FORTY-THIRD BIENNIAL REPORT 



29 



one-half grain of sodium amytal per gallon of water 

 would more than double the carrying capacity of fish- 

 planting tanks. 



Use of this drug, which decreases activity and hence 

 oxygen requirement, coupled with addition of three 

 150-gallon, six 500-gallon, and three 1,500-gallon tank 

 trucks and operation of six fish-planting bases enable 

 the planting crews to keep up with increased produc- 

 tion. 



The new 1,500-gallon units are invaluable for long- 

 range highway transportation of large quantities of fish 

 from hatcheries to seasonal planting bases. Throughout 

 the State, 40 smaller 150-gallon fish-planting tanks 

 mounted on pickup-type trucks are used for final dis- 

 tribution of the fish from both hatcheries and planting 

 bases to their final destination. The 500-gallon tanks 

 are used for lake stocking, large streams, and smaller 

 fish transfers. 



The stepped-up catchable trout program has also 

 aggravated the problem of providing sufficient inex- 

 pensive fish food for the State's hatcheries. This chal- 

 lenge has been met by improving methods of feeding 

 fish in ponds and by using new products, which were 

 formerly wasted. Development of a method for proc- 

 essing fish frames provided a large source of good, 

 inexpensive food. These frames include the remains of 

 rock cod and petrale sole after the fillets have been 

 removed. 



This material is ground at the source to the desired 

 size and placed in moisture-proof paper bags, then 

 quick frozen. The product is fed to pond fish by strip- 

 ping off the paper bag and placing the block of food 

 in the pond. This food has sufficient buoyancy to float, 

 and is held in place in the pond by an anchored frame 

 made oftwo-inch by four-inch material. 



Fish nibble at the food from the bottom and sides 

 and eat as it thaws. This eliminates a considerable loss 

 of food in ponds, since small particles do not flake 

 away and settle to the bottom. 



Usually, two or three feeding frames are used in 

 each 100-foot pond. This method is highly satisfactory 

 and does not result in any greater variation in size of 

 the fish than when food is scattered by hand. 



Fingerling Production 



Fingerling production has continued at about the 

 level of the previous biennium, with a total of 26,964,- 

 000 planted during the two-year period. These fish 

 were used to stock high mountain lakes in remote 

 areas, and other waters where conditions, were espe- 

 cially favorable for fingerling survival. 



A major change in production during the biennium 

 was the resumption of golden trout operations in 

 1952-1953. 



Golden trout had not been hatched by the State 

 since 1941. The fresh start was a direct result of the 



Fish and Game Commission's "Golden Trout Policy" 

 adopted on October 16, 1952. 



Egg-taking operations started again at the Cotton- 

 wood Lakes, and a start was made toward procuring 

 a broodstock from Golden Trout Creek. In former 

 days most of the fish were planted as fry. Under the 

 new policy, the department started its attempts to 

 raise goldens to fingerling size. Plants under this pol- 

 icy are to be confined to barren waters and to a num- 

 ber of specially designated lakes in a limited program 

 of maintenance stocking. During the 1953-54 period, 

 201,295 golden trout were planted in lakes of the 

 southern Sierra Nevada. 



From the standpoint of numbers, fingerlings planted 

 during the biennium represented 73 percent of the 

 total plant. By weight catchables made up 94 percent 

 of the total. 



From July 1, 1952, to June 30, 1954, the department 

 planted a total of 26,964,700 trout and salmon, with 

 a total weight of 1,631,678 pounds. 



For the first time, an adequate cost analysis study 

 was made for the entire hatchery and planting pro- 

 gram, but results were not available at the close of 

 the biennium. 



A complete summation of fish distribution will be 

 found in Table 10, Appendix. 



TROUT PLANTINGS 



40,000,000 



30,000,000 



20,000,000 



,000,000 



1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 



