212 . Roosevelt Wild Life BiiUetin 



swamps in many places, have all had a most unfavorable influence 

 upon fish. 



Concurrently with an increase of population the decrease in quan- 

 tity of fish was hastened. At first, sportsman-anglers were few, and 

 as a rule they sought only game fishes of highest repute, in which 

 category only a comparatively few species were admitted. Most of 

 these were members of the salmon family. Usually salmon fishing 

 was restricted to Canada as, for the most part, New England streams 

 had been depleted, not wholly on account of excessive fishing, how- 

 ever, but also owing to obstructions to the ascent of salmon. 



Finally there came a time when the class of game fishes had to be 

 enlarged by the admission of other species, and the old aristocrats 

 of the class became less valuable as commercial food products and 

 more valuable as objects of sport. Accordingly, when given any 

 conservative attention at all, one after another the fish were removed 

 from the commercial food fish class, and were legislated for in behalf 

 of the angler. So today there is scarcely a fish, that will take a 

 baited hook, which is not somewhere, by some angler, regarded as 

 a game fish. Furthermore, many of those species, formerly regarded 

 as coarse fishes and neglected by the commercial or market fishermen, 

 finally became of economic importance, and they, too, began to 

 decline. 



Early Measures for Restoration. In some localities declines 

 became quite noticeal:)le in the early history of the fisheries, and 

 various measures for protection of the fish and restoration of the 

 fisheries were enacted by state legislatures. At first, legislative acts 

 concerned food fishes only with little or no consideration of the 

 angler's interests ; but after a while two interests had to be recognized, 

 that of the commercial fisherman now being paramount and that of 

 the angler secondary. The division of interests gave rise to problems 

 of where to draw the line between the groups which should receive 

 special legislation as commercial or food fishes and game fishes 

 respectivel}^ Certain fishes had to be admitted to both categories, 

 although the interests of the commercial fishermen and the anglers 

 sometimes conflicted. The locality finally often determined the class 

 to which certain fishes should belong, giving rise to special legislation 

 with its attendant advantages and disadvantages. So fishes which 

 in one locality became classed as predominantly commercial fishes, in 

 other places were classed as game fishes only, and their sale in the 

 markets was restricted or absolutely forbidden. 



As has been said, while at first protective and remedial legislative 

 measures were directed toward the commercial fishes, later special 

 game fish legislation was enacted and various fishes were given game 

 fish legislative attention. These fish laws necessarily varied in differ- 

 ent states and sections of the country, and almost everywhere appear 

 to have failed of their purpose. 



The unsatisfactory results of protective and restorative fish and 

 fishery legislation were so marked that the introduction of fish cul- 



