ANNUAL REPORT, 1937-38 17 



"The sportsman can do much to foster these plans by co-operating wherever 

 practicable and by lending his aid to put across the ideals of conservation. These 

 ideals have been developed over a long period of years. They embody the results of 

 progressive thought and scientific knowledge, therefore they are modern and worth 

 while. They proclaim individual responsibility as necessary to success, and or- 

 ganized effort the best method of accomplishing the greatest good for the greatest 

 number. In short, conservation is education practically applied, and is the care 

 of everyone interested in wild life preservation or better hunting and fishing." 



ENFORCEMENT SERVICE 



Many people, who take but a superficial view of the matter, believe that all 

 that is necessary to eliminate and control the ills which afflict organized society, 

 is to enact regulatory laws designed to take care of the problem or problems 

 involved. Laws are essential and necessary to good government, but they are not 

 in themselves a panacea for all the troubles which beset our social and economic 

 systems. Experience has demonstrated that the fewer the laws and the simpler 

 their enactments to cover any particular subject the more effective is their enforce- 

 ment. 



The Game and Fisheries Laws are necessary to the proper administration and 

 perpetuation of our wild life. They are designed with a view to providing the 

 greatest possible individual liberty consistent with the wise use of the resources 

 involved. These laws are respected by a large majority of the citizens of the 

 Province and their observance becomes more and more a passport to good sportsman- 

 ship. However, despite their simplicity, we still have the law breaker, the man 

 who continues to ignore legal restrictions and thereby takes unfair advantage of 

 those who "play the game". It is too much to hope that we can entirely eliminate 

 this offender, but there is good reason to believe that through our united efforts 

 we can do much to show the careless and the thoughtless that observance of and 

 respect for the Game and Fisheries Laws is quite an important feature in the 

 protection and development of our wild life natural resources. 



To administer and enforce the provisions of the Game and Fisheries Act the 

 Department maintains a regular staff of Field officers throughout the Province. 

 These men are designated Overseers or Game Wardens, and their duties consist of 

 securing observance of the laws and regulations pertaining to fishing, hunting and 

 trapping. Their task is a difficult one though they are invariably courteous but 

 firm in carrying out their duties. These permanent members of our field staff 

 constitute an important section of the protective service. However, their services 

 are augmented by the assistance and co-operation of members of the Ontario 

 Provincial Police Force as well as certain seasonal officers who are retained for 

 varying periods in the matter of providing adequate patrol service along certain 

 waters during the spring and fall fish spawning periods and protective work during 

 the various hunting seasons. 



Interested sportsmen also play a large part in the work of protecting our 

 fish and game resources. During the year some 876 sportsmen conservationists 

 offered their services and were accepted as Deputy Game Wardens, and as such 

 are authorized to assist in obtaining proper observance of the Act and Regulations. 

 The practical support and moral effect of this army of voluntary workers is of very 

 great importance in preventing abuses of the privileges enjoyed by sportsmen. 



The Department deplores the fact that it is necessary to prosecute in order to 

 obtain proper observance of the Game and Fisheries Laws. It is hoped that through 

 education, an enlightened public opinion, and a general knowledge of the value of our 

 resources the law breaker will become so unpopular that his depredations will be 

 considerably reduced. In the meantime, however, the poacher, the unscrupulous 

 trapper and the petty lawbreaker still keep the enforcement officers busy. 



During 19 37-38 there were some 136 2 cases in which offenders against pro- 

 visions of the Game and Fisheries Act and Regulations were apprehended in their 

 offences by members of the Field Service Staff who promptly relieved those involved 

 of the articles of sporting equipment they carried as well as the unlawful game or 

 fish they might have had in their possession on such occasions. From an examination 

 of the reports supplied in these cases it is learned that action was provided by 



