28 



departjvient of fish and game 



i^ii *^ 



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 ^■wi«i '""Hw;j!«"" BJSiS S9S 



Aloccoiin Cree^ Hatchery, completed during the biennium. 



occupied on a long-term lease arrangement. Water for 

 operating the unit is obtained bv gravity flow from the 

 powerhouse afterbay. 



The initial installation includes 24 rearing ponds, a 

 hatchery building with 120 troughs, food preparation 

 and refrigerated storage building, and six residences. 

 While the hatchery was completed during the period 

 covered by this report, it was turned over to the de- 

 partment too late to begin operation during the bien- 

 nium. Its strategic location near important trout waters 

 remote from other hatcheries makes it a particularly 

 valuable installation. 



Important expansion and improvements were made 

 at several installations, particularly Crystal Lake 

 Hatcherv' near Cassel, Shasta County; and Mojave 

 River Hatchery near Victorville, San Bernardino 

 County. Construction of the Crystal Lake Hatchery 

 was actually begun in 1947, when 24 ponds with neces- 

 sary water supply facilities were installed. Soon after 

 the ponds were placed in operation, serious disease 

 problems developed and it became evident that water 

 from Crystal Lake itself was not suitable for fish cul- 

 tural purposes. Pipelines were accordingly extended to 

 bring in water from nearby Rock Creek, which proved 

 satisfactorv. 



New facilities at this installation represent an invest- 

 ment of $208,000, and include a garage and shop build- 

 ing, food preparation and refrigerated storage building, 

 and four employee residences. The hatchery, located 

 adjacent to the north boundary of the Lassen Volcanic 

 National Park area, has been an operating unit since 

 1948. During the 1953-54 Fiscal Year it produced 341,- 

 832 trout weighing 64,515 pounds. These were distrib- 

 uted mainly in Shasta, iVIodoc, Lassen, and Plumas 

 Counties. 



Ponds Doubled 



Production facilities at the Mojave River Hatchery 

 near Victorville, San Bernardino County, were dou- 

 bled by increasing the number of ponds from 20 to 40, 

 and drilling two new wells to supply water. A large 

 aerating tower for dissipating harmful gases from the 

 water was installed, and a new food preparation and 

 storage building and three new residences were built. 



This hatchery, which first became an experimental 

 unit in 1947, received its entire water supply from four 

 wells on the property. Each year its production has 

 increased. During the past fiscal year 672,920 trout 

 weighing 80,220 pounds were produced and distrib- 

 uted in the Southern California area. The expansion 

 recently completed at this installation makes it the 

 largest hatchery in Southern California. 



Other minor improvements to hatchery installations 

 financed with Wildlife Conservation Board funds were 

 made at Mt. Shasta, Black Rock Rearing Ponds, Fill- 

 more and Hot Creek. 



Construction of the San Joaquin Hatchery, below 

 Friant Dam at Millerton Lake, in Fresno County, is 

 well under way and this new unit will be finished early 

 in the 1954-56 biennium. 



Plans were completed for the new Cedar Creek 

 Experiment Station in Mendocino County and bids 

 were called for this project. Initially, work at this in- 

 stallation will center around stocking experiments with 

 aged steelhead trout. 



As part of the salmon and steelhead restoration pro- 

 gram to compensate for loss of salmon and steelhead 

 runs in the American River resulting from construc- 

 tion of the Folsom and Nimbus Dams, plans were 

 worked out in collaboration with the U. S. Bureau of 

 Reclamation and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 for a large salmon and steelhead hatchery to be con- 

 structed by the Bureau of Reclamation and operated 

 by the State, with the Reclamation Bureau reimbursing 

 the State for operating costs. 



The over-all hatchery expansion program provided 

 that as new, efficient hatchery facilities were com- 

 pleted and placed in operation, the older, outmoded 

 hatcheries would be abandoned. Accordingly, the 

 Brookdale, Lake Almanor, Mt. Tallac, and Feather 

 River Hatcheries were permanently closed during the 

 biennium. Upon completion of the San Joaquin Hatch- 

 ery, the old Kings River and Madera Hatcheries also 

 will be abandoned. 



Increased Capacity 



The hatchery expansion program has increased 

 catchable fish production from 539,554 pounds during 

 the 1951-52 Fiscal Year to 796,384 pounds in 1953-54, 

 or a total of 1,631,688 pounds during the biennium. 

 This created serious distributional problems. Fortu- 

 nately, in 1953 it was discovered that the addition of 



