28 American Fisheries Society 



this work for the good of humanity, not for any profit for 

 themselves or any exploitation of the great resources in con- 

 nection with which they are working. The contributions of 

 its members to the knowledge of the subject have added 

 greatly to the increase of those resources and their perpetua- 

 tion, and have made it possible for the fisheries to continue 

 to exist in many parts of the United States and I assume also 

 in some parts of Canada; and as time goes on the work of 

 the Society in this respect will be more and more important 

 in your country. As the more remote and newer portions 

 of Canada are exploited by the commercial fisheries, there will 

 be greater and greater need of replenishing the supply in 

 order that the supply of food for the people may not be de- 

 pleted. 



It was about fifty years ago that the father of fish culture 

 in the United States, Seth Green, began to sound a note of 

 warning in the earlier proceedings of this Society, pointing 

 out in addresses and papers submitted by him that the shad 

 fisheries of the New England rivers and the sturgeon fisheries 

 of the Hudson River were being depleted. The fact that stur- 

 geon ever existed in the Hudson River has probably passed 

 out of the memory of most people now Hving. 



I was pleased indeed to hear the Honorable Mr. Mercier 

 refer briefly to the question of international regulations for 

 the preservation of game and fish. To my mind that is a 

 great question which needs our careful thought and a solution 

 of which it is not impossible to arrive at. Now I can speak 

 more freely than he can, or than any Canadian can, because 

 I come from a country which has been derelict in this respect. 

 A treaty was agreed upon some twelve years ago for con- 

 trolling and regulating international fisheries, but that treaty 

 has never been put into effect owing to the negligence of my 

 own country. It may be that the treaty should be revised; 

 it may be that its terms are not what they should be ; but the 

 fact remains that it is not in effect; enabling acts have not 

 been passed, and the question is still open and unsettled. To 



