CONSERVATION AND ITS MEANING 603 



does not seem able to hold its own. What happens to all of these 

 animals which are planted and which do not appear to survive ? 



Biological Surveys 



In order to answer this question more intelligently, various scientific 

 studies of one sort or another have been undertaken. Most of these 

 have been aimed at providing an adequate stocking policy for either 

 fish or game. Perhaps the most complete survey of this sort, designed 

 to determine an adequate stocking policy, deals with the waters of 

 New York. 



In 1926, the New York State Conservation Department organized a 

 biological survey that undertook over a period of years a most careful 

 study of the various watersheds of the state. The cost of the survey 

 was borne by receipts from fishing and hunting license fees. Practi- 

 cally every phase of the life histories of game fish was investigated. 

 Such matters as the existing fauna of the streams, ponds, lakes, and 

 rivers, together with the food, weed areas, chemistry of the water, 

 extent of pollution, bottom and plankton organisms, as well as the 

 great variety of parasites which infect the fish, were given the most 

 careful consideration. On the basis of the assembled data stocking 

 policies were then determined and some estimate was made of the 

 number and kind of fish which should be planted. 



A number of other states have adopted survey programs to help 

 determine stocking and planting policies for fish and game. Both 

 Michigan and California are doing splendid work along these lines 

 and somewhat similar programs are contemplated or are actually 

 under way in other states. The most discouraging feature of such 

 programs is that, in most instances, it is a case of locking the barn 

 door after the horse is stolen, since so much damage has already been 

 done, some of which is irreparable. 



Federal Agencies 



There are several Federal agencies acting either directly or indi- 

 rectly along the line of conservation. The Bureau of Biological 

 Survey has various problems under consideration, dealing principally 

 with matters of the migration, distribution, economic value, and life 

 histories of various birds and mammals. In the Bureaus of Plant and 

 Animal Industry centers the work of parasitologists who are concerned 

 with problems of identification and control of various types of plant 



