AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 3t 



Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Society: I desire to 

 say soniethinji' upon the paper that has been read l)y >rr. (Mark. 

 A twenty years' connection willi the fisheries of tlie (ireat 

 Lakes has <i:iv(.ii me some familiarity with the subject, and the 

 facts so far as they exist will bear out the statements I shall 

 make. 



Somethin<i- over thirty years aj;o the Tnited States Govern- 

 ment, in considering the interests of the people in the fisheries, 

 decided that the propagation and the protection of commercial 

 fish and the causes of their decay, w'ere subjects which war- 

 ranted the government in instituting an in(]uiry. That inquiry 

 was made, and as a result the United States Fish Commission, 

 eventually, came into existence. Following that the different 

 states of the Union, to a very great extent, appointed com- 

 missions whose purpose it has been, as it has been that of the 

 United States Commission, to propagate fish, and to recom- 

 mend such laws as would subserve the public interest in the 

 protection of the fisheries. 



The (luestion of protection of the fisheries is not a new one. 

 It is one of very grave imi)ortance. It has challenged the at- 

 tention of the people from time to time ever since I have known 

 anything about the commercial fisheries of the lakes. Vari- 

 ous bodies have met together from time to time that were rep- 

 resentatiye of the fish commissions, and of the commercial fish- 

 ej-man. to consider and settle this question, if possible; but I 

 say^ without any fear of contradiction whatever, that today, on 

 the Great Lakes, notwithstanding all these inquiries, w^e are 

 practically without laws for the protection of fish. 



In 1892 this question was thought to be of sufficient signifi- 

 cance by the Canadian Government, to open a correspondence 

 with the State Department at Washington, suggesting a joint 

 commission to inquire into the causes which had brought about 

 the present condition of the fisheries. After the usual routine 

 that is necessary between ofticials, there was eventually ap- 

 pointed a representative on the part of the United States, an 

 expert by the name of Richard Rathbun; and a gentleman 

 named Dr. Wakeham representing the Canadian Government. 

 Those gentlemen made a very thorough examination into the 

 present conditions and the past history of the fisheries of the 

 Great Lakes, and the things that should be done to protect 

 them, and they joined in a report to their governments which 

 has now been before the public since 189G. 



The condition of affairs on the Great Lakes has been this; 

 that with the exception of a brief space of time during which 

 the harbors of the Great Lakes are closed by ice. there has 

 been no protection to the fish. Laws have been passed from 

 time to time in my owm state regulating the meshes of nets. 



