70 New York State 



the Spier Falls plant. This water will pass directly into Big Bay 

 without any opportunity to purify itself. 



One cannot tell how rapidly the changes will take place for they 

 depend upon a large number of factors which cannot be stated in 

 exact terms or estimated from the evidence in hand with any degree 

 of accuracy but it is clear that sooner or later, with a speed which 

 will depend upon these undetermined conditions, but with a 

 certainty which is not open to question, the waters of Big Bay 

 will be contaminated until they no longer afford favorable oppor- 

 tunities for the development of the rich natural flora and fauna that 

 now exists there. As this aquatic life begins to disappear the fish 

 will be subject to two general influences of a very unfavorable char- 

 acter. First, their food supply will be restricted, and with that 

 restriction their own growth and other activities will be reduced. 

 This will show its effect most distinctly on young fish, for not only 

 will they face starvation, but, because of the loss of shelter which 

 the plants now afford them, they will be more subject to capture 

 and destruction. The smaller kinds of fish, upon which the larger 

 depend, will, disappear most quickly, but the effect will be evident 

 soon all along the line. In the second place, the opportunities for 

 reproduction will be interfered with most seriously. A layer of 

 polluted material on the bottom renders conditions unfavorable for 

 the development of the eggs. 



It is probable also that the varieties of small fish which constitute 

 food for the larger fish go above the Big Bay region into the riffs, 

 seeking opportunities to spawn, and with the removal of these 

 areas they will find only imperfect facilities for carrying out the 

 reproductive function. This loss may be inseparably connected with 

 the adequate utilization of the stream for industrial purposes, and 

 if so, must be faced as one of the features in natural conditions 

 that must be sacrified in order to allow the profitable utilization of 

 natural resources by the human race. It thus differs distinctly from 

 other difficulties that have been mentioned, for they are the product 

 not of the change in the stream by the erection of the dam, but rather 

 of the modifications in the stream induced by discharge into it of 

 the waste products from the mills. The manufacturer has neither 

 legal nor moral right to turn these waste products into the streams 

 when they affect adversely the fish life of the waters either in its 

 adult condition or in the discharge of its reproductive function. In 

 any event, if a new engineering project is to be installed, it is, I 

 believe, the duty of the Conservation Commission and of the other 



