7. Fishery Services: Fiscal year 1970, $2,134,000; fiscal year 1971, $2,209,000; increase, $75,000. The increase consists of:

Three permanent positions at an average annual rate, including cost of living allowance of 25 percent, $11,000, $33,000; travel, including plane travel, and transportation of equipment and supplies, $10,000; purchase and rental of equipment, $12,000; supplies, communications, space and miscellaneous, $20,000.

Need for Increase: Technical assistance, Indian program $75,000 and 3 positions. The program of technical assistance in sport fishery management, provided by the Bureau to the Indian tribes, has been highly successful. In 1968, for example, more than 1,300,000 man-days of sport fishing were enjoyed by fishermen on Indian lands with technical assistance coming from the Division of Fishery Services. Demand for these services continues to grow. Angling benefits to be realized from the increase are estimated to exceed 100,000 fisherman-days per year after the program becomes established.

Alaska Indians. In the State of Alaska many Indian groups are dependent upon fish for subsistence but income is seasonal in nature. The development of the recreational fisheries will provide employment and income over a longer period. The Indians of Annette Island are proceeding with area development plans that emphasize tourism as an important economic asset. This would be dependent upon utilization of the various sport fishery potentials of the Island and adjacent marine waters. The Tribe has requested management assistance from the Bureau, and a preliminary study has confirmed a high potential for benefits to the Tribe and the public.

Annette Island is located in Southeast Alaska, 15 miles south of Ketchikan, Surveys of the Island's lakes and streams would be made to assess existing fish populations and establish a basic management pattern. Nearby marine waters can provide excellent salmon fishing, and other marine fishes would contribute to the sport fishing values. Shellfish are abundant on many of the Island beaches and could be managed for recreational use. With the increase, limited assistance will also be provided other Indian tribes and native village groups in Alaska in their efforts to improve their all-important sport fishery resources. $75,000, to support 3 positions, is needed to establish a fishery services field station to serve the Indians of Annette Island.

The technical assistance program centered on the Indian tribes is singled out for the requested increase because:

(1) The need is clear-cut.

(2)

(3)

State conservation agencies generally are not authorized to work on Indian lands.

Output units are high for effort and dollars expended. (4) The program has the support of the Indian tribes.

Program of Work: The program of Fishery Services has three main thrusts: (1) technical assistance to other Federal agencies in managing sport fishery resources and similar cooperative work with Indian tribes and States; (2) the training of fishery scientists at cooperative fishery units, a joint effort by the Bureau,

participating universities and the State fish and game departments, and (3) working cooperatively with the State and Federal agencies in protecting and improving the quality of the aquatic environment.

Technical Assistance. This phase of the program amounts to $1,207,000. The primary objectives are: (1) to provide sport fishing for the present and future by improving the existing sport fishery and (2) to develop new sport fisheries through the application of modern fishery management techniques learned from research and experience.

Guidance in sport fishery management will be provided on about 700,000 acres of lakes, ponds and streams administered by Federal landowner agencies and Indian tribes in 1971. Management and development of these waters will be done so as to make the maximum fishing available without undue conflict with the primary objectives of the areas. This effort is expected to result in nearly 8 million fisherman days in 1971 on Federal areas and Indian lands.

Indian Assistance. There are 200,000 acres of water on Indian reservations. Management guidance by this Bureau at a cost of $490,000 on these waters can provide 1.7 million fisherman days in 1971 with an economic value to the Indian tribes estimated at 4 million dollars. This cooperative work with the tribes, coordinated with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, will be extended to about 70 separate tribes, reservations and native villages. Emphasis will be given to intensifying efforts on some reservations which have been receiving only limited help and in providing for the first time technical assistance in fishery management for some of the Indians of Alaska, seeking to develop the sport fishing potentials of their waters. The development of sport fishing programs has resulted in major tourist attractions on several reservations in the Southwest, and more tribes desire to obtain the economic benefits resulting from increased sport fishing. The fishery programs also provide direct full-time employment for

tribal members.

Defense Installations. Technical assistance in fishery management will be provided at a minimal level on about 150 Department of Defense installations in 1971. These activities are carried on under provisions of Public Law 86-797, the Sikes Act (74 Stat. 1052) and a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior. Fishery management activities on military lands are usually based on a long-range plan approved by the Defense commander, the State fish and game director and the Regional Director of the Bureau, taking into consideration the primary objectives of the installation, the potential for development and the need for recreation. The Department of Defense Conservation Award, established in 1962, has consistently been won by installations where fishery management assistance has been furnished by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.

Other Federal Areas. Technical assistance in fishery management will also be provided the National Park Service, Veterans Administration Hospitals, certain of the National Forests and National Wildlife Refuges. Technical services include stream and lake surveys, creel censuses, planning and coordinating stocking programs, assistance in formulating angling regulations and providing guidance for the fishery programs commensurate with the policies and objectives of each

area.

Fishery management activities provided by the Bureau on Federal, Indian and privately owned areas and those performed in cooperative programs with the States are expected to provide nearly 10 million man-days of fishing in 1971.

