TWENTY-EIGHTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 



25 



REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OF FISH CULTURE. 



The Hjjnorahle Board of Fish and Game Commissioners, 

 State of California. 



Sirs: In conformity to the regulations of the Fish and Game Com- 

 mission, I herewith transmit the report of the Department of Fish 

 Culture for the biennium ending Jane 30, 1924. 



During the seasons covered by this report, we have exceeded the out- 

 put at our hatcheries over any similar period of fishcultural operations 

 in this state by several millions of trout fry, having hatched and dis- 

 tributed during the seasons of 1922 and 1923, 56,527,105 trout fry 

 besides 35,495,550 salmon fry. This record plus the trout fry on hand 

 that are being distributed this season, will make the largest output of 

 fry and the three greatest years in the history of the Commission's 

 operations. 



There were hatched and distributed during 1922 and 1923, 35,495,550 

 salmon fry. These were all collected at Klamathon egg-collecting 

 station on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County. This take would 

 have been exceeded by ten millions of eggs if our racks had not been 

 flooded l\y the California-Oregon Power Company at the height of the 

 season, during the month of October, 1923. A more detailed account of 

 this will be given further on in our report. 



During the biennial period just past, the same number of egg-collect- 

 ing stations and hatcheries have been operated as mentioned in our last 

 report. We have practically operated during this time thirty hatcheries 

 and egg-collecting stations. Two of our stations are still operated under 

 tents as the funds have not been available for the construction of per- 

 manent hatcheries. Had the funds been set aside from the amount 

 available for fishcultural operations, the output of our hatcheries would 

 have been greatly increased. 



As in former years, two fi^sh distributing ears have been used in dis- 

 tributing fry from Mount Shasta Hatchery, as well as from Mount 

 AVhitney Hatchery, to the different portions of the state that were not 

 supplied from local hatcheries. 



As stated in our last report, we can not emphasize the necessity 

 stronger than to repeat that the streams are fished so hard that very 

 few, if any, adult fish are left for breeders and consequently, the 

 great majority of the fish that are found in them are the result of 

 hatchery production. There is a demand for more hatcheries and a 

 larger output of fry, but funds must be provided before any further 



