A MIXED STRING 169 



anglers to say nothing of the value of concerted action 

 along conservation lines. 



PRACTICAL FISH CONSERVATION 



When the white man first settled in what is now 

 the United States, the lakes and streams teemed with 

 game fishes of all kinds. For example, up until 1840 

 trout were plentiful in the Chagrin River, a few miles 

 east of Cleveland, Ohio, and other near-by streams, 

 while to-day there is only one trout stream in the whole 

 state of Ohio, and that an artificially stocked one, 

 the property of a fishing club. In the Elkhorn and 

 other streams of Kentucky, muskellunge and im- 

 mense pike-perch were common, but these streams 

 know them no more. In practically every lake and 

 stream in the Great Lakes region, black bass were 

 plentiful; now there are hundreds of waters where 

 the black bass is either unknown or very rare unless 

 artificially stocked. What is the reason? 



Several causes. Civilization and the consequent, 

 although unnecessary, pollution of water is one; the 

 hoggishness of man is another. 



Most fishermen, commercial as well as sporting, look 

 upon our State and Fish Commissions,, as a police 

 force to enforce more or less obnoxious laws that are, 

 according to their viewpoint, designed solely to interfere 

 with fishing. As a matter of fact, the enforcement 

 of laws is only incidental ; the real purpose of a State 

 commission is to conserve for both present and future 



