Wilson.— The Whitefish 93 



mony with New York statutes to protect their own interests, 

 and in the last analysis provides a way of weakening the 

 conservation of a once most valuable food asset. Under the 

 second head of objections to change of method of measure- 

 ments of whitefish, particularly of the 12-inch regulation, as 

 embodied in the fish and game law of New York, our con- 

 tention is that for the purposes of fish culture or propagating 

 or increasing its supply such 12-inch fish would have no 

 value, although the contention is made that a 12-inch fish 

 might possibly spawn. This is not a protective measure, but 

 a license to exterminate. Furthermore, as before stated, 

 this proposed change of method of measurement of this fish 

 has never been used by any state or province; neither is it 

 recommended by any one as a safe or practical method of 

 determining the proper size of a mature fish; neither has it 

 the endorsement of one single fish culturist, having had or 

 now having practical experience in the propagation of this 

 species, either in state, national or provincial governments 

 bordering on the Great Lakes; and the conclusion of many 

 of these practical men, with whom the writer has had per- 

 sonal correspondence on this subject, is perhaps best stated 

 by one of the superintendents of a United States hatchery, 

 showing a large annual output of whitefish fry, who writes : 

 "No one would think for a moment of taking a 12-inch 

 whitefish for hatchery purposes." Thus are the statements 

 of those who favored and proposed this regulation dis- 

 proved. So also is the further statement that a 12-inch 

 whitefish would weigh from one and three-quarters to t\\<> 

 pounds disproved by actual specimens from Lake Erie, pro- 

 duced at the hearings before the Senate and Assembly com- 

 mittees on fish and game. Such exhibits show, as do gov- 

 ernmental reports of these fish taken for scientific purposes, 

 the utter fallacy of both contentions. The following are the 

 measures and weights of fish shown in Albany, coupled with 

 a fairly selected list from government reports, to which allu- 

 sion has been made. Of the specimens of Lake Erie white- 



