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Research in Stream Management in the Pisgah National Forest
Author(s) -
Chamberlain Thomas K.
Publication year - 1943
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1942)72[150:rismit]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishing , trout , stocking , fishery , hatchery , streams , catch and release , environmental science , watershed , fish <actinopterygii> , closing (real estate) , geography , biology , business , recreational fishing , finance , computer network , machine learning , computer science
Five years of experimental stream management with 150 miles of trout stream, divided between six watersheds, resulted, after various management practices were tried, in an increase of approximately 300 percent in anglers and in number of fish caught. After the first year, all hatchery fish were marked by fin clipping before being planted. Recoveries from plantings made at different seasons showed a five‐fold increase in recovery of spring planted legal‐sized trout over trout of near equal size planted in the fall. During the last years of the experiment, emphasis was placed on stocking mainly with legal‐sized trout in the spring. Success indicates that this method is the best means of meeting increased fishing demand. Unfavorable practices, such as closing a stream to fishing every other year, were discontinued. Because of the requirement that a complete creel census be taken over wide‐spread fishing areas with a limited personnel, a fishing schedule was evolved, staggering the open days for the different streams under an arrangement called “The Pisgah System.” While the system permitted only one watershed to be opened at a time, it was found adequate to meet the increasing fishing intensity by spreading the fishing fairly evenly.