37o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



fishery, however, has always been chiefly to obtain the roe for caviar. 

 Hence the spawning time was the most favorable period for profitable 

 operation, and the fishermen, with their characteristic disregard for 

 the future, by incessant fishing practically eliminated natural repro- 

 duction. When the lake whitefish supply began to fail the fishermen 

 were required by law to return the spawn to the spawning grounds, and 

 when the Atlantic coast shad showed signs of depletion vigorous work 

 at artificial propagation was largely capable of counteracting the effect 

 of too much fishing. But the case of the sturgeon was quite different, 

 in that the profitable prosecution of the fishery depended mainly on 

 the amount of roe secured. In many cases, in fact, no other portion 

 was utilized until comparatively recently, when the price of the flesh 

 advanced. Obviously then a most serious difficulty stood in the way 

 of the adoption of those measures which had benefited fisheries for 

 other species. The high value of the hard ova to the fishermen and 

 their inability to use the soft or ripe ova in caviar have meant the most 

 vigorous efforts to secure the roe before it became soft. The United 

 States Fish Commission, and the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey 

 and Delaware, have repeatedly tried sturgeon hatching individually and 

 in cooperation, but the difficulty experienced in securing ripe spawn and 

 milt at the same time has brought failure. 41 The fact is, in the Dela- 

 ware district, at least, the species is so nearly extinct, and males so 

 scarce, that even when ripe ova are secured a male may not be taken for 

 several days or too late to be of any use. It is hard to see how this 

 condition can be easily remedied. With artificial propagation more or 

 less impracticable and natural reproduction reduced to an absolute 

 minimum, the fate of the sturgeon is obvious. 



It is true, however, that some efforts have been made to prevent the 

 complete extermination of the sturgeon and to protect the existing 

 remnants of the formerly important fishery. The principal efforts have 

 been made through legislative action placing certain restrictions on 

 the operations of the fishermen. These restrictions fall into two 

 groups, first, making it unlawful to take sturgeon under a given size, 

 and second, prohibiting all sturgeon fishing at certain seasons. The 

 states bordering on the Great Lakes furnish the best illustration of the 

 first group of laws. Ohio in 1896 prohibited the capture of sturgeon 

 less than 2>y 2 feet long; Pennsylvania passed a similar law in 1901, 

 and New York adopted a minimum length of 3 feet in 1902. Michigan 

 and Wisconsin, on the contrary, based their restrictions on weight, the 

 former, in 1897, setting 15 pounds as the lawful size, and the latter, 

 in 1903, prohibiting the capture of sturgeon under 8 pounds. 



These laws do not seem to have produced the desired result or in 



41 Bureau of Fisheries Report, 1902, p. 460. Pennsylvania Fish Commission 

 Report, 1905, p. 64; 1906, p. 23. 



