3i6 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



benefits were intended. The accumulation of trout of several years 

 have been fished out by those who were able to get the best chance 

 to fish, in the first few weeks of the open season. The policy or 

 law of the state usually is to stock public but not private waters, 

 but in such instances as just mentioned, the closure has practically 

 made the stocking a private one. The state has thereby been put 

 to considerable expense to produce fish for a few individuals. Hence 

 the dissatisfaction amongst other trout fishermen because those first 

 on the brook had " beaten them to it." 



In the cases of permanent closure there often appeared to be a 

 decrease rather than the looked-for increase of trout. So the ques- 

 tion arose as to the practical use of closing such waters. 



Aside from the inequitableness referred to, the question of the 

 temporary or permanent closing of waters involves several other 

 considerations, one of which is economy. The fact that a body of 

 water will support a certain amount of organic life and no more, 

 has been emphasized in this publication, and in others. A brook, 

 for instance, is capable of producing food enough to adequately 

 sustain a stock of brook trout in proportion to the area, if in other 

 ways suited to the fish. The size attained by the trout depends in a 

 great measure upon the quantity of its food supply. If, as elsewhere 

 indicated, the trout area is over-crowded, the fish will not attain 

 the maximum average growth which they otherwise might attain. 

 Investigations or ecological studies of trout have not yet reached 

 the point where we can correlate the available food supply with the 

 exact or even approximate number of fish that should be planted 

 in a given area. It is usually the custom to consider the size of the 

 stream and guess at the number of fish which should he planted, in 

 order that it may be adequately stocked. At least that is the custom 

 when other influences are not brought to bear. In any event the 

 allotment has been in the past, and continues to be, when possible, 

 a very liberal one, and one that is likely to comprise more fish than 

 the area can sufficiently provide with food. In a discussion of this 

 subject Dr. Nathan Fasten, of the Oregon Agricultural College, calls 

 attention to a possible result of closing a stream (Fasten, '22). 

 He says : " My observations along this line have convinced me that 

 this [closing of a body of water to fishing] is an erroneous practice. 

 In the first place, closing down a stream makes for a rapid multiplica- 

 tion of fish so that the available food supply soon becomes inade- 

 quate to maintain all of them. A fierce struggle for existence ensues 

 in which many of the weaker, but nevertheless desirable fish, are 

 killed ofif. Even those that remain appear to be starved for lack of 

 food." 



In the present writer's experience, while some of the larger fish 

 may appear more or less emaciated, the general tendency under 

 overcrowded conditions is for the fish to remain small, and to attain 

 breeding maturity while yet small, and consequently produce fewer 

 or inferior progeny, although it is conceivable of the food supply 

 becoming so depleted that the trout would resort to cannibalism and 

 even starve. 



