THE EEPOET UPON No. 13 



to be hoped that he will have the co-operation of all those along his route, whose 

 interests should be to preserve the Fisheries. 



The *^ega" which was purchased late last summer had not much chance to show 

 what she would be able to do in the patrol service. This year she was on continual 

 patrol from the 15th May until the 31st October patrolling waters around Manitoulin 

 Island and Georgian Bay as far as Penetanguishene. The waters of the inner 

 Channel of Georgian Bay with the "Vega," the "Charlotte" and "Florence," the two 

 last being gasoline launches, never before received such good protection from the 

 illegal fishermen; these boats being so constantly on patrol very few infractions of 

 the law were observed. 



The "Edna Ivan" in charge of Captain E. Dunn was chartered in the same 

 manner as last year and went into commission the 1st of May and continued until 

 the 31st November. She patrolled the waters of all the Great Lakes, visited the 

 various fishing stations, settled many disputes between fishermen, prevented much 

 illegal fishing by her presence and in fact gave excellent satisfaction. 



Special Officers. 



Another year's experience of having special officers at important shipping points 

 to inspect all shipments of fish and to see that none were shipped excepting those 

 legally caught has met with excellent results. I do not hesitate to say that this 

 means has prevented, perhaps more than in any other manner, thousands of tons 

 of fish which otherwise would be illegally caught, and a great improvement to the 

 Fisheries will undoubtedly be observed in the course of the next few years. 



Pollution of Public Waters. 



The prevention of pollution of lakes, rivers and streams in the Province is most 

 urgent. Three reasons why stream pollution must be curtailed are given in the 

 Bulletin of the New York State Department of Health, as follows: "Among the 

 many objections to the pollution of our natural watercourses there are three that 

 stand out most prominently and which in fact embrace all the reasons advanced for 

 the preventing the defilement of our lakes and rivers. 



1. The Protection of Public Health. When the subject of Stream Pollution was 

 first given serious attention the conditions attending the use of watercourses differed 

 materially from those obtaining at present, and it was the necessity of preventing 

 nuisances in streams and not that of preserving the public health which constituted 

 the first reason advanced for requiring the purification of domestic sewage and manu- 

 facturing -vyastes. Under present day conditions, however, the principal justification 

 for the campaign that is being universally waged against the discharge of crude 

 sewage and wastes into streams is the need of protecting the public health. Not all 

 Municipalities may secure public water supplies from springs and mountain streams 

 flowing from uninhabited regions and so beyond doubt the danger to public health 

 resulting from the unrestricted pollution of streams is the most important reason 

 on both moral and economic grounds for demanding the purification of sewage. 



2. The Prevention of Public Nuisances. Next in importance as a reason for 

 requiring the treatment of sewage and wastes is the necessity of preventing public 

 nuisances. Putrefactive conditions and other objectionable effects are set up in 

 streams which have received organic matter and other wastes in excess of the capacity 

 of the streams to properly digest or dilute the amount of sewage and wastes that has 

 been discharged in its crude state into the stream. As stated above the conditions 



