FISH DISTRIBUTION BY THE FEDERAL ^ 



GOVERNMENT. 



By E. C. Feabnow, 



Superintendent of Fish Distribution 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In connection with the distribution of living fish there' 

 are always two main problems to be considered. The first 

 is how to produce a sufficient number of suitable species to 

 meet the ever-increasing demand ; the second, how to obtain 

 sufficient funds to distribute the output which might be pro- 

 duced. As the purpose of this article is neither to consider 

 the methods of fish production nor the means by which 

 adequate appropriations may be obtained, the discussion 

 will be confined to the methods employed by the Federal 

 Government in transporting fish from its hatcheries and 

 collecting stations to various points throughout the states 

 and some of the problems encountered in this particular 

 work. 



EARLY HISTORY OF DISTRIBUTION 



In the early days of the United States Fish Commission,, 

 by which name the Bureau of Fisheries was known until 

 July 1, 1903, the distribution of fish was conducted solely by 

 messengers who travelled in baggage cars on regular pas- 

 senger trains. The species distributed at that time con- 

 sisted of a few anadromous fishes which were, as a rule, 

 planted in waters near the points where the hatcheries were 

 located, but as the output of the various stations increased it 

 became necessary to employ more efficient methods of trans- 

 portation. 



The first car load of fish shipped by the United States 

 Fish Commission, and probably the first shipped in the 

 United States, was sent west in June 1873, but the consign- 

 ment was lost in a wreck near Elkhorn, Neb. An attempt 

 to send a car load of fish across the continent met with 

 success in 1874 when a shipment of shad was delivered in 

 California. Experiments conducted during the years 1879 

 and 1880 demonstrated that large numbers of fish could be 



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