Protection of Water Creatures 167 



the Chesapeake and other bays on the Atlantic coast, where 

 it is taken in nets and used for making land fertilizer. Is ;it 

 any wonder that the herring is now decreasing in numbers ? 



The oyster was once hunted so closely that it would have 

 disappeared from our coast waters if the young had not been 

 taken and raised artificially. Is it not interesting to know 

 that we plant young oysters on oyster farms, and raise 

 oyster crops, all below the level,of 'high tide? , The greatest 

 oyster farms in the world are updn^Chesapeake Bay. There 

 are also oyster farms in other bays upon the Atlantic sea- 

 board, and lately the oyster has been transplanted to the 

 bays upon the Pacific Coast. 



The .lobster was trapped so industriously that it also 

 began to grow scarce. Finally the government took up 

 the matter of protecting it. The eggs and the young were 

 guarded, and now it is increasing in numbers. 



Once the sturgeon was very plentiful in the lakes and 

 rivers of our country. For a long time it was thought to 

 be of no value and was thrown away when caught in nets 

 set for other fish. Then it was discovered that its flesh was 

 delicious, and its eggs, known as caviar, became a very fash- 

 ionable dish. After this there followed a period of most 

 destructive fishing, and now sturgeon are quite scarce and 

 high priced. 



Herring, shad, and salmon are migratory fish. By this 

 we mean that they spend a part of their lives in the ocean 

 but enter the bays and streams at the spawning season. 

 You can readily understand that if the bays are blocked 

 with iiets the fish cannot reach the spawning grounds and 

 their numbers must decrease. Chesapeake Bay contains' 

 such a maze of nets, many of them extending out ten miles 



