STOCKING 399 



various breeders to be placed in competition as to the 

 prices of trout for stocking purposes. Too often the 

 lessee or manager of a fishery wishes to obtain for a 

 specified sum the maximum number of yearlings or 

 older fish to turn into his river. Competition naturally 

 lowers the price and necessitates more economical 

 working in the hatcheries and ponds. As a result the 

 selection of parent fish of good strain and of the right 

 age, neither too young nor too old, has been neglected, 

 and for too many years in succession the same breed- 

 ing fish have been spawned and the ova fertilized from 

 the same males. Yearlings and older fish, wanting in 

 condition and stamina, have been delivered, and even 

 some with deformities of jaws and gills have been 

 sent out. Such fish never thrive, they are not good 

 risers, they do not give good sport, they do not 

 grow to the average size of the river, they are inferior 

 for the table and the worst of ancestors for coming 

 generations. 



The ill-effects caused by the introduction of these 

 degenerate trout do not end even with the reproduction 

 of degenerate offspring. To quote once more from 

 Mr. Corrie's letter : " The strongest and best of the 

 parent fish are ever first on the spawning ground, and 

 are followed there by the less mature and weakly 

 spawners, which invariably make for the same nests 

 and rout out most of the good ova already deposited, 

 and in this connection the undesirable, hand-raised, 

 interloping aliens are the worst offenders." Ergo, not 

 only are we introducing a degenerate strain of trout. 



