188 American Fisheries Society. 



the conservation of the fish but the health of the general public, par- 

 ticularly those connected with manufactures, railroads and mines. In a 

 great many states there is considerable agitation to-day in regard to 

 this matter. We elected as Governor of Pennsylvania one of the foremost 

 conservationists in the world, Mr. Pinchot, and under his administration 

 there has been a reorganization of the State Government officer in con- 

 nection with the question of the pollution of streams. The powers form- 

 erly vested in the Department of Fisheries and in the Department of 

 Health are now vested in what is called a Sanitary Water Board, com- 

 posed of the Chairman of the Ptiblic Service Commission of the State, 

 the Attorney General, the secretary of Health, the secretary of Forests 

 and Waters and the Commissioner of Fisheries. We have outlined a 

 definite policy in Pennsylvania relative to stream pollution and the De- 

 partment of Fisheries is at present engaged in making a complete sur- 

 vey of all the waters of the State. This survey is being made under the 

 direction of the Commissioner of Fisheries by sanitary engineers, who, 

 working with maps which cover the whole state, are traversing the banks 

 of these streams on foot and making a complete survey as to the pollu- 

 tion. While we have many thousands of miles of streams that are badly 

 polluted, we also have many miles of waters which are yet 

 in their pure state. It is the policy of this Board, in making this sur- 

 vey, to place all streams that are not already polluted in class "A", 

 and to insure that the purity of these streams is preserved, no manufac- 

 turer will be allowed to erect a plant along their banks and pollute the 

 waters, nor will there be any mines opened on that watershed. There 

 has also been created a Board called the Water and Power Resource 

 Board, and these two Boards are working in conjunction with each other. 

 The Water and Power Resource Board has authority over the construc- 

 tion of all dams in the state of Pennsylvania, irrespective of their size. 

 It is composed of the Secretary of Forests and Waters, who is the Chair- 

 man; the Secretary of Health, the Attorney-General, and a competent 

 consulting engineer appointed by the Governor, and the Commissioner of 

 Fisheries. A resolution was passed by that Board, on my recommenda- 

 tion, at the last meeting providing that no permit shall be granted to 

 any person or corporation impounding waters in the state of Pennsylvania 

 for manufacturing or power purposes unless they permit the public to 

 fish legally in those waters. This provision is going to open up a large 

 body of water in our state for recreational purposes. 



The survey to which I have referred will also disclose to what ex- 

 tent some of the streams are partly polluted but not to such an ex- 

 tent that they cannot be remedied without placing too much hardship 

 upon the manufacturers who have their plants on the banks of those 

 streams. It is the policy of the Board to co-operate with the manufac- 

 turers and, with the assistance and advice of its sanitary engineers, to 

 attempt to remedy these conditions as far as possible. These partly 

 polluted streams will be placed in class "B". 



Then, we have another class of stream which will be known as 

 class "C" streams. To illustrate that class I will take the Lackawanna 



