132 



MAKING A FISHERY. 



Difficulty of 

 estimating 

 number of 

 fish spawning. 



alevins are weakly, and seldom survive to reach 

 the fry stage. 



Although numerous Acts have been passed 

 to cope with this question, they seem of little 

 avail to check pollution. In fact, until some 

 positive epidemic directly traceable to the use 

 of impure water breaks out, and draws public 

 attention to the scandal, the pollution Acts are 

 worse than useless. The only resource for an 

 unfortunate lessee of fishing is to counteract the 

 evil as far as he can by cutting down the weeds 

 as closely as he can in the autumn, clearing 

 out as much mud as he can afford, and raking 

 over all gravel shallows to keep them clean. 

 If the poisoning of the river proceeds from 

 a paper mill, skin mill, or other manufactory, 

 he has the pleasant alternative of throwing up 

 the sponge or of embarking in a lawsuit. If 

 he adopts the latter alternative, he does so with 

 the certainty of incurring heavy costs in any 

 event, and ruinous ones in the not improbable 

 one of being unable to prove his case. 



The weeds being cut, the shallows clean, and 

 the ova having been deposited, the fry must be 

 protected until they are large enough to shift for 

 themselves. Ducks (both tame and wild), water 

 fowl, adult trout, kingfishers, larvae of various 

 beetles and insects — in fact, all the enemies of 

 the trout— must be kept down, and beyond this 



