REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. CLXXXV 



Commission of Fisli and Fislieries. The committee was later enlarged 

 by the selection of representatives of the fish commissions of Wiscon- 

 sin, Illinois, and Minnesota. 



The conference held at Rochester occupied two days and was well 

 attended, not only by members of the committee, but by numerous 

 public and private individuals interested in the lake fisheries. Gen. 

 Sherman acted as chairman of the meeting. This Commission was 

 represented as on the previous occasion, but, owing to the evident 

 impropriety of the General Government taking part in discussions and 

 recommendations regarding contemplated legislation on the part of 

 Canada and the lake States, the writer, under instructions from Wash- 

 ington, asked to be relieved from active service on the committee. The 

 members of the conference seemed to be satisfied with the results accom- 

 plished in the way of formulating the laws to protect the food-fish and 

 in securing an harmonious agreement between the representatives of 

 New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan on the one hand and Ontario 

 and Quebec on the other. The question of Government control of the 

 lake fisheries was informally discussed ; the sentiment of the meeting 

 was generally inimical to the relinquishment by the States of jurisdic- 

 tion over the waters. It was given out that the hope was entertained 

 that the Canadian provinces would be allowed by the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment to assume authority over the fisheries of their side of the 

 lakes, in order that they might be in position to reach some mutual 

 agreement with the States. The more important recommendations 

 which it was decided to present to the conference were as follows: 



1. A resolution urging all States interested in the lake fisheries to 

 secure the passage of laws forbidding the taking or marketing of salmon 

 trout or lake trout weighing less than 2 pounds, of black bass weighing 

 less than 1 pound, of pike perch weighing less than three-fourths of a 

 pound, and of whitefish weighing less than 2 pounds. 



2. A resolution providing for the prohibition of all kinds of com- 

 mercial fishing in the St. Lawrence Siver. 



3. A resolution asking Congress to authorize the United States Com- 

 mission of Fish and Fisheries to make a biological survey of the great 

 lake fisheries, including the determination of the food, habits, and 

 migrations of the commercial fishes. 



The meeting adjourned to convene on December 8, 1891, at Hamilton, 

 Ontario, where the conference was presided over by Hon. Donald 

 McNaughton, of Rochester. The action and recommendations of the 

 Rochester meeting were approved, and the conference adjourned 

 without day, with the understanding that similiar conferences were 

 to be held each year as long as the condition of the fisheries warranted 

 solicitude and mutual legislative action on the part of the States and 

 provinces most interested. 



