2. Provide for a commercial seining license to take non-game fish from 

 waters designated by the Commission, set the fee for the license, 

 and define the size of a seine or net which must be licensed, and 

 authorize the Commission to regulate the size of the mesh of all 

 seines or nets used in designated waters. 



3. More definite legislation relative to fur farm licenses, set a date the 

 report of animals on hand and number pelted is to be submitted to 

 the Commission, the expiration date of the license, and provisions for 

 a fee to be paid for capturing certain species of fur bearing animals 

 from the wild for breeding stock. 



4. Greater control by the State Fish and Game Warden in regulating 

 the sale of hunting and fishing licenses by license agents, and re- 

 quiring that all moneys received by agents from sale of license be 

 kept in a separate account which at all times shall belong to the 

 State of Montana, and remitted to the State Fish and Game Warden 

 once each month. 



5. Changing the expiration date for applying for a permit to destroy 

 beaver from November 30 to September 30. This change will give 

 our wardens in the field time to investigate damage claims before 

 adverse weather conditions hinders or makes reliable inspections 

 impossible. 



6. A shorter open season on mink and muskrats, and provide an open 

 season during the time the pelts are prime and provide for the 

 tagging of marten pelts by the Commission. 



FISHERIES DIVISION 



In the Fisheries Division the past biennium has been both gratifying 

 and disappointing. It has been disappointing because we have not been 

 able to do many of the things which were planned because of the shortage 

 of material and equipment. It has been gratifying because in spite of 

 ever increasing handicaps, it was possible to maintain an almost normal 

 production and distribution of fish from our hatcheries. 



Much of the credit for maintaining operations is due to the untiring 

 efforts of the men at the hatcheries who have made every effort to ac- 

 complish their work with worn out equipment and material shortages. 

 The greater portion of the output of fish from the hatcheries has been 

 of a size larger than previous years. Fewer fish in numbers have been 

 planted, but the increase in number of pounds has off-set any numerical 

 reduction. In order to distribute the larger sized fish more economically, 

 a new fish distribution tank was designed for use on a two-ton truck 

 capable of hauling up to 600 pounds of fish for long distances. 



In March of 1945, the Commission purchased the Arlee trout rearing 

 ponds and hatchery which had been leased by the department for several 

 years. The development of this property is started, and to date a new 

 brood pond is nearing completion which is approximately 100 feet wide 

 and 600 feet long. The purpose of a brood pond of this size is to raise 

 brood stock for spawning purposes at the hatchery. 



A modern cold storage building was completed at the Libby hatchery. 

 This cold storage room has a capacity of approximately twenty tons of 



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