1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 119 



Indeed, it would appear that a sjstem of interprovincial co-operation 

 might easil}- be developed whereby supplies of such fish or their spawn, 

 occurring in one Province and desired by another, might be obtained in 

 exchange for other fishes or their spawn produced in that Province. 

 Such a system would plainly be to the benefit of the Dominion and, at 

 the same time, in the best interests not onl}- of economy, but also of 

 sport in the various Provinces. In all cases, however, the material bene- 

 fits to be derived from the introduction of a foreign species should be 

 clearly established, and its relation to other sporting fishes most fully 

 weighed in the balance before such experiments are attempted. 



The Pollution of Waters. 



Many varieties of fish, but more especially the finer forms, such as 

 the speckled trout and the black bass, will onh^ thrive in such waters 

 as are clean and clear. All varieties of fish are affected in compara- 

 tively restricted waters by the introduction into them of noxious chemi- 

 cal matter. The progress of civilization is attended by the appearance 

 of towns and villages on the shores of lakes and on the banks of rivers, 

 from which there will find its way into the Avaters a greater or less 

 amount of sewage. Fortunately, however, the baneful effects of the 

 dumping of sewage into such restricted waters has become generally 

 recognized, and various methods have been devised for treating it, so 

 that in the case of the larger towns, at least, the waters of the Province 

 should cease to be materially polluted from this source. It is to be 

 noted, however, that in certain localities the presence of quantities of 

 sewage in the water has undoubtedly in the past contributed materially 

 to tlie disappearance of both the brook trout and black bass, and that 

 even if the weightier considerations of the health of the residents who 

 live below the spot at which the sewage enters did not exist, it would 

 still be of the utmost importance from the point of view alone of the 

 maintenance of the sporting fisheries to check this evil to the uttermost 

 possible extent. 



In so far as the fisheries are concerned the most destructive pollu- 

 tion is not, however, as a rule, effected by deposits of sewage, but by 

 waste products of certain factories, highly charged with chemicals and 

 deadly alike to aninml and vegetable life, or else, as in the case of saw- 

 dust, particularly dangerous to fishes, especially those of the finer and 

 more delicate varieties. There are on the statute book regulations 

 which prohibit the depositing of such matter in the waters of the Pro- 

 vince, but unfortunately it has to be recorded that in general these ex- 

 cellent regulations are not strictly enforced; in some cases, even, not 

 enforced at all; with the consequence that material damage continues 

 to be wrought by this means to the sporting fisheries. It would seem, 

 therefore, of the greatest importance >that steps should at once be taken 

 to secure the rigid enforcement of the laws in regard to water pollution 



