Fish Hatchery And Fisheries Management 



No fisheries management measure has been so completely 

 accepted by the public as the liberation of artificially propagated 

 fishes into the waters. No argument is more heated than that which 

 arises every year among sportsmen, the department, and influential 

 persons concerning allocations of fishes. Each area of the state 

 endeavors to extract from the hatcheries its proportionate share or 

 more of hatchery fish, regardless of the need, regardless of the 

 results. To many, planting is the cure-all, the panacea to every 

 fishing ill. 



There has been a great deal of inconsistency in the thinking 

 relating to the liberation of hatchery fish, particularly trout. On the 

 one hand some fishermen believe that the natural productivity of the 

 waters is almost zei'o, and if there is to be any fishing in a body of 

 water, that body of water must be stocked. On the other hand, how- 

 ever, when these same fishermen are considering how many fish 

 should be planted In a body of water, its productivity is believed to 

 be unlimited; that is, the numbei' of fish available at the hatchery is 

 the only limit that should be set on the number planted. Many sports- 

 men feel there is food and space enough in that stream or lake to 

 support any number of fish which may be planted. Research has 

 shown both of these common concepts to be wrong. 



As Montana's economic developments change the state's fish- 

 eries resource, every tool of management must be used to the 

 greatest efficiency if the resource is to contribute a substantial degree 

 to recreation. There is no cure-all to fishing ills any more than there 

 is one medicine to soothe all human ailments. The fish hatchery if 

 wisely used is an effective, although expensive, tool of management. 



The greatest expenditure in the hatchery system is for the 

 production of catchable size trout. The cost of these liberated in 

 the streams and lakes of the state ranges from twenty-five to forty 

 cents for each fish, depending upon the fish-cultural station where 

 the fish is produced and the size of the fish at the time of planting. 

 If only the lower value of twenty-five cents is considered, and if all 

 planted fish were caught, any one fisherman could take only twelve 

 fish a year to get value received for his $3.00 bird and fishing 

 license. This is less than the daily legal limit in most waters. And 

 in so doing, he would contribute nothing to the cost of departmental 

 administiation, to the costs of law enforcement, to the costs of other 

 forms of fisheries management, nor to costs of upland game bird 

 management. 



Three points become evident from this consideration of dollars 

 and cents: 



(1) Fry and fingerling size trout should be used in management 

 rather than catchable size trout wherever practical; (2) Fish of all 



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