water to thrive. It is now realized that there are other needs, and 

 the productivity of the fishery resource depends to a great extent 

 upon the degree to which these needs are provided. 



Fish must have water of proper temperatures and the water 

 must contain suitable chemicals in the proper amounts. Since the 

 bulk of the fish caught by anglers are produced by nature, spawning 

 facilities must be available. Food must be available in suitable 

 amounts. 



In stream habitats, cover and resting places are extremely im- 

 portant. The stream habitat is almost universally not under the 

 juiisdiction of the Fish and Game Commission. The Commission is 

 in the position of having been given the responsibility of managing 

 the fisheries resource without having a word to say about what 

 may be done to the habitat of that resource. 



Thus, a sound program for fisheries conservation can be de- 

 veloped and can proceed no faster than it is understood and accepted 

 by those who destroy the aquatic habitat. Municipalities and indust- 

 ries use the water heritage of the people as open sewers. State and 

 Federal agencies as well as private individuals and corporations 

 channel the meandering streams into open flumes without thought 

 given to the fisheries resource to construct railroads and highways, 

 to get water out of the State as rapidly as possible to prevent 





GOOD STREAM HABITAT . . . Cover, rostinq places, well protected watershed. 



— 62 — 



