Evening star., 1928-05-27
BY REX COLLIER.

Secretary Hoover's recent fishing trip
to Williamsport, Pa, was taken for rea-
sons not wholly recreational.
1t happens that Mr. Hoover's Depart
ment Of Commerce has supervision Of
the Governments game fish hatcheries.
These hatcheries are engaged In an ex-
pertinent of profound importance to
Americas 100000 fishermen.
The experiment. originated In the
mind of the Secretary of Commerce, in
wolves a test Of the feasibility Of extend
ing the nursing period for fingerlings
and fry hatched in public and private
"incubators," so that the young fish
may stand a better chance to survive
when turned loose ION their own"
Heretofore it had been estimated that
about out of every $50 fry and
fingerlings withstood the rigors Of life
in the streams and lakes after leaving
the hatcheries. Most of them were
swallowed by fuil-groWn fish with cam
nibalistic tendencies.
A fisherman at heart, Secretary
Hoover did great deal of worrying
about this sad state of affairs in pisca-
torial circles. He even began TO doubt
the soundness of the whole fish incu-
baton scheme 1t was costing Uncle
Sam about S2000,00 year, and seemed
MIR. Hoover had conference, finally,
with Commissioner O'Malley of the Bu-
reau of Fisheries. The Secretary had
arrived at certain ideas as to the root
of the whole problem, and he decided
no harm could come of little expert
mentation to find out if those ideas had
merit.
"My general thesis was" Hoover
| later said, that those infant fish did
not have a dogs chance to gain ma
! turity under existing conditions"
| As a result of the conference Com
missioner O'Malley started series OF
| experiments to test the possibility OF
rearing the baby fish to adolescence, or
| TO an age when they could better take
care of themselves in the world. II
was Hooyer's belief that if the young
| fish remained under the guardianship
| of the hatcheries until they were at
least 3 inches long they would be
| able to resist the attacks of other fish
and meet successfully the other dan
gers which beset their path.
It was reasoned. moreover, that a
| cannibaI fish might satisfy his appetite
on one or two of the 3-inch variety
| instead Of Cutting himself on 200 OF
| so OF the Try, 1TeSIl nun lAlC Sh6o'
Any suggestion that might help 70
save Americas st-diminishing supply
of game fish was worth adoption as
| an experiment, Commissioner O'Malley
agreed. The Nations fishermen were
complaining bitterly about the lack oil
| fish in the old fishing holes. Secre-
| tary Hoover sympathized with them
He had shared their experiences.
X y y
81 spent several days searching fish,
ing holes at various points between
| Chesapeake Bay and the Pacific
Ocean" he explained II tried to ffno
some spot where not more than SIX
automobiles had already camped. OF
where the campers did not get up be-
fore daylight and thus get the two
or three fish which were on guard al
that time Of day"
That kind OF game fishing did not
fit in well with Hoover's ideas OF the
sport. He has declared that each OF
Americas fishermen should catch at
least so fish during the season His
ideal minimum national annual catch
is half a billion game fish. he asserts.
The reason for the dearth OF nsn
was not hard TO find. Hoover reasoned
it out along these lines, IN addressing
the Izaak Walton League last year;
Man and boy, the American IS q
fisherman. That comprehensive list OF