Thomson. — Protection of the Undersized Fish 175 



growth on it. The wound inflicted by the hook in catching the fish 

 may also start a growth of fungus even though the fish be removed 

 from the hook with a wet hand. 



I really think that before this Society could very well pass upon a 

 thing of this kind and make recommendation to men all over the 

 country, that it might be well to have experiments performed on a 

 more extensive scale than with one, two or three specimens of fish 

 under restricted conditions. I should think 100 would be a fair num- 

 ber to work with ; that number would give an idea on a percentage 

 basis easy to understand. If fish are taken that have suffered injuries 

 in various ways, by the hook, the seine, or the hand, for instance, and 

 placed in water under natural conditions and studied for several 

 months, then one might get a fair idea of just what would happen 

 to the fish. 



Mr. Thomson is undoubtedly right in his statement that if you take 

 a fish in your dry hand and rub the slime off, that it will injure the 

 fish; however, we should like to know the percentage under different 

 conditions, and that would require an examination of a large number 

 of fish. 



Another thing that should be borne in mind is that, that taking 

 a fish off the hook in your hand and putting it back in the water is 

 only one of the things that happens when a fish is caught on a hook. 

 The ordinary fisherman pulls the trout (or other fish) out of the water, 

 and before it is landed it turns three or four somersaults, lands in the 

 bush or on the ground or rocks and gets generally bruised up before 

 the fisherman ever touches his hand to it. Many other injuries besides 

 those inflicted by the dry hand may cause fungus growth on fish. 



Mr. Thomson : I do not think Mr. Dyche quite understands my 

 position. I did not ask for recommendations from this organization 

 on that proposition. My paper was simply a report upon the position 

 this organization took in 1908 in Washington, when they recommended 

 that the various state commissions educate the public as far as possible 

 in the wetting of hands. Our trout is quite different from the fish 

 in warm water streams. You remove the slime from the back of our 

 trout and you remove nature's protection. 



Mr. Daniel B. Fearing, Rhode Island: I would like to relate an 

 experience which I personally had. I happened to be chairman of the 

 oldest trout-fishing club on the island of Long Island in New York 

 State ; and we have the finest wild trout fishing that there is in New 

 York State. We have only 15 members in the club. We have about 

 seven miles of the Connecticut River, so-called, running through Long 

 Island; and we never keep a fish weighing less than half a pound; we 

 throw everything else back. We always fish from boats, and the boat- 

 men are always instructed, and they always do wet their hands before 

 handling fish. 



Some eight years ago I started an investigation on my own account, 

 and I got a conductor's punch that was made very small and very 



