THE RELATIONS OF COMMERCIAL AND 

 SPORT FISHING— FAIR PLAY 



By H. Wheeler Perce, Chicago, III. 



Anglers should never lose sight of one very vital fact 

 which confronts them in any efforts they may make to- 

 ward the conservation of game fishes and that is the 

 large importance and great value of the strictly com- 

 mercial fishing industries. 



At the same time the anglers are entitled, without 

 question, to a proper consideration of their requirements 

 and proper provisions for the continuance of conditions 

 of a satisfactory nature. Good, clean, out-door sport is 

 an absolute necessity in the making of good, clean citizens 

 and is so recognized by all countries of higher civiliza- 

 tion. In fact, the higher the civilization, the keener be- 

 comes sport and the more is sport appreciated and en- 

 couraged. In the greater nations of the world sport 

 plays a conspicuous part and as the scale is descended, 

 sport becomes less and less a factor in national life. By 

 sport is meant healthy, invigorating, mind-resting recrea- 

 tion, involving physical effort in varying degrees, skill, 

 the training of the muscles, the eye and the brain as 

 well, along channels that would otherwise remain inert, 

 and not mere amusement, the casual looking on at some- 

 thing which simply entertains, interests or excites. So- 

 called "sport" involving gambling and its attendant fever- 

 ish lust for "something for nothing" has no part in any 

 consideration of recreative sport strictly as such. More 

 especially is the need of true sport appreciated as our 

 civilization and business activities become more and 

 more intense and it is in our largest and busiest centers 

 that men feel the greatest need of something that offers 

 them relaxation from the strain. To very many men, 

 angling is the ideal recreation and it is very likely no 

 sport is as much beloved by its devotees, from the sturdy, 

 bright-eyed boy with his penny hook, a pole cut in the 



