CURRENT STATION NOTES 



CONSERVATION VERSUS EXTERMINATION. 



The present number of the Bulletin is devoted exclusively to a 

 discussion of the broad principles of the conservation of fish in our 

 inland public waters. This subject has not been similarly treated 

 previously, and Dr. W. C. Kendall's long experience in these matters, 

 while an official in the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, gives his con- 

 clusions and opinions great weight. It is evident that in these matters 

 we have been drifting, and have been whirling about in eddies 

 instead of advancing in the main stream. As a result of this 

 method a vast amount of human effort, labor and funds has been 

 wasted. Many times have the effort and funds been lost that, under 

 proper management, would have put the whole problem of our 

 inland waters upon a thoroughly sound basis. The need of a broad 

 perspective, such as can only be secured by scanning the whole field, 

 has not been sufficiently realized. Even to many of the leaders in 

 conser\^ation, the views here expressed by Dr. Kendall will come 

 as a great surprise and they should stimulate serious thought in the 

 minds of many people. 



With increasing population, and a more intensive use and abuse 

 of our inland waters, the situation becomes constantly more complex 

 and serious. The drainage of lakes, ponds and swamps, the con- 

 tamination of inland waters by sewage and industrial refuse, the 

 damming and otherwise obstructing of streams, have the same gen- 

 eral unfavorable tendency ; and finally by overfishing and defective 

 and inefficient fish culture, the same tendencies are emphasized. 

 All these conditions seriously interfere with maintaining the fisheries, 

 and this has furnished the basis for concern. Of course, some of 

 these changes are ine-vitable, with the industrialization of the 

 country; but that is often only the excuse, and not the cause, for 

 some of the gross blunders that have been made. We are now 

 reaching the point where the public has begun to see the seriousness 

 of the situation, and is beginning to take measures to ward off the 

 threatening consequences. Constructive measures will have to be 

 developed by increasing scientific investigations of fishery problems, 

 in order to have a substantial basis of fact for practical conservation 

 measures. Furthermore, anglers, fishermen, sportsmen and con- 

 servationists of all kinds, must be educated to the realization that 

 conservation must be put into the hands of trained men, and must 

 be freed, as much as is humanly possible, from political interference 

 of all kinds. There seems to be a growing belief today that the 

 greatest and most sinister influence affecting wild life, if any one 

 can be singled out, is " politics." The most hopeful remedy for 

 dealing with such a problem is by giving the public reliable informa- 

 tion, rather than the usual too abundant "propaganda," and by 

 elevating the standard of practical ideals in both conservation and 

 in politics. 



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