FISH AND FISHING. 



469 



The relations and inter-relations of the dif- 

 ferent species of fishes, plants, and other 

 animals, inhabiting any given stream or 

 lake, are complicated in the extreme. In a 

 state of nature any given body of water, as 

 a lake, will be able to support only a certain 

 maximum number of individuals of each 

 species of animal and plant inhabiting it. 

 Unless some agent come in as a factor, 

 from the outside, and disturb the existing 

 relations, the balance of forces will be 

 maintained and the number of individuals 

 of each species will remain approximately 

 constant. Just as many individuals of each 

 species will be eaten up, destroyed, or die 

 a natural death, each year, as are born in 

 the lake each year. 



This, of course, requires that every adult 

 animal and plant must die so soon as it has 

 succeeded in leaving one of its kind in its 

 place. It must live that long; it cannot live 

 longer. The " balance of nature " can be 

 maintained in no other way. The killing 

 off of a larger number of individuals, of any 

 particular species, destroys this balance; 

 and when a state of stable equilibrium is 

 again secured we find that certain species 

 are less abundant than they were before; 

 while others have become more numerous. 



It is only the trained biologist — the man 

 who has made a careful study of questions 

 concerning the life relationships of animals 

 and plants, adaptation to environment, 

 geographic distribution, and the life his- 

 tories of the various forms, who has any 

 clear conception of what the results of such 

 a disturbance will be. 



Many good people think that to have 

 plenty of fish in our streams and lakes it is 

 only necessary to stop " illegal fishing." 

 The poor violator may be catching nothing 

 but bullheads or suckers; nevertheless, he 

 is fined and his seines are destroyed. This, 

 under the law, may be perfectly proper; but 

 the conclusion that by so doing the im- 

 portant food and game fishes are being pro- 

 tected does not follow, by any means. Just 

 the opposite result may follow. 



The competent State Fish Commissioner 

 will be able to consider these various ques- 

 tions in an intelligent and rational w.ay. 

 He will know not only how to punish of- 

 fenders but he will also know what will be 

 detrimental and what beneficial to the 

 fishery and angling interests of his State. 

 He will know a big-mouthed black bass 

 from a small-mouthed black bass — a bit of 

 information not possessed by all State Fish 

 Commissioners in the upper Mississippi 

 Valley, as shown by their illustrated official 

 reports. He will be sufficiently trained as 

 a zoologist to be able to identify not only 

 the food and game fishes, but the other 

 species of fishes which serve them as food. 

 He must be a man of some scientific attain- 

 ments, and should know something of fish- 

 culture. 



Recently I had occasion to criticise the 



appointment, by Governor Mount, of In- 

 diana, of Rev. Mr. Sweeney to the position 

 of Fish Commissioner of that State. I 

 have received a letter from one of my 

 friends protesting against what, to him, 

 seems an unjust criticism. That his ideas 

 of what constitutes fitness for the duties of 

 State Fish Commissioner are not my ideas 

 is evident from the 7 reasons which he gives 

 in justification of the appointment. They 

 are as follows: 



1. Mr. Sweeney is a splendid fly fisher. 



2. He is an educated gentleman. 



3. He is a man of easy fortune, and did 

 not want the office for " what there is in it." 



4. He is an author and a minister of the 

 Gospel. 



5. He is a " splendid fellow." 



6. He was Consul in Constantinople, and 

 resigned because he wished to. 



7. He took this office to protect the bass 

 in our lakes and rivers. 



I frankly and freely admit each and every 

 one of these 7 propositions, yet in my judg- 

 ment these good qualities do not at all fit 

 Mr. Sweeney for the important office of 

 State Fish Commissioner. Must a man be 

 a " splendid fly fisher," " of easy fortune," 

 "an author and a minister of the Gospel," 

 and a " good fellow " to fill this position? 

 Seth Green and Professor Baird were not 

 measured by any of these standards, yet 

 they were model fish commissioners. 



For Mr. Sweeney, personally, I have the 

 highest regard; but I fail to find any evi- 

 dence, even among the claims of those who 

 approve the appointment, that it was a wise 

 one. The duties of a State Fish Commis- 

 sioner are such as require special, technical 

 training, and I do not believe appointments 

 should be made for any other reason. 



So long as others tell of their trips in the 

 woods and along the streams, so long shall 

 I enjoy reading Recreation. The pictures 

 these writers have drawn, only help me in 

 my enjoyment, as memory hurries each 

 year's trip over my mind's canvas. 



Years of fishing in the St. Lawrence; 

 other years in the great woods of Northern 

 New York and others to Champlain, all 

 have left their charming memories. 



On our last trip to Champlain the party 

 was made up of mothers and children; old 

 and young; some with hair of gray among 

 the brown; others with their flowing, flax- 

 en curls and locks; others with neither 

 locks nor curls. 



We went on the 7 a.m. train North from 

 Albany, and in due time arrived at Pitts- 

 burgh where the men and boys did their 

 best at carrying bundles down to the boat. 

 Then some of us went to see our boys at 

 the barracks. Soon all the bundles were in 

 a heap on the cool upper deck of the Maq- 

 uam. She pointed her nose East and we 

 were off again. 



