38 



late. A slight expression of anxiety in San Francisco 

 gives rise to a demand for a greater protection of the 

 finer salmon fisheries, which but a few years ago ap- 

 peared to be inexhaustible. 



This fish being delicate and a very desirable table 

 food, doubtless the laws will be more effectually and 

 carefully enforced. But the fishes, or other animal life or 

 plants on which the salmon feed, must also be guarded 

 from destructive depreciation. Leaving the western 

 shore of the continent, still another note of dismay is 

 sounding from Maine to Florida! Salmon is rare in all 

 our rivers ; the great fishing banks of Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts are failing ; the lobsters are growing scarce 

 and small ; mackerel is almost gone from some quarters 

 in which the " Look-out " has heretofore watched the 

 coming schools and sent the joyous tidings to many an 

 eagerly waiting fisherman. Herring catches in some 

 localities are growing less and less ; in some places the 

 fishing smacks are laid high and dry because there is 

 no longer special use for them. Some fishermen say 

 that shad is getting scarce in some of our rivers ; 

 others assert that they, once so rarely flavored, are now 

 at times tainted with coal oil and sewage or foul mud, 

 and are consequently almost unsalable. And so the cry 

 continues from shore to shore, vvdille one of the most im- 

 portant industries of the country lies in jeopardy. Both 

 tlie United States Fish Commission and the commis- 

 ions of the several individual States have done nobly, 

 so far as they have had prerogative, but there is still a 

 vast amount of improvement to be made in fish protec- 

 tive legislation before we can feel assuiecl of preven- 

 tive measures concerning fishing In the public water- 

 ways all over the land. A very apparent defect is In- 

 stituted by conflicting laws made for the control of 

 streams which run through two or more States, whereas, 

 if each State would consult with Its nelo-hborlno; ones 



