A substantial number of smaller fishing lakes have 

 also been constructed or restored over the years. For 

 example, $30 million in cooperative Federal-State 

 funds have been spent in the last 25 years to create 

 38,000 acres of fishable waters. About half this 

 acreage is in the South Central and Great Plains 

 sections. ''5 



Making it possible for anadromous fish to travel 

 up streams has the effect of creating new spawning 

 and rearing habitat for them. In the contiguous 

 States, this generally has included removing debris, 

 screening pipes that are used to withdraw water for 

 various purposes, and ensuring that fish ladders or 

 passageways are included in structures intended to 

 develop water resources. While these activities are 

 becoming more common in Alaska, the major efforts 

 there are in extending natural habitats by ensuring 

 access to streams not previously available to salmon. 

 Current efforts to restore Atlantic salmon runs in the 

 Northeast include artificial propagation and habitat 

 improvement, as well as creating passageways past 

 existing dams to spawning and rearing areas. 



Increasing productivity of waters. — Intensive man- 

 agement techniques are most highly developed for 

 enclosed bodies of water. Undesirable species are poi- 

 soned or removed from ponds and small lakes or 

 reservoirs and replaced with desirable species, often 

 in conjunction with the construction of structures 

 that regulate water levels. Other techniques include 

 fertilizing to stimulate food production and installing 

 nesting and rearing cover. 



Relatively new Federal and State laws designed to 

 reduce the pollution of the Nation's waters will 

 undoubtedly increase the productivity for fish of 

 many rivers and streams. For example, the Colorado 

 State Division of Wildlife has estimated that water 

 quality improvement could increase the proportion of 

 streams capable of sustaining trout populations in the 

 State by 30 percent. To the extent that pollution is 

 concentrated in and near urban centers, reductions in 

 pollution can be expected to increase fishing oppor- 

 tunities where demands are greatest while reducing 

 travel costs for many users. "^ 



Increasing hatchery production. — A substantial 

 share of the freshwater and anadromous sport and 

 commercial fish caught in the United States are pro- 



duced in hatcheries and then stocked in fishing 

 waters. In 1965, a survey of likely future hatchery 

 capacities and stocking needs to maintain reasonable 

 catches by anglers of trout and warmwater fishes 

 indicated that about 90 percent of requirements 

 might be met in 2000 (table 4.20). The southern States 

 were expected to have the greatest difficulty in meet- 

 ing requirements for trout, and the south-central and 

 western States the greatest difficulties in meeting 

 requirements for warmwater species.'''' 



Private hatcheries were expected to continue to 

 supply 3-4 percent of the trout and 1-2 percent of the 

 warmwater fishes. There were expected to be changes 

 in the proportions of fishing waters that are stocked: 



Type of water 



Estimated 

 in 1965 



Anticipated 

 in 2000 



Public lakes 



& streams 34 percent 21 percent 



Public reservoirs 55 percent 66 percent 



Private waters 11 percent 13 percent 



For both categories of fish, these projections may 

 be overoptimistic because they do not consider the 

 sizes of fish that will be required in the future. In 

 1965, the greatest shortages occurred in producing 

 "catchable" fish. To the extent that urban-related 

 reservoirs and put-and-take fishing continue to 

 increase in popularity, there will be a greater demand 

 for these relatively large (and expensive-to-produce) 

 fish. 



In 1970, it was estimated that taking advantage of 

 all opportunities to increase hatchery production and 

 to upgrade the productivity of rivers and streams in 

 the Northwest and Alaska could increase total sal- 

 mon production by half by the end of the century. 

 The programs that seemed most likely to be imple- 

 mented promised about a 10 percent increase in sal- 

 mon production.'** 



In 1978, planned hatchery expansions and other 

 activities were the bases for estimates that the produc- 

 tion of adult salmon and steelhead available to Wash- 

 ington State commercial and recreational fishermen 

 would be increased by one-half or by about 5.5 mil- 

 lion adult fish per year within a decade. Additional 



"5 Massmann, W. H. Accomplishments under the Federal aid in 

 fish restoration program, 1950-1975. United States Department of 

 the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. 37 p. 

 1976. 



"'Walsh, R. G. Recreational user benefits from water quality 

 improvement. In Outdoor recreation; advances in application of 

 economics. Hughes, J. M. and R. D. Lloyd (comp.), U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-2. 

 Washington, D.C. p. 121-132. 1977. 



"'U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. 

 National survey of needs for hatchery fish. Res. Pub. 63. 71 p. 

 Washington, D.C. 1968. 



"8U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries 

 Service. Basic economic indicators: Salmon, 1947-72. Current 

 Fisheries Statistics No. 6129. p. 33. Washington, D.C. 1973. Also 

 see U.S. Department of Commerce. A marine fisheries program 

 for the Nation. (Statement of Secretary of Commerce). Wash- 

 ington, D.C. 74 p. 1967. 



146 



