food in the shape of insect life. 



1 have been ably assisted in the management of the station by the advice, good 

 judgment, and untiring zeal of your Chief Deputy, Charles A. Vogelsang. 



Respectfullv submitted. 



W. H. SHEBLEY, 

 Superintendent of Sisson Hatchery. 



THE SALMON LAW. 



We are pleased to report that the existing and most excellent law for 

 the protection and preservation of salmon, which is our most valuable 

 food fish, is being more generally understood and recognized through- 

 out the State. We treated this subject at considerable length in our 

 last biennial report. There have since been very few, if any, criticisms. 

 In fact, the absolute necessity for the seeming but unreal discrimina- 

 tions, as well as the benefits that are so manifestly following the pres- 

 ent law, are now so well understood by all intelligent people, that in 

 the upper Sacramento Valley, where most of the former dissatisfaction 

 existed, there has been little or no complaint. The credit for this 

 change in public sentiment is due largely to the broad and enlightened 

 treatment of the question by the press. The people have been kept 



