73 



"I know we are'on the high road m our State to 

 check this wholesale draining of the public waters, and 

 the legislature has very fairly met the demands of the 

 Commission and their requests for this sort of legisla- 

 tion, and we hear reports from the public all over the 

 State encouraging the enforcement of the laws, and 

 while I am speaking I want to say that members of our 

 commission are very much interested in forming fish 

 and game protective societies throughout the State, 

 and have succeeded in establishing six in as many 

 different counties. We propose to have not less than 

 one in each county, and more than one in some 

 counties. We ought to have local organizations for the 

 protection of the fish. I believe in a local sentiment, 

 and the only way to have it is to crystalize it in the 

 form of associations; and, I think, if the Fish Commis- 

 sioners of the several States will work in unity, 

 especially in the States bordering on the Great Lakes, 

 we can adjust our legislation in such a way that it will 

 equalize itself and be of great value. " 



Mr. Titcomb, of St. Johnsbury, Vt., asked if the 

 law mentioned by Mr. Peabody restricting the weight 

 to twenty pounds of fish shipped from the State had 

 been passed, Mr. Peabody replied that it had not 

 been passed, but the transportation companies had 

 given instructions to their employees to that effect. 



Dr. Bean, of New York, said ; 



" Mr. Whitaker's paper set me to thinking about 

 the relation of fisheries to fish culture. I have already 

 mentioned the abundance of shad in California, which 

 is a case in point. The first plant of shad was in 1872, 

 and in 1880 the shad had become so abundant that 

 many bushels of the young were sold for herring. Peo- 

 ple asking for herring were offered these shad. Shad 

 are now very common in the market of that State. 

 There being no regular fisheries for them, they are 



