686 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
Mr. C. H. Wmson. I desire, as the representative of the State of New York, to 
congratulate the gentlemen who have furnished these most interesting papers upon 
this question. I wish to back it up by the protective element and the department of 
fisheries of the State of New York. While we give you great credit for what you have 
done, for what you, in your enthusiasm, hope to do, yet we do not believe the time is 
ripe when we should sever a partnership with nature and the Almighty. [Laughter.] 
The first paper speaks of the effect of pollution of the waters of the Great Lakes 
upon the spawning beds of the whitefish. If the beds of the whitefish are destroyed 
by the thousands of acres, as stated in this paper, I submit to you, Mr. President and 
gentlemen of this congress, that the time has not arrived when we shall fail to take 
advantage of everything to conserve the food fishes of North America. 
An argument is made in this paper regarding the closed season. The writer 
wishes to close the season for two months, that the commercial fishermen under the 
guise of gathering spawn for the hatcheries may rush in and slaughter by the thou- 
sands the whitefish of the Great Lakes. May I ask you, gentlemen, what risk do you 
run in having a closed season during the spawning period of the whitefish? By an 
open season you do invite the continuance of an illicit business already begun in the 
taking of whitefish eggs for caviare, one seizure of one and one-half barrels of eggs in 
transit having been made last year. You establish a precedent that will later plague 
you regarding other varieties of fish. 
The enthusiasm of the writer of one of these papers sees the Great Lakes over- 
crowded with fish; the sober judgment of another says, ‘‘We may never expect to 
return to former conditions;’’ while the third, uncertain of his position, says, ‘‘ A closed 
season may be advantageous.’’ The showing of the enthusiastic and faithful operators 
of hatcheries is fine and gratifying to all; but the catch, after all, determines the real 
pounds pressure of their enthusiasm. Successful planting must follow successful 
hatching, and protection wait upon both; and the argument of all arguments in these 
papers is the statement that the propagation and protection show increase in the last 
few years. What protection? Practically all states and provinces bordering on the 
Great Lakes, save the state of Pennsylvania, with its 45 miles of shore line, have in 
recent years given protection by a closed season during the spawning time of this valu- 
able fish. 
The statement is made that a closed season will interfere with the taking of spawn. 
Mr. Chester K. Green, who operates a hatchery at Cape Vincent, N. Y., will tell you 
that the state of New York, which I represent on this floor, has given to the United 
States Government permission to take all the spawn it wishes for hatchery purposes. 
Hon. Pau, Nortu. Representing the state fish and game commission of Ohio, I 
would state that the question of preserving the whitefish on Lake Erie is a very difficult 
one, owing to the fact that Lake Erie has four states and the Dominion of Canada 
bordering, and each and every state has a different law, to a great extent, governing 
the taking and catching of these fish. It is a notorious fact that up until the last year 
New York State permitted the fishing with gill nets of 24-inch mesh, and tons of imma- 
ture fish were caught at Dunkirk and those points—immature whitefish that were of 
absolutely no use whatever—in the summer when they are soft and no good. Of course 
there comes the question that if you stop the catching of fish there you will stop the 
commercial fishermen of New York from making a certain living. And if we, as a gen- 
eral government of Canada and the United States, regulate this and have a closed 
season until such a time as the fish come up the lake, why, then, the Ohio fishermen 
get all the benefit; and you can see where the trouble is going to come in and what a 
difficult matter it is to handle. But the main thing, in my mind, is that Mr. Clark 
and Mr. Downing are both absolutely right in their premises that one hatchery will 
produce more whitefish than all the whitefish in a natural state produce. 
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