300 . STURGEONS 



PASSING OF THE STURGEON 



"The story of the Sturgeons is one of the most distressing 

 in the whole history of the American fisheries. These large, 

 inoffensive fishes of our seaboards, coast rivers and interior 

 waters were for years considered to be not only valueless 

 but nuisances, and whenever they became entangled in the 

 fishermen's nets they were knocked in the head or otherwise 

 mortally wounded and thrown back into the water. Even 

 in the present generation we have seen the shores of the 

 Potomac River in the vicinity of Mount Vernon lined with 

 the decomposing carcasses of these magnificent fishes, wit- 

 nesses to the cruelty, stupidity and profligacy of man, and 

 the same thing has been observed everywhere in our country. 



"The next chapter in the story was the awakening of the 

 fishermen to the fact that the eggs of the Sturgeons had value 

 as caviare and that the flesh had value as food. Then followed 

 the most reckless, senseless fishing imaginable, with the result 

 that in a comparatively few years the best and most produc- 

 tive waters were depleted, and what should have been made 

 a permanent fishery of great profit was destroyed. Even 

 after the great value of the Sturgeon began to be appreciated 

 by every one, the immature and unmarketable fish inciden- 

 tally caught in seines, gill-nets and pound-nets received no 

 protection whatever in most waters and were ruthlessly 

 destroyed as nuisances, the decline being thus doubly ac- 

 celerated. 



"On the Atlantic coast the catch of the Sturgeon fell 

 from 7,000,000 pounds to less than 1,000,000 in fifteen years; 