In the field of environmental improvement, the Bureau has two projects conducted by Fishery Services which are concerned with the effects of acid mine drainage. Fishery biologists serve as Coordinators on the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee; the Connecticut River Studies; assist the Delaware River Basin Commission; and coordinate the Hudson River fishery investigations, A close

relationship is maintained with State fish and game departments and all participating agencies are kept informed of management needs and accomplishments.

Monitoring of pesticide residues in fish throughout the United States will be expanded and improved by the Bureau in 1971. This program is financed under the pesticides review activity.

Cooperation will be continued in 1971 with the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, the Appalachian Regional Commission and others in determining the effects of mineral mining operations on fisheries and in recommending restoration and control measures.

Cooperative Fishery Units. An estimate of $1,002,000 will support the 23 cooperative fishery units. Training in fishery science, with emphasis on graduate level work, is the primary objective of the units. A second objective is the conduct of research in the fishery field. The cooperative fishery units are helping to meet the need for trained fishery scientists. While each unit has one or more special fields of interest, the program is kept sufficiently broad to meet State and Federal requirements for specialists in this field. Research conducted in the unit program is helpful to fishery managers throughout the world and the benefits are passed on to the sport fishermen of the Nation. Unit studies cover a wide area of interest including ecology of fishes, fish population control, aquatic weed control, pond and stream management, introductions of fishes into new waters, fish migrations, effects of pesticides upon fish, studies of fish parasites and fish disease control, and studies of rare and endangered species. Also of major interest are studies of the effects of agricultural and domestic pollution on sport and commercial fishes.

Examples of Recent Accomplishments: Bureau fishery biologists made 368 visits to Federal areas and Indian reservations in 1968 for the purpose of providing assistance in fishery management. These areas have 622 thousand acres of lakes and impoundments and 11,968 miles of streams under management. They provided 6.7 million man-days of fishing during the season, a 15 percent increase over 1967. Managed waters were stocked with 16 million fish from national fish hatcheries.

Technical assistance was provided by the Bureau to 151 Department of Defense installations in 39 States during 1968. The 24,185 acres of lakes and ponds and the 135 miles of streams under management provided nearly 1.4 million man-days of sport fishing enjoyed by military and civilian anglers. This is an increase of nearly 13 percent over 1968. About 1.8 million fish were provided by national fish hatcheries for this program.

Technical assistance to fishery management programs was provided by the Bureau at 19 Veterans Administration hospitals in 1968. Fishing is a very popular form of recreation by patients as evidenced by the 39,700 man-days of fishing reported on 177 acres of ponds and lakes during 1968. On some waters in this program angling pressure exceeded 550 trips per acre.

During 1968, Bureau biologists assisted with fishery management on 13 National Forests and one National Grassland. These areas contain 21,000 acres of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, and 5,900 miles of streams. National Forest waters included in the cooperative program provided about 1.9 million man-days of fishing in 1968 and were stocked with 1.8 million fish.

In 1968 the Bureau provided some assistance to 11 National Park Service areas. Nearly a million man-days of fishing occurred on these areas.

During 1968, technical assistance in fishery management was provided on 58 National Wildlife Refuges. These 58 refuges contain 262,000 acres of lakes and

ponds and 45 miles of stream, where 1.1 million man-days of fishing occurred in 1968.

The Bureau assisted 62 Indian reservations with their fish management activities in 1968. More than 1.3 million man-days of fishing occurred on 174,470 acres of ponds and lakes and 3,469 miles of streams. The fishing was sustained in part by stocking 7.2 million fish from national fish hatcheries.

During 1968 and 1969 there were 23 cooperative fishery units in operation. During the period January 1968 through June 1969, 77 formal courses were taught in which total enrollment was 968 students, and 33 courses of research and thesis involving 144 graduate students. Graduate degrees were awarded to 80 unit students. Unit personnel had 85 scientific papers published during an 18-month period. Additional papers were presented at scientific meetings. All graduates of the cooperative fishery unit program have found suitable employment or are continuing their formal education for higher degrees.

In the fish-pesticides field, Bureau biologists participated in an appraisal of an application of Bidrin to about 300 acres of rangeland for grasshopper control in Colorado, and in appraisal of an experimental application of Baytex for mosquito control in Ohio. Field studies of the effect of 2, 4-D applications for watermilfoil control in Currituck Sound, North Carolina, were continued in 1968. Sampling for arsenic residues was continued at sites which had been treated with Paris Green near Kennedy Space Flight Center.

Fish for both the spring and fall samples were collected by Bureau personnel for the National Pesticide Monitoring Program. The data were tabulated and prepared for publication in the December 1969 issue of the Pesticides Monitoring Journal. Manuscript releases made prior to publication have resulted in expressions of deep concern and interest by the State conservation agencies, some of whom have since initiated statewide programs of pesticide monitoring and control.

Bureau fishery biologists working on the Connecticut River Anadromous Fisheries Program prepared a report titled "Fish Passage Facilities Design Parameters for Connecticut River Dams." They also designed a procedure for measuring mortality rates on salmon smolts moving through hydroelectric plants. Turbine mortality studies subsequently were conducted at four stations on the Connecticut River. Results are contained in special reports.

Table 2.--Fishery Management Services Provided to Federal Areas
and Indian Reservations