44 AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



member rigluly it was somethini[^ like this : That if we produced 

 about three hundred millions of whitefish in the way that we 

 were then and are now doing it, that the cost per thousand fish 

 planted in tlie lakes wherever they were to be be planted, would 

 be about one-third of a cent per thousand. I think it was that 

 — one-third of a cent, or less, per thousand. After you get over 

 a hundred millions you begin to scale down the average very 

 rapidly. Even if it were a cent a thousand, I think that the cost 

 of proper policing, inspection and regulation of the fisheries 

 will not cost what Mr. Booth seems to indicate. We asked the 

 last Legislature to give us $15,000 for two years' work. That 

 was on a careful estimate of what we could get an inspector and 

 probably four or five wardens for. It will not be necessary to po- 

 lice the entire 2,000 miles of coast to prevent the use of nets of 

 improper size if we have the power of inspection. If we could go 

 U) Mr. Booth's packing house, if our inspector could go there w'ith 

 ample authority and power to seize and confiscate all fish that 

 were under one pound in weight, then Mr. Booth would not buv 

 those fisli any more. It would not be necessary for us to go a 

 thousand miles to prevent all intrenchment on the coast if we 

 could go to the market and inspect there. That is one way. 

 Another way is when the nets are being made up, we could in- 

 spect the nets and seize those which were under the size. 

 Another thing I indicated in my paper was about forming a 

 healthy state of public opinion. We have taken some pains in 

 reference to that, and in the latter part of February or early in 

 March, we succeeded in securing a meeting of representative 

 fishermen of Detroit. I think there was something over fifty 

 fishermen present. That meeting went so far as to perfect an 

 organization, which I hope will be permanent among fishermen 

 for the discussion of useful knowledge and practical good sense 

 with reference to the purposes and and the objects, and this 

 work among the fishermen will go as far as anything else 

 towards the enforcement of the law. I doubt if among the three 

 or four hundred fishermen in Michigan with whom we have 

 been in communication the last year, there are half a dozen 

 that would not be prosecuted if we had reasonable laws to regu- 

 late the fisheries ; so that the cost of police power exercised 



