162 American Fisheries Society 



conservation laws prohibiting from being fished, except with hook 

 and line, many lakes which should yield large quantities of fish 

 for commercial purposes without injury to sport. 



Now I wish to be clearly understood. Where sport fishing and 

 commercial fishing conflict to the extent that the angler is deprived 

 of his sport, and there is a demand for such sport, I stand for sport 

 fishing in preference to commercial fishing. Sport fishing tends 

 to clean living and good health. It is a sport enjoyed by old and 

 young, male and female; and these are things much to be desired 

 by the state for its citizens and to be much more highly prized 

 than gold and silver. Yet in our state there are many lakes and 

 rivers closed to all but hook and line fishing, upon which but little 

 sport fishing is done. Again, the supply of fish in other waters 

 is far greater than necessary for the angler, and in such cases 

 the larger fish eat the smaller ones and, growing wise witn age, 

 refuse to take the hook and there is poor sport in fishing such 

 waters. In many waters now closed, much valuable fish might 

 be taken by trap and other such devices, so constructed as to 

 permit the escape (or the return alive and uninjured, to the water) 

 of all small fish, the waters being so fished as not to destroy or 

 injure the fishes food or their breeding grounds. 



In Lake Okechobee much destruction of food fish is wrought by 

 commercial fishermen. This lake is about 55 miles in diameter 

 and yields enormous quantities of food fish. It is said to have 

 yielded $3,000,000 annually in catfish alone for several years. 

 Seines a thousand yards long or more are used. The catch is 

 held until the cats are skinned and weighed. The dealers prefer 

 the cats and, to encourage cats only to be taken, foolishly limit the 

 quantity of perch, croppie, bream and bass to be taken to, say, 20 

 pounds of scale fish to 100 pounds of cats. After weighing up the 

 cats, the quantity of scale fish permissible is saved from the 

 catch and the remainder is thrown dead overboard or, more often, 

 cut up and used to bait another section of the lake to be seined 

 hours later. This doubtless shocks you, as it does me. This 

 practice is not generally known throughout the state. It must 

 cease, for it is a crime against civilization, but we now have no law 

 to prevent such acts, owing to our pernicious local laws. 



Our salt-water shore fishes consist of shell and scale fish. We 

 have in shell fish the scallop clam, which is not commercialized, 



