THE STATUS OF FISH CULTURE IN OUR IN- 

 LAND PUBLIC WATERS, AND THE ROLE 

 OF INVESTIGATION IN THE MAINTE- 

 NANCE OF FISH RESOURCES 



By Dr. William Converse Kendall 



IcJitJiyolof/isf. Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station, 

 Syracuse, Nezv York 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



1 . Introduction 205 



2. Original Condition of the Inland Fisheries 206 



Former Abundance of Fish 206 



Depletion of Fisheries 211 



Early Measures for Restoration. . ; 212 



3. Present Condition of the Inland Fisheries. . . . '. 214 



Causes of Deterioration 214 



Remedies for Present Conditions ; Investigations . ....... '220 



4. Fishery Investigations and Surveys in New York State .... 227 



5. General Principles of Stocking Inland Waters 248 



Food Producing Capacity of Fresh Waters 248 



Suitability of Waters for Fish 254 



Stocking and Restocking Problems 266 



Natural Enemies of Fish 279 



Fish Planting in Public Waters 28b 



6. Propagation and Distribution of Fish by New York State. . 286 



The Trouts and Salmons 287 



Fishes Other Than Salmonids 305 



Procedure for Planting Young Fish 312 



7. Regulations for Protecting Fisheries 315 



Closing Stocked Streams 315 



Protective Methods 317 



Legal Sizes for Catching 320 



Need of Fish Preserves 321 



Game Fish versus Food Fish. 322 



8. Retrospect and Reflections 333 



9. Summary and Conclusions • • 337 



10. List of References 338 



INTRODUCTION 



The original fish resources of the inland waters of North America 

 were among the richest in all the world. The trovits. salmons, white- 

 fishes, basses, perch, pikeperch, pikes and catfishes, are among the 

 best food and game fishes known to man. This was a wonderful 

 natural resource, which comprised not only a great variety of species 



[205] 



