American Fisheries Society. 219 
has been successful with regard to some of them, there are oth- 
ers which need looking after, and all sadly need protection which 
the states cannot give. 
“Imported Russian Caviar” is made and put up at Grand 
Haven, Michigan! It is made mostly from sturgeon’s eggs 
captured mainly from Lake Michigan, but to some extent from 
the other lakes. This industry has been carried on to such an 
extent that this valuable fish has been almost exterminated from 
these waters. 
This 1s a subject which was under discussion at the meeting 
in Chicago, and a resolution was adopted recommending that 
there be a closed season for this fish for a long term of years— 
ten years, I think. Michigan recognized the importance of that 
recommendation and last winter enacted a law forbidding the 
taking of sturgeon for ten years. But, let me inquire, of what 
use is such a law in Michigan unless the other states and the 
Dominion of Canada do likewise? It is quite true that Michi- 
gan, with its two thousand miles of coast line, cuts a great figure 
in this matter, but it is absolutely idle to say that it alone can 
accomplish any lasting good. 
There is another feature: Even if these bordering states 
could get together, there is yet Canada to be dealt with. From 
the head of Lake Superior to the foot of Lake Ontario, one side 
of this great chain of lakes, except Lake Michigan, is bordered 
by a friendly but foreign country. Friendly as our neighbors 
are, willing as they are to co-operate with us, it yet remains that 
no state can make a valid and binding agreement with Great 
Britain or any of its provinces. The Province of Ontario, and, 
I think, the entire Dominion of Canada, are very much alive to 
the serious condition of the lake fisheries; yet, without a valid 
treaty to bind them, their legislative bodies, like those of the 
states, are quite likely to yield now and then to the importunate 
demands which “‘vested interests” in the fishing industries may 
and sometimes do make. 
In the circumstances, then, nothing like uniformity can be 
attained. Still, if the fish of our Great Lakes are not to be en- 
tirely destroyed, if they are to be propagated, planted and pro- 
tected in these waters, so as to produce the best, or even bene- 
ficial results, it must be done in a uniform manner, under uni- 
