BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 437 



93.-FISIICII.TURE I1V BELGirai-PROPOSED GOVEBNMIilVT ACTION* 



By E. WIEEEQUET. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



For several months Mr. Lefebvre, United States consul at Ghent, has 

 been the obliging intermediary through whom you have expressed your 

 desire to give to Belgium solid proofs of the kind feelings entertained 

 by the United States and by yourself for our country, by offering to send 

 us a new fish, unknown to European rivers, and which, it is supposed, 

 would be particularly well suited to the comparatively less pure rivers 

 which flow into the basin of the Scheldt, viz, the catfish. 



I feel that I must thank you directly for the interest which you take 

 in us ; and as the reading of the Annual Reports of the Commission of 

 Fisheries has taught me to appreciate the broad views which you put 

 into practice, I will confess that I still look for other benefits which my 

 country is to reap from your generous proselytism. 



I must state right here that I do not possess a single qualification 

 which justifies the liberty which I take in addressing you. My excuse 

 is solely the desire to profit for Belgium from the large amount of work 

 which you have accomplished. I am a member of the Belgian Chamber 

 of Representatives, and my position will perhaps enable me to spread 

 some of your ideas, and cause Belgium to derive some profit from your 

 rich experience. The Government is well disposed. A new law on 

 river-fisheries has been passed, and has just been published with a series 

 of regulations. The Government has also appointed a commission to 

 inquire which would be the best steps for restocking our rivers. I look 

 for good results lrom the measures whi^h our Government has already 

 taken, and from those which are in course of preparation relative to the 

 river-fisheries. But as regards the sea-fisheries, everything remains to 

 be done. 



We possess one fishing-port, Ostende, which supplies a great part of 

 the continent of Europe with fish, and which doubtless in the near fu- 

 ture will develop into one of the most important fishing-ports on the 

 west coast of Europe, owing to the railroads from the interior which 

 center here. We also have one important river, which, in its maritime 

 part, shows only very insignificant products of the fisheries. I imagine 

 that if you were placed in similar circumstances, you would have known 

 how to derive considerable profit from our geographical location, and 

 I therefore venture to ask, if your habitual generosity would permit you 

 to give us some practical advice. • 



If your kindness would induce you to render us some such service, I 



Translated from the French by Hermans Jacobson. 



