3i8 Rooseielt Wild Lire Bulletin 



But what is to be done when breeding fish are not obtainable to 

 provide the eggs to hatch? Breeders must be maintained or the 

 fish will literally as well as figuratiA"ely ''' go to pot.'' The logical 

 conclusion would seem to be that there must be sufficient breeding fish 

 left to maintain the supply. 



Mention has already been made of the failure of the egg supply 

 of a certain fish and the impending failure in the case of others. 

 Another instance is related by E. W. Cobb, Superintendent of 

 Fisheries of ^Minnesota, in an article entitled " Last Stand of Pike- 

 perch in Minnesota Lakes." He wrote ('22) : "Let us look for a 

 time at the histon,- of this fish during this period [past years] and 

 see as nearly as possible what the facts are today. In spite of the 

 efforts being made for its increase the species has rapidly fallen off 

 in numbers until today many of the States in which it was native can 

 no longer secure eggs and others can secure them only in limited 

 numbers. . . . The southern part of our State T^Minnesota) 

 is now and has been for some time in such condition that artificial 

 propagation would be impossible except for the supply of eggs 

 taken in the northern part of the State. The sections from which 

 eggs can be secured have narrowed down to the northern part of 

 the State, and the lakes here are more accessible and more heavily 

 fished than the more southern lakes even five 3-ears ago. . . . 

 Xotwithstanding these efforts it is realized that more must be 

 done if the supply is to be maintained. \\t now have no really 

 inaccessible waters and a constant procession of tourists pass from 

 and through southern ^linnesota to the north where fishing is good. 

 Many come from the West, and from as far north as Winnipeg. 

 Besides this the people from villages and cities as well as those liv- 

 ing in the imm.ediate district spend days and weeks by the lakes which 

 could not be enjoyed but for the auto which is available to nearly all. 

 In fact a veritable tidal wave of people seems to be sweeping over 

 the wilder sections of the State, and at times to be about to destroy 

 our best fishing grounds. 



" The question is of course, what shall we do about it? Shall we 

 increase our efforts in behalf of those lakes now containing a good 

 supply even though it might seem at first thought to be to the detri- 

 ment of lakes further south ? It will not benefit our southern lakes 

 to follow a policy which will eventually result in doing away with 

 the only available supply." 



As remarked elsewhere, the number of anglers cannot be con- 

 trolled but their operations may be in one way or another. But 

 such regulations sometimes appear impossible owing to conflicting 

 interests, as in the above instance of north and south ^Minnesota. 

 Those interests must be harmonized or failure of the fisheries is 

 inevitable. Harmony is attainable only through enlightenment of 

 the conflicting interests as to the facts, and the real facts become 

 available only by acquiring a full knowledge concerning the fish 

 and its " interests." The fact may prove to be that southern 

 waters were fished out in spite of efforts to maintain the fishing. 

 That is probably not the whole cause of the present depletion. If 



