Ward. — Preservation of Fish Fauna 161 



the complete destruction of the fish life within those 

 waters. 



Finally in this connection I would call your attention 

 to a most important factor: the works of improvement, 

 so-called, which have been carried out in these parks or 

 reserves, have often taken a form which would tend to 

 destroy the native home of aquatic life, and to render the 

 natural breeding and living grounds unsuitable for fish 

 and fish food. In other words, there is a great tendency 

 to do what certain landscape architects call "cleaning 

 up," a process which, when applied to waters, means the 

 destruction of areas of limited depth and shore vegeta- 

 tion, and the modification of the natural surroundings, 

 thus removing the shelter necessary to the development 

 of the fish, as well as the food required for their growth, 

 and often also taking away the available breeding 

 grounds of the fish. 



After this brief sketch of existing conditions, permit 

 me to call your attention briefly to the needs of the situa- 

 tion in a definite and somewhat categorical manner. 



The country should adopt a more definite policy look- 

 ing towards the protection of aquatic life, especially the 

 fish on the existing national reserves. The policy should 

 be formulated by those who are the natural advisers of 

 the Government in fish matters, the experts of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, and put into operation by agents 

 either directly belonging to that bureau or at least ap- 

 proved by them. The evident difficulty suggests itself 

 that some of these reserve areas are under the control 

 of other sections of the Government than the Depart- 

 ment of Commerce ; but surely it should not be impos- 

 sible to provide that the men who are made the guard- 

 ians of those tracts should meet the approval of the 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries as regards their 

 knowledge of the situation and ability to cope with it. in 

 so far as the fish and associated aquatic life are con- 

 cerned, 



