ANNUAL REPORT, 1945-46 21 



District 



Algoma 



Cochrane 



Kenora 



Manitoulin 



Nipissing 



Parry Sound 



Patricia 



Rainy River 



Renfrew 



Sudbury 



Timiskaming 



Thunder Bay 



Total Licences Issued .... 66 568 634 



ENFORCEMENT 



The legislation and regulations assigned to this Department for administration, 

 viz : — The Game and Fisheries Act and the Regulations provided thereundeT, the Special 

 Fishery Regulations for the Province of Ontario and the Migratory Birds Convention 

 Act and Regulations, are necessary for the effective perpetuation of our fish and wild- 

 life resources. They have been designed with a view to providing the greatest possible 

 individual liberty consistent with the wise use of these resources. These laws and reg- 

 ulations are generally respected by a large majority of the residents of the Province 

 and their observance has become more and more a passport to good sportsmanship. 

 However, despite their simplicity, we still are confronted on occasion by the law-breaker 

 and the poacher, the one who still continues to ignore legal restrictions and who thereby 

 takes an unfair advantage of those who while hunting, fishing or trapping, make a 

 sincere endeavour to comply with the restrictive provisions which govern. 



Enforcement officers are keenly alert to this improper situation and are doing 

 everything they possibly can to convince the violator of the error of his ways. While 

 it is almost too much to anticipate that we can entirely eliminate this contingency, there 

 is good reason to believe that through organized and united effort, we can do much to 

 convince the careless and the thoughtless that compliance with the legislation and reg- 

 ulations which have been provided for the protection of our fish and wildlife natural 

 resources is just as important as is a proper respect for other laws. Public opinion has a 

 restraining influence over those who are tempted to break any law, while proper support 

 will almost always ensure ultimate success. 



A perusal of the laws and regulations will convince even the most skeptical that 

 they form an important section of the programme which is being developed and which 

 is necessary for the conservation of our fish and game, and that when appeals are made 

 to the public to observe the laws and regulations, they are made from a desire to secure 

 co-operation in the management of a valuable asset. Non-observance of these laws and 

 regulations, however unimportant the details may seem, is unfair to that ever-increasing 

 number of sportsmen and nature lovers who conscientiously obey the provisions and 

 pursue their recreational pleasures from the highest standards of sportsmanship. 



The Department maintains a staff of permanent field officers whose duty it is to 

 enforce and secure observance of the provisions of this legislation and the regulations 

 periodically adopted and for the proper enforcement of which this Department is re- 

 sponsible. 



