THIRTY-FIFTH BIENNIAL REPORT 31 



tion. Present day transportation by truck makes it more advantageous 

 to have a hatchery situated with better access to the main highway. 



As was indicated by Dr. J. 0. Snyder, former chief of the bureau, 

 in his last biennial report the new name, Bureau of Fish Conservation, 

 indicates a wider responsibility than the sole production of fish for 

 planting. This enlarged view of the activities of the bureau has brought 

 an extension of certain types of work. 



For a number of years it has become increasingly apparent that 

 there was a serious gap between the production of fish in the hatcheries 

 and the production of fish for the angler's creel. In the early days a 

 large portion of the planting worlv Avas done by individuals or groups 

 largely beyond the control or direction of the Division. In many 

 instances the Division had no adequate records of where the fish went, 

 or the results obtained. This condition was, in part, corrected by 

 detailing the work of planting to the wardens but there still remained, 

 however, a certain lack of coordination and the division of respon- 

 sibility was unsatisfactory. 



Starting in 1936 tJie planting work was designated as the respon- 

 sibility of the Bureau of Fish Conservation. The men who had put 

 in long months in rearing the fish were given an opportunity to see 

 that the results of their work depended upon the care that was given in 

 planting them. The practice of filling applications for fish from 

 private individuals and groups was discontinued at the same time. 



Direction of planting work was placed in the hands of a single 

 individual of wide experience and under his direction the fish planting 

 is done by the men at the hatcheries or b.y organized planting crews. 

 Specialized equipment in the form of aerated tank trunks and pickups 

 was obtained and the use of the railway fish cars was discontinued in 

 1937. Starting in 1938 most shipments of fish by pack train were 

 accompanied by employees of the bureau in order to see that the fish 

 were given proper care enroute and that they were delivered to the 

 waters for which they had been allotted. Certain details of organiza- 

 tion and technique still ofi;'er opportunity for improvement but the 

 progress made during the last two years is very gratifying. 



The work still suffers from the lack of knowledge as to what hap- 

 pens after the fish are planted. Even after the fish are delivered to the 

 stream or lake it still remains largely a matter of chance whether the 

 final results to be obtained will be satisfactory. To most sportsmen 

 it seems that the size of the fish planted is the chief determining factor. 

 Experience both in California and elsewhere has demonstrated that 

 there can be many other reasons for the relative success in maintaining 

 the productivity of a given body of water which either singly or 

 cumulatively may be of equal importance. 



The men concerned with the rearing and planting of fish from the 

 hatcheries have accumulated a great fund of practical information 

 which forms the basis upon which most of the work is now done. 

 Their work, however, leaves them little time for the more detailed 

 study and accumulation of knowledge which would make further 

 progress possible. 



As a step toward the solution of this difficulty a new type of work 

 was initiateci by the Bureau and some others have been expanded. 

 During the two preceding bienniums the Division has had a coopera- 

 tive arrangement with the IT. S. Bureau of Fisheries whereby an 



