158 American Fisheries Society. 



conditions, and to hold back ample supplies for distribution over 

 arid regions. Just as great cities, in most countries, have created 

 water-storage reservoirs, often very extensive ones, to guard 

 against failure of drinking-water supplies for the citizens, so 

 irrigation secures water for the farmer's crops. 



My first point is that, apart from the ultimate object of this 

 storage of water, these schemes create new possibilities for fish- 

 eries, fish-culture, and fish-conservation. In some countries these 

 city reservoirs have been stocked with fish, and the issue of 

 fishing permits has not only provided a coveted form of recrea- 

 tion, but has yielded a substantial annual revenue to many cities. 

 It has not been found that such fishing has affected the quality 

 or purity of the water for drinking purposes ; indeed by per- 

 mitting angling, and thus keeping the abundance of fish in check, 

 numerous noxious animals and plants have been destroyed by 

 the fish, and all ground of fear on the part of supersensitive citi- 

 zens has been removed. Some large cities in England have en- 

 couraged anglers to resort to these storage reservoirs. Such a 

 populous city as Leeds in Yorkshire has done so, and few large 

 communities have better drinking water than the town referred 

 to. In certain cases I know objections have been raised, as in 

 the State of Connecticut, where systematic netting is carried 

 out officially, and the catches are transported alive to various 

 lakes and rivers in the State, and a system of extensive stocking 

 is made possible. Angling was forbidden in the reservoirs, but 

 they were utilized as supply-ponds for planting sporting waters, 

 and the overcrowding of the reservoirs with fish was prevented. 



INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION. 



I am well aware that irrigation of "dry belts" has caused 

 great damage to fish. Twenty years ago the venerable Dr. 

 James A. Henshall wrote, in reference to fish in Montana waters 

 especially, 



It is disheartening and discouraging to the Western fish-culturist to know 

 that millions of fish, both large and small, annually perish through being 

 stranded on meadows and grain fields, as a result of unscreened ditches. 



A Canadian Fisheries officer in the Province of Alberta, Mr. 

 M. T. Miller, stated at the Fishery Commission's sittings in 1910: 



The irrigation ditches have been a great cause of destruction, especially 

 in earlier days, owing to fish passing out of the laterals. I had instruc- 



