FISHERY CONSERVATION* 



By Seymour Bower 



Much is being said and written nowadays about the con- 

 servation of natural resources, the mines, the forests, and 

 the products of the great rivers and lakes and seas and 

 oceans, and of their relations with what we may call cul- 

 tivated resources, such as the products of the soil. It seems 

 obvious that as time goes on and population increases, these 

 earthwide necessities must be produced in ever-increasing 

 volume, and it is equally obvious that this is possible only 

 through the discovery of hidden resources and the constant 

 recreation of current resources on a scale of increasing 

 magnitude. The extent to which these great resources may 

 be drawn upon for current necessities, may be consumed 

 without danger of exhaustion or even depletion, is at once 

 the most vital and complex problem that confronts the 

 iiuman race. 



The great resources of the earth, including those that are 

 cultivated and to a great extent under control, as well as 

 those still in reserve in a wild or virgin state, may be 

 divided into many groups and sub-groups, each presenting 

 its own peculiar and widely varying problems, or in some 

 cases practically no problems at all. For example, we need 

 feel no special concern with respect to the precious metals, 

 and perhaps some of the coarser ones, because while the 

 mines that produce them cannot be restored when exhausted, 

 the metals themselves are not consumed or destroyed to any 

 extent, like coal, which is eliminated utterly and eternally 

 when once its stored-up energies have been utilized. 



Forests and forestry in their relations to the fisheries and 

 the scheme of things generally, present an entirely different 

 set of problems, mainly because, unlike the products of the 



* President's opening address. 



