Winter Fishing — a favorite sport in M 



FISHERIES 



Difficulties are beginning to be experi- 

 enced in the production of sufficient numbers 

 of fish for restocking rehabilitated waters in 

 Montana. Rehabilitated waters are sometimes 

 incurred from hydro-electric installation con- 

 struction, but mostly from cleaning up infested 

 waters that have populations of undesirable 

 fish. The management tools as developed in 

 the past few years through the rehabilitation of 

 running water in conjunction with the con- 

 struction of fish barriers make possible the 

 reclamation of trout waters in Montana and 

 the segregation of species, particularly native 

 species, in designated sections of streams or 

 watersheds. 



Plans are completed and bids for construc- 

 tion of additional fish rearing facilities at Lew- 

 istown, Montana were opened on June 22, 1958 

 during the regular meeting of the Montana 

 Fish and Game Commission. Construction may 

 not be completed until the summer of 1959. 

 This is the Montana Fish and Game Commis- 

 sion's answer to solving the problem of having 

 fish available for rehabihtation projects. 



Continued search for information by field 

 personnel is resulting in a better over-all 

 knowledge of the fish management problem 

 and the program of fish management is being 

 revised annually as improved practices are 

 developed. Investigations, information gather- 



ing, and the fish planting program are our 

 key annual programs that continually confront 

 all people working with the fishery resources. 



The problem of adequate waters for trout 

 management and the need for guaranteed pub- 

 lic access to trout waters in the state must be 

 recognized and resolved. The first may be 

 solved by legislative action guaranteeing the 

 availability of water for fish. The second can 

 be solved by the reservation of public-owned 

 lands for fishing recreation by purchase of 

 right-of-way to public lands, or gift of fishing 

 lands and areas for public use by our people. 

 The additional financial burden of an access 

 purchase program must be backed by the desire 

 of interested people to support the increased 

 cost in license fees for fishing in Montana. If 

 an access program is to be carried out that en- 

 tails the expenditure of money, this money 

 must be provided from license revenues for 

 fishing. 



This, then, reveals that a most important 

 function on the part of our legislature is to 

 guarantee this recreational resource for the 

 people of Montana and the future generations. 

 It can only be done by long range planning 

 and the necessary financial backing. The legis- 

 lature by its action of previous years has set 

 up a program for pollution control. This pro- 

 gram has developed and is working in the in- 

 terest of the people of Montana. 



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