THIS IS

CORTLAND

FISH-CULTURAL STATION
EXPERIMENTAL HATCHERY
TROUT-NUTRITION LABORATORY
IN-SERVICE TRAINING SCHOOL

THIS IS

CORTLAND

FISH-CULTURAL STATION
EXPERIMENTAL HATCHERY
TROUT-NUTRITION LABORATORY
IN-SERVICE TRAINING SCHOOL

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Cortland

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Cortland Station was authorized by act of
Congress in 1930, and in a quarter of a cen-
tury this small establishment has made a
considerable contribution to fish culture in
general and trout fishing in particular.
Here, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the New
York Conservation Department, and Cornell
University cooperate in a program that com-
bines a production hatchery that collects
trout eggs and rears trout for stocking, an
experimental hatchery and nutrition reseaixh
laboratory, and a fish-culture training school.
Area of the station is about 100 acres. The
hatchery receives water from excellent
springs that furnish a constant supply at
47° F., for hatching trout eggs.

PRODUCTION
HATCHERY

Cortland collects brown-trout eggs from
brood fish kept in the station's brood ponds.
Recently the spawning season of these trout
has been pushed forward by the use of arti-

ficial light. Note the covering over one of
the brood ponds. Brown-trout eggs have
been supplied by Cortland to Fedei-al and
State hatcheries in 25 States.

The station rears brown trout, and also

rears brook trout and rainbow trout from

eggs supplied by other Service hatcheries.

Most of the trout dis-

DISTRIBUTDON

2,000,000

I
1.500,000

'AA '46 'le '50 '52 '54

6/!0tVAl

Tuour

eSeS — DISTRI&UTIOH

tributed by Cortland
go to stock State-man-
aged streams and
lakes in New York
west of the Hudson
and in a few adjacent
Pennsylvania coun-
ties. In recent years,
more and more of
these fish have been
planted as legal-size
trout rather than as
fingerlings, to give fishing opportunities to
an increasing number of anglers. Rearing
trout to legal size takes longer hatchery
care — and costs more.

Cortland's production facilities also sup-
ply trout of the sizes and species needed at
the station for study under controlled
conditions.

NUTRITION
LABORATORY

The Cortland Trout Nutrition Laboratory
was instituted in 1932. Trout hatcheries
needed feeding formulas that were less ex-
pensive but just as efficient, or better, than
the diets they were using. Some of the com-
ponents of older diets were diflScult or expen-
sive to store. In ponds and raceways at this
station, many foods have been tested in terms
of production, growth, and mortality of fish.

When new products, like pellets — compressed
feed mixtures — come on the market, they are
tested on trout held here.

So successful has its nutrition research
been, that "the Cortland diet" is a common
reference at trout-culture stations every-
where.

In its annual reports, Cortland makes
available the results of its experiments to de-
termine the effects of various substances on
trout. The vitamins needed, the levels at
which these should be fed, the digestion and
use of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and min-
erals, the cause and prevention of nutritional
deficiencies, the effects of foods on the chemi-
cal composition of the trout's body : these are
a few of the topics on which the laboratory's
biochemists have already reported.

Since more efficient use of foods must be
based on better understanding of the trout's
physiology, the laboratory studies the body
processes of trout. What happens to its
blood when the trout feeds on sugar? on fat?
or on starch? Is there a change in the blood
when the fish receives a salt bath ? What ef-
fect has dissolved oxygen on the red-cell con-
tent of the blood ? What changes occur in the
presence of enzymes? What identifying
stains can be used safely on trout? What
factors are involved in trout coloration?
Answers to questions like these will affect
more than the feeding practices in a hatch-
ery ; they will influence the spawning opera-
tions, water use, pond construction, and many
other phases of hatchery management.

FOOD ALLOWANCE TABLE - BROWN TROUT

Q>£/iC£NTA6E OF BODY we/GMf)
POUNDS OF FOOD FOR lOO POUNDS OF FISH

LrSJBEE

i;!

2-3 3-''

In"*

In"

in!

7-3

8-9
In.

OTOB
in. In.

MOTe 2,5°2

88.3
30U

37.8

19.7 11.6
37-8 19-7

7-35
11. b

I..94
7.35

3.''7
1..9U

2.53
3.°7

2.53

-1,

1 0

0.8

0.

5 0

i-'i

1.5

1.3

1.1

1.0

0.9

o.i

5.2

h.U

3.5

2.6

2.0

1.6

1.3

l.U

1.1

1.2

1.0
1.0

0.9
0.9

o.f

5-6

h.l

3.8

2.8

2.1

1.7

X.k

1.2

11

1.0

U.v

MBL WHOI Libra™ . seriah

Trial-and-error testing of new products in
ponds and raceways is complemented by
chemical analyses and blood tests. Bioassays
determine whether a particular food is doing
its job.

Biochemical research with radioactive
tracers is adding greatly to knowledge of fish
nutrition and growth. Radioactive isotopes
provide Cortland's biochemists with a means
of tagging mineral elements, for example, to
determine whether trout absorb calcium
direct from the water they are in.

TRAINrNG
SCHOOL

Some of the most promising fish-culture
employees of the Fish and Wildlife Service
receive a year of training at Cortland. In
formal classes, in the laboratory, and in
supervised work on the station's trout, the
men are trained in fish culture and its re-
lated fields. Instruction includes such topics
as nutrition, fresh-water biology, physiology,
disease identification and control, water
analysis, hatchery techniques, and hatchery
administration.

Because of the notable success of its com-
bination of theory and practical application,
Cortland has been visited by numerous fish-
ery administrators from other countries, as
well as by those from many parts of the
United States

VISITORS

WHSE 00101

THIS IS

Every year, Cortland receives thousands
of visitors. These include fish-culturists and
anglers, school classes, scouts, and other
groups, and families on a holiday.

FISH-CULTURAL STATION
EXPERIMENTAL HATCHERY
TROUT-NUTRITION LABORATORY
IN-SERVICE TRAINING SCHOOL

The Fish and Wildlife Service is a Federal
agency dedicated to the conservation of the
Nation's fish and wildlife resources. The
Service operates salmon, trout, and bass
hatcheries for stocking public waters ; main-
tains wildlife refuges ; controls predatory
animals ; enforces Federal laws for the con-
servation of fish and migratory birds;
promotes commercial fisheries; and engages
in fish and wildlife research. The Service's
regional office in Boston, Mass., supervises
activities in the Northeastern States.

UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Circular 42

* U. S, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1956— 0-389134

VISITORS

,,..MBL WHO! Libra™ - Serials

5 WHSE 00101

Every year, Cortland receives thousands
of visitors. These include fish-culturists and
anglers, school classes, scouts, and other
groups, and families on a holiday.

l2^ M^

The Fish and Wildlife Service is a Federal
agency dedicated to the conservation of the
Nation's fish and wildlife resources. The
Service operates salmon, trout, and bass
hatcheries for stocking public waters ; main-
tains wildlife refuges; controls predatory
animals ; enforces Federal laws for the con-
servation of fish and migratory birds;
promotes commercial fisheries ; and engages
in fish and wildlife research. The Service's
regional office in Boston, Mass., supervises
activities in the Northeastern States.

UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

CircHlar 42

U. 5. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1956— 0-389134