550 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



primary importance. The formation of reservation districts for abso- 

 lute closure during successive periods of years, within which we may 

 have, every five or ten miles, smaller perpetual biological reservations 

 for breeding centers, will solve the problems of preservation in a better 

 manner than the present laws for closed and open seasons. In Ger- 

 many the Elster Eiver pearl mussel beds and in France the marine 

 mussel and oyster fisheries have been saved and developed by proper 

 legislation and governmental supervision. In this country the business 

 of oyster propagation and farming has been profitably established under 

 such well-developed laws as those of Connecticut. It would be difficult 

 to attempt an estimate of the remarkable achievement of the Bureau 

 of Fisheries in the field of aquaculture. The shad, the salmon and 

 now the fur-seal have been saved from extermination. So abalones 

 may be raised in the sea as easily as chickens upon the land. The 

 coastal waters must be surveyed for leasing by the state and then a 

 police force organized to guard the marine farms from all the poaching 

 pirates. It can not be emphasized too often that in direct ratio with 

 the increase of population the neglected food resources of land and sea 

 must be conserved and developed. The company manufacturing rub- 

 ber and fertilizer and extracting iodine from kelp should only be 

 allowed to cut the seaweed under such restrictions as will preserve the 

 natural home and food supply of all the countless dependent organisms. 

 The inherent tendency of man to rob the earth and sea in order to pro- 

 mote his own selfish interests must be restrained for the larger benefit 

 of his fellows and the salvation of his descendants from want. The sea 

 is the last great field for human exploration and exploitation. We 

 know so little of its vast resources that we can scarcely dream of the 

 possible future industries which will arise under a wisely administered 

 system of aquaculture. 



