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inPOVERlSHMENT OF THE FOOD=FISH 

 INDUSTRIES. 



BY DR. BUSHROD W. JAMES, PHILADELPHIA, PA., 



MEMBER AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE 



PENNSLYVANIA FISH PROTECTIVE 



ASSOCIATION. 



The time has come when the inhabitants of the 

 United States must cease to look upon the lavishly 

 trenerous g'ifts bestowed upon them by nature as limit- 

 less, and therefore needless of special care or protec- 

 tion. Wastefulness has been overlooked without tear 

 of inevitable retribution, until the punishment is al- 

 ready upon us in more than one perceptible quarter. 

 To that which relates to the impoverishment of the 

 fish-food supply, I will devote the subject of this 

 paper. 



If we take the literal meaning of " food-fish " we 

 must include every known animal product of ocean, 

 river, or streamlet ; for if possible, some species, which 

 to our refined taste, are actually loathsome, are more 

 important in their multi-usefulness than are many of 

 those which we favor particularly with above mention- 

 ed name, and which our Fish Commissions are en- 

 deavoring to protect. 



A universal impoverishment in the fisheries is 

 making itself felt from Point Barrow all the way down 

 the Pacific coast so that business itself in shipping is 



