HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY 



By Ward T. Bower 



To preserve, and at the same time use, the wealth con- 

 tained in our lands and waters is a national problem of 

 recent general recognition. On the horizon of forty years 

 ago, however, stands a little group of men who were early 

 in this field in behalf of one of the great natural resources, 

 and largely through their efforts came the first national 

 recognition of the cause. These men, the founders of the 

 American Fisheries Society, were directly responsible for 

 the inauguration of fish culture as a Government under- 

 taking. This Society, therefore, promoter of fish culture, 

 fish protection, and all that relates to the welfare of the 

 fisheries, and collaborator with the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries and the state fishery organizations, appears 

 among the pioneers in the great national movement we 

 now call conservation. 



When the larger significance of an organization like this 

 is appreciated, the Society's history and specific achieve- 

 ments acquire a new interest. Particularly on this its forti- 

 eth anniversary, with four decades of development in the 

 interests it has fostered, may the Society's own growth be 

 marked and its activities be reviewed, and this the more 

 because three-fourths of the present membership is new in 

 the last ten years. To most of these newer members the 

 early records and even the names of the men who made the 

 organization are unfamiliar. These records are not, in 

 fact, to be easily assembled. There is apparently just one 

 complete set of the Society's Transactions in existence. 



ORIGIN AND USEFULNESS 



The American Fisheries Society originated as the 

 American Fish Culturists' Association, which was formed 

 in New York City December 20, 1870. Fish culture was 

 comparatively new as a practical enterprise in the United 



