52 Thirtieth Amitial Meeting 



fish have become siiddenl}^ much more abundant, and we have no 

 other satisfying reason, why this state of affairs should exist, and 

 we have concluded that it was through our efforts. But have we 

 been equally fair in our statements of our failures ? When a few 

 years ago the whitefish began to be caught in commercial quan- 

 tities in Lake Erie, after a lapse of man}^ years of depletion, we 

 ascribed this sudden development to the efforts of Ohio, Canada 

 and Michigan, in planting them in the lake. A similar phe- 

 nomenon occurred in Lake St. Clair in the earlier eff'orts of the 

 Michigan Fish Commissioners, and we were greatly elated there- 

 at, but of those planted along the eastern shore of Lake IMichi- 

 gan I am forced to say there was never any perceptible showing. 

 Depletion went on with each decade, until today we stand face 

 to face with the fact of an almost Ashless sea. 



Now pessimism is one of the easiest of virtues, and to 

 prophesy after the event is consummated, is a good deal like "bet- 

 ting on a sure thing." But it really does seem as though man as 

 a producing factor in organic life has not been a "howling siic- 

 cess." It seems to me that the greatest need is that of verifica- 

 tion. 



In the case of our minor inland waters, notably those in 

 which the brook trout would live, verification of our efforts wa?' 

 easy : and it was this tliat gave the supreme im])ulse to our 

 efforts in pisciculture. If all the other work could have been 

 verified as tliis has been, all fish culture would today be a scien- 

 tific and practical success. Perhaps there is no fish that swim? 

 in which we are more interested than in the Queen of the Lakes, 

 the White Fish. Fifty years ago, it was one of the most common 

 as it is the most delicious of fishes. AVe have seen it slowly 

 decimated until today it has passed from a common article of 

 food to a semi luxury. And if the same rate of depletion con- 

 tinues for another half centurv, it will be one of the most costly 

 of luxuries. We all know the comparative ease w'ith which the 

 ova oL' this fisli can be collected, and the large percentage that 

 can l)e hatclied. And if we could in any way verify the progress, 

 after ])lanting, as we can the brook trout, "the two blade of grass 

 man" would not be in the "l)enefactor business" with us for a 

 day longer. 



To point out l)lunders and grumble at existing conditions, 



