REPORT OF BOARD OP FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS. 13 



and fish, in almost every case with the cooperation or under the direc- 

 tion of the State's leading universities. 



Has placed the work of fish culture and distribution on a proper 

 foundation by creating the position of Superintendent of Hatcheries, 

 by appointing a highly qualified expert to the place, and by then allow- 

 ing him to manage the department. 



Has made the greatest and best distribution of trout (over 26,000,000) 

 ever made in the State. 



Has provided a department of game conservation, under the direction 

 of a competent expert, which in time will be as important as the fish 

 cultural department. 



Has economically managed the State Game Farm, and distributed 

 more pheasants during the season of 1912 than were distributed during 

 three previous years. 



Has increased the force of wardens by over twenty men, providing 

 an effective patrol for every part of the State, and particularly the 

 northern part. 



Has increased the efficiency of the wardens by detailing special dep- 

 uties, the Board's attorney and others, to instruct them as to their 

 duties and the subjects with which they have to deal. 



Has greatly increased the efficiency of the service in the northern part 

 of the State by forming the Sacramento district from a district that 

 comprised almost fifty per cent of the total area of the State, and by 

 leaving the direction of business in this district to the President of the 

 Board. 



Has fairly but firmly enforced all the fish and game laws in every 

 part of the State, prosecuting 2,063 cases, against 1,771 for the best 

 previous two-year period. (The record for the past two years would be 

 much greater were it not for the fact, in the Board 's opinion, that viola- 

 tions are becoming less and less common.) 



Has aroused public interest in fish and game conservation by direct- 

 ing and otherwise aiding in the formation of a great and representative 

 protective organization, with a membership of over 16,000 people, scat- 

 tered through every county in the State. • 



Has made surveys of almost every stream and lake and other body of 

 water in the State, disclosing the fact that hundreds of square miles 

 of water have passed out of control of the public, and that hundreds of 

 square miles are still entirely barren or have no valuable fish. 



Has made a comprehensive survey of the natural and artificial water- 

 ways of the State, following this by directing the construction of hun- 

 dreds of screens and fishways. 



Has watched the disposition of factory and other waste products, 

 instituting prosecutions and otherwise striving to abate known causes 

 of damage. 



Has removed rocks, timber blockades and other obstructions in a num- 

 ber of streams in northern California. 



Has transplanted hundreds of thousands of trout, black bass and 



