Fish Culture in Inland Waters 337 



realize that if the downward trend continues at the same rate for 

 even a few years longer, there is just cause for real alarm. 



It cannot be expected that all planting shall cease until thorough 

 investigations are made. But there should be a certain amount of 

 judgment exercised and that judgment should be based upon exami- 

 nation of the waters to be stocked. 



And for the sake of emphasis, it again may be said, in the words 

 of Evermann and Clark ('20) : " No stream or lake should be 

 stocked with fish until it has been carefully studied by a competent 

 biologist and found to possess the conditions or factors of favorable 

 environment for the fish which it is proposed to introduce. Fish 

 culturists should adopt this principle and adhere to it as an 

 invariable policy. The rule of thumb, cut-and-try method so uni- 

 formly followed has brought no credit to fish culture in America." 



It should be unnecessary to enlarge upon the last two paragraphs. 

 The moral is : Know your lakes and streams ; likewise know your 

 fish; correlate the two and act accordingly. You cannot know the 

 lake or stream without a thorough biological or ecological investiga- 

 tion; you cannot know the fish without a thorough study of its 

 life history and habits, and you can no longer have fish without pay- 

 ing the price, in intelligence and funds, necessary to produce them. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



1. The original fish resources of America and of New York 

 State were not surpassed in variety or in. kinds of food and game 

 fish by any other continent or any State in the Union. 



2. The primeval fish resources of America were bountiful ; but 

 these resources, like those of the game and forests, have been ruth- 

 lessly wasted and destroyed. 



3. With the decline of this resource there was a period of reck- 

 less and random efforts to introduce foreign species, which were 

 planted broadcast through the country in all sorts of conditions, to 

 the detriment of all fisheries. 



4. The proper evaluation of the native resources is just beginning 

 to be appreciated, but no adequate Federal or State policies have 

 been deliberately formulated and practiced. There is only a slight 

 awakening to the need of such a constructive program. 



5. The formulation of constructive policies involves detailed, com- 

 prehensive, scientific studies of this resource, such as have already 

 been most successfully conducted at research or educational institu- 

 tions, rather than in connection with administrative departments of 

 the various states. 



6. Because of the instability of political management of the 

 fishery resources the conservation of fishes should be as free as 

 possible from political interference. 



7. Too often fish hatcheries, as commonly conducted, have 

 depleted the local stock of breeding fishes in their immediate 

 vicinity, in order to stock other more remote waters. As the cus- 

 tomary planting methods are so frequently unsatisfactory this waste 

 has tended to spread depletion radially from the hatcheries. 



