THE PRESERVATION OF THE AMERICAN FISH 



FAUNA 



By Henry B. Ward 



It is hardly necessary to rehearse before this organ- 

 ization the early history of this country in regard to its 

 treatment of the wild life, and especially the life of its 

 lakes and streams. Not only the first travelers, but the 

 early settlers for a century or more in its history found 

 the waters everywhere teeming with fish of the finest 

 types. There were incalculable numbers of these forms 

 in lake and river and stream and pond. So great was 

 the supply in the markets that the old indentures of 

 apprentices provided that they were not to be fed more 

 than once a week on such magnificent fish as the salmon 

 and sturgeon, which now justly rank as delicacies and 

 sell at prices that preclude their use by unwilling con- 

 sumers. This ancient abundant supply is all but ex- 

 hausted ; for today the salmon has disappeared entirely 

 from the Connecticut ; the sturgeon and shad have be- 

 come so rare in the Hudson and other rivers that the 

 commercial fisheries have been largely abandoned, and 

 they can hardly be said to belong in fact to our fauna. 



Whereas our grandfathers insisted that the fish sup- 

 plies of these w T aters were inexhaustible, we have found 

 in fact, and within the limit of a century, that that won- 

 derful supply has entirely disappeared. 



Now, the preservation of the commercial fish became 

 naturally a business matter and received as such, early 

 and careful attention. By legal enactment there have 

 been placed limits on the time of fishing, or the amount 

 of the catch, or the size of the catch, limits which should 

 serve to give the poor fish a chance. And when properly 

 enforced these regulations proved helpful, but as popula- 

 tion and fisherman multiplied many fold, even all these 



