ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



caused by sewage and manufacturing wastes. 

 From 1888 to f901 the catch of shad varied 

 from three million to four million pounds a year. 

 For ten years subsequent to 1901 it never 

 reached one million, and since 1910 has not 

 reached one hundred thousands pounds, until 

 1918, when for some unexplained reason there 

 was a slight rise. 



The ruin of the shad fishery in the Hudson 

 has taken place in spite of active shad propa- 

 gation by national and state agencies, and this 

 is true of other shad rivers where the popula- 

 tion is great and manufacturing extensive. 



The Hudson River receives the sewage of 175 

 cities and towns, and the acid wastes of innu- 

 merable factories. It is polluted to its head- 

 waters, and above Albany receives the manufac- 

 turing wastes and drainage of 63 mills and 120 

 towns. In a report of the Connecticut Fishery 

 Commission it is stated that the once famous 

 shad fishery of the Connecticut River has been 

 ruined chiefly by poisonous wastes drained into 

 the stream. 



The City of New York admits that it is not 

 prepared to embark on a sewage disposal scheme 

 which would probably cost many millions. 



While adult fishes of some kinds can survive 

 in polluted waters, the eggs and young of most 

 species perish. Such conditions prevail in many 

 states and our efforts at restoring the fisheries 

 by fish cultural methods are unavailing. 



The City of New York has recently been 

 described in a report of the Merchants' Asso- 

 ciation as located in the midst of a cesspool. 

 That there is much truth in the statement is 

 borne out by the experience of the New York 

 Aquarium. A dozen years ago it was difficult 

 to maintain the marine exhibits of the institu- 

 tion on account of the impurity of the so-called 

 sea water pumped from the harbor. The col- 

 lection of sea fishes could be kept up only by 

 constant collecting and re-stocking. It was 

 found after careful examination that the water 

 was saturated with sewage and manufacturing 

 wastes, and that it would be necessary to pro- 

 vide a pure salt water system. A reservoir 

 was constructed in Battery Park near the build- 

 ing, and filled with 100.000 gallons of pure sea 

 water brought in from the open ocean in a tank 

 steamer. When the foul water from the Harbor 

 was finally cut off. and the exhibition tanks 

 filled with the clean sea water pumped from the 

 new reservoir, matters improved at once. Bv 

 the end of the year it was evident that the an- 

 nual losses of sea fishes and the expense of 

 collecting them, had been reduced fullv fiftv 



per cent. This stored sea water has been used 

 ever since. 



The results afforded an object lesson on wa- 

 ter pollution as affecting the fish life, which at- 

 tracted the attention of persons concerned over 

 the pollution of the Harbor. About that time 

 the Metropolitan Sewerage Commission began 

 investigations which were continued several 

 years. The general extent of the pollution of 

 the Harbor was ascertained and recommenda- 

 tions for sewage disposal were made, but no 

 action was taken by the City. 



Naturalists of the past generation studied 

 fishes and other marine forms from the waters 

 about Manhattan Island, which are not to be 

 found there at the present time. It is possible 

 that witli increasing pollution, fish life will not 

 exist in the water of the Harbor at all. and that 

 the lower forms of marine life, which assist in 

 the disposal of waste matter, will themselves 

 be dispersed. 



It should be borne in mind that it is not sea 

 water which ebbs and flows about the City, but 

 brackish water diluted by the Hudson River to 

 less than half the saltness of sea water. This 

 has been demonstrated by the daily salinity ob- 

 servations made at the Aquarium continuing 

 over fourteen years. Tests made by the Sewer- 

 age Commission showed that sewage is not 

 swept away by the tides, but merely oscillates 

 between the Narrows and the Harlem River, 

 gradually settling into deep beds of sludge. 



The conditions about New York are not 

 unique, but are to be found adjacent to all large 

 cities in America. 



Amazon Manatee. — The small manatee (Man- 

 Ins inunguis), that which lived at the Aquarium 

 for two years, died on July 9. When dissected 

 it was found to have a most extraordinary ab- 

 normality, there being two distinct and nearly 

 complete stomachs, one normal and the other 

 somewhat irregularly developed. It had an at- 

 tack of indigestion. Having two stomachs to 

 consider and one of them not an exact dupli- 

 cate of the other, it is not difficult to see that 

 its digestive processes must have been com- 

 plicated. 



WANTED 



One copy each 

 1, 6 (Nov. 1901; 



of Bulletins Nos. 

 , and 35 (Sept. 1909). 

 Director, Aquarium. 



