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REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OF FISH CULTURE. 



The Honorable Board of Fish and Game Commissioners. 



Gentlemen : We have the honor to herewith present a report from 

 the Fishenltnral Department, for the years beginning July 1, 1914, and 

 ending June 30, 1916 — the third report since being placed in charge of 

 tish culture. 



Eeports from all parts of the state indicate the beneficial results that 

 have followed the systematic stocking of public waters under the super- 

 vision of men skilled in handling the fish. Notwithstanding the heavy 

 drain on the streams and lakes by the ever increasing number of 

 anglers, trout have appreciably increased in most of the streams where 

 proper conditions have prevailed. 



The ever increasing numbers of automobiles have carried the anglers 

 on their journeys to all the accessible fishing waters in greater numbers 

 each season. AVe find that a great many anglers who a few years ago, 

 before the advent of the automobile, only fished one or two days in the 

 season, now make frequent excursions to their favorite fishing grounds 

 and take from the stream.s mau}^ times the number of fish that they did 

 years ago. The increasing number of anglers, also the ease with which 

 they can now reach the streams and the increasing zest for outdoor 

 pleasures, such as angling, will soon make greater demands on our 

 hatcheries, and to meet this demand some of our hatcheries will have to 

 be enlarged and improved and new stations established. The Depart- 

 ment of Hatcheries must meet the augmented demand for fish until such 

 time when our annual limit of output has been reached, then a limit to 

 the number of fish that each angler can take each season must be made 

 by the legislature, either by limiting the number of days each week that 

 persons can fish, or by making a shorter open season. With the contem- 

 plated improvements in our hatchery work, the time for this added 

 legislation has not arrived and we hope it may be deferred for a num- 

 ber of years. California can safely say that, with only a few exceptions, 

 fishing in most all of the streams is as good is it ever was ; but with the 

 extremely heavy fishing of the last two or three years we must keep close 

 watch to see that our streams are not over-fished. 



