438 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



Germany the Elster River pearl-mussel beds and in France the 

 marine mussel and oyster fisheries have been saved and developed by 

 proper legislation and governmental supervision. In this country 

 the business of oyster propagation and farming has been profitably 

 established under such well-delevoped laws as those of Connecticut. 

 It would be difficult to attempt an estimate of the remarkable achieve- 

 ment of the Bureau of Fisheries in the field of aquiculture. The 

 shad, the salmon, and now the fur seal have been saved from ex- 

 termination. So abalones may be raised in the sea as easily as 

 chickens upon the land. The coastal waters must be surveyed for 

 leasing by the State and then a police force organized to guard the 

 marine farms from all the poaching pirates. It can not be emphasized 

 too often that in direct ratio with the increase of population the 

 neglected food resources of land and sea must be conserved and de- 

 veloped. The company manufacturing rubber and fertilizer and 

 extracting iodine from kelp should only be allowed to cut the sea- 

 weed under such restrictions as will preserve the natural home and 

 food supply of all the countless dependent organisms. The inherent 

 tendency of man to rob the earth and sea in order to promote his 

 own selfish interests must be restrained for the larger benefit of his 

 fellows and the salvation of his descendants from want. The sea is 

 the last great field for human exploration and exploitation. We know 

 so little of its vast resources that we can scarcely dream of the pos- 

 sible future industries which will arise under a wisely administered 

 system of aquiculture. 



