50 REPORT OF THE 



of adjoining States, as the Fish Commission is supposed to be a body better informed 

 as to the needs of closing streams to re-populate them with fish than any other body 

 of men. The bill was passed in an amended form and is now a law, the amendment, 

 however, killing the force of the bill, as it requires a request on the part of a majority 

 of the town board of any town, before the Commission has the power to close any 

 water. Until this law is amended, giving the Commission power to close streams 

 without a petition from a town board, I would recommend that no more yearling fish 

 be raised at the State hatcheries, and for this reason : yearling fish are, of necessity, 

 planted just before or about the time of the opening of the fishing season in the 

 spring. About that time they are twelve months old. Nearly all trout reared by 

 ■the State are more than six inches long at twelve months of age. If the Commis- 

 sion had power to close streams in which yearling trout were planted in the spring, 

 these trout would spawn in the fall following or at eighteen months of age, and do 

 much to keep a fresh stock of fish in the stream by natural processes. Under the 

 operation of the present law yearling trout are planted and almost at once they are 

 taken out by fishermen, who can take them legally over six inches in length. One 

 or two instances this past spring have come under my observation, and I am satisfied 

 that three plantings of yearling fish, some of them nine inches in length, were all 

 practically caught by fishermen within a few weeks after the yearlings were planted, 

 and therefore, in my opinion, it would be economy on the part of the State to plant 

 fish no older than fingerlings, that is, eight months old, as quite as many fingerlings 

 would survive as now survive of yearlings, and the State would be spared the 

 expense of carrying them through the winter and feeding them." 



The Commission adopted my recommendation and yearling fish are no longer 

 reared. I believe it would add much to the future of fishing in the State if the Com- 

 mission had power to close streams without resorting to a petition from a town board. 

 I desire to repeat, also, what I said in the same report in regard to the Fishway 

 Law : 



" The Fishway Law is in too many instances not complied with by those who 

 erect dams on streams in this State. Section 208 of the Forest, Fish and Game 

 Law provides : ' Before the construction of a dam is commenced on any stream 

 more than six miles long, inhabited by fish protected by this act, the plan thereof 

 and a statement of the name, length and location of the stream shall be given to 

 the Commission b)' the person, or if by public authority, by the official directing 

 or permitting the work.' * * "" Unless an example is made of someone who 

 erects a dam without complying with the law, I fear that the illegal dam building 

 will continue for some time to come." 



