39 



before maturing its laws regarding rivers and streams, 

 and fishing therein, conjoint measures might be taken 

 which would improve the local fisheries without injury 

 to any one locality. 



In my opinion, alert watchfulness is requisite, not 

 not only during certain seasons, but at all times, if the 

 product is ever to be elevated to its pristine quality 

 and abundance. Common sense teaches that fish, as 

 well as other animals, require a certain length of time 

 to mature and become perfect for the food of man. 

 It affirms also that when consumers discover that they 

 are obtaining an inferior article, particularly if at a 

 high price, they will soon cease to purchase the com- 

 modity, giving its place to something else, thereby crea- 

 ting a market which by-and-by may repudiate fish as 

 a fashionable staple for food. 



One of the first and most important safeguards to 

 the fisheries is the cleanliness of the rivers in which 

 they are found. Chemical impurities, as well as sewage, 

 should be kept out of fishing streams entirely, or at 

 least as far as can be made practicable, and facilities 

 would soon appear if so required by legislation. Some 

 chemicals may not be poisonous, others are. and they 

 are therefore unfit to be eaten or drunk by fishes intend- 

 ed for food, either for man or for other fishes. I think 

 there might be a feasible arrangement made by which 

 the water from dyeing establishments, mills, factories, 

 etc., could be spread over an extent of ground throuo-h 

 which it could percolate before reaching the stream, 

 thus depositing the maximum of poisonous matter in 

 the earth. Possibly the food w^orms of the fishes mlo-fit 

 be destroyed, but the localities devoted to these indus- 

 tries are sufficiently limited to allow a much greater 

 extent of land uninjured. The dangers of eating 

 fishes who feed In streams polluted by sewage have not 

 as yet been considered fully, but It Is ably demonstra- 



