284 



inventive genius of man, which has so improved the fishing apparatus that it has 

 now reached the height of proficiency, and then consider that in addition to this, 

 ever since the discovery of the country the fishing has been carried .on without 

 restriction, and you can then understand that now we are confronted with the 

 great waste of nearly two hundred years, and with the problem of what we shall 

 do to restore this loss. 



Fortunately the investigation of man has found a means by which fish can 

 be artificially propagated and the waste made good. There is no question in my 

 mind that if a reasonable restriction could be laid upon fishermen, which should 

 only permit fish that have come to a spawning age to be marketed, a great step 

 would be accomplished. 



Let me call your attention to what has been going on in one single section 

 of the country, and let me refer to the waters of Michigan with which I am most 

 familiar. I refer to it for two purposes, one is to show the value of the commer- 

 cial fisheries to the State of Michigan, and the other is to show the task that is 

 set to the State to restore the waste that is constantly taking place. In 1885 the 

 Michigan Fish Commission sent into the field a statistical agent to gather infor- 

 mation as to the importance of these fisheries, of the amount of money invested in 

 the industry, the number of men employed, and for such other data as might be 

 of value. His report shows that there were caught and marketed 8,143,626 Ib. 

 of whitefish, 5,313,538 Ib. of salmon, 4,855,045 Ib. of herring, 886,899 Ib. of 

 pike perch, 617,449 Ib. of sturgeon, 35,318 Ib. of bass, and 4,886,668 Ib. of all 

 other kinds, and that the value of the catch was more than one and a quarter 

 millions of dollars per year. It is needless for me to ask you, gentlemen, if such 

 an industry as this is worth the effort on the part of the State to maintain it. 

 And let me ask you whether the State of Michigan or the State of New York or 

 the Province of Ontario or any other State or Province would not be neglectful 

 of its interests if it should permit such a valuable industry to fall into decadence, 

 and would it not be justified in devoting to its perpetuation a reasonable sum of 

 money each year. 



Our Commission started in the State of Michigan with but a feeble exist- 

 ence, but with persistent effort we have to-day broadened its efficiency until we 

 are doing something like the adequate work that the lakes demand. We have 

 set before us the task of restoring the loss that has resulted from over a hundred 

 years of unlicensed fishing, and with the aid of bordering States we believe that 

 we shall succeed in at least arresting the waste, and that we shall eventually be 

 able to restore the waters to something like their original condition. 



We have, in Michigan, been through all the throes that lead up to the pass- 

 age of laws protecting the waters against improper fishing, and to-day we have 

 reasonably good laws that have been passed regulating the meshes of gill and 

 pound nets. Under the law as it was originally passed, and to guard against the 

 claim that we might prejudice the investment that fishermen had in their nets, 

 two years were given them in which to fish out the nets that were then in use, 

 as it was generally agreed that that is about the average life of a net. But the 

 passage of laws is one thing, and their enforcement is another. If the fishermen 

 would consent to give up the selfish view, that they must take everything that 

 comes to their nets, and would consent to reasonable regulations, our work would 

 be very much aided and their prospects would be much improved. The selfish- 

 ness and greed of fishermen, however, is such that they have been detected in 

 evading the law, where the meshes of the net were regulated by a statute which 

 provided that they should be of a certain size, by dropping into the back of the 

 pound when the net was lifted an apron which prevented the escape of every- 



