TWENTY-NINTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 43 



department. This system has been in vooue for the last several years 

 at our different hatcheries and we find that we obtain better results at 

 less expense than where there is a foreman working independently at 

 each of the smaller stations. 



We respectfully recommend that the first money available for hatch- 

 cry construction after the Kaweah Hatchery is built, be set aside for 

 enlarging the liatchery capacity for this region by either building an 

 annex to the Mount Whitney Hatchery or by the construction of a new 

 station on one of the near-by streams as an auxiliary to Mount Whitney 

 Hatchery. 



The output of Mount Whitney Hatchery for the biennial period 

 ending June 30, 1926, was 7,177,000. 



COTTONWOOD LAKES EGG-COLLECTING STATION. 



This station is used for the purpose of collecting golden trout that 

 are conveyed to Mount Whitney Hatchery where the resulting fry are 

 distributed in the lakes and streams of the eastern slopes of the Sierra 

 and in keeping up the supply of fish in the Cottonwood Lakes that are 

 fished excessively each season. During the winter, surveys were made 

 and negotiations entered into with persons owning the land at the 

 mouth of Tuttle Creek with the object of establishing a golden trout 

 liatchery near the town of Lone Pine. The citizens lent every aid 

 ])ossible and were very enthusiastic over the plan, but one of the persons 

 owning land, that was of little or no value at the mouth of the creek, 

 refused to sell or lease the site so the project had to be abandoned for 

 the present. The plan was to collect the eggs of the golden trout from 

 Cottonwood Lakes and convey them to the new hatchery where they 

 could be hatched with other species and thus relieve the Mount Whit- 

 ney Hatchery and increase the output of the fish to be planted on the 

 eastern slopes of the southern Sierra. 



The total number of golden trout eggs collected from Cottonwood 

 Lakes during the last two seasons was 900,000. 



RAE LAKES EGG-COLLECTING STATION. 



Rae Lakes Station was operated during the season of 1924 and 

 approximately 400,000 eggs collected. Rae Lakes is a fish and game 

 refuge as well as all waters lying south of Fin Dome and all waters 

 flowing into this portion of the lake and all waters flowing into these 

 lakes lying within the sixty lake basin and all waters flowing from said 

 lakes into the south fork of Woods Creek in Fresno County. These 

 streams and lakes should be closed to fishing as a larger number of rain- 

 boAV trout eggs can be collected if the law is strictly enforced and all fish- 

 ing prohibited. When this refuge was first established, the fish were 

 found to be in poor condition and only yielded a small number of eggs to 

 each spawning fish owing to the lack of food in the lakes. The altitude 

 is 10,700 feet above sea level and the land as well as the aquatic insects 

 were very scarce. When this condition was discovered, arrangements 

 were made by the Department of Fish Culture to introduce scuds or 

 gammarus with the aquatic plants on which they feed. This plant of 

 fresh water crustaceans with the aquatic plants, made during the sum- 

 mer of 1920, has proven to be a great success, as the scuds have increased 



