FISHERIES OF LAKE ONTARIO. 
201 
It may be stated that the catching of salmon per se was not the cause of their 
decrease, which was due to the prevention of their ascent of the streams in sufficient 
numbers to secure the perpetuation of the species. 
The practical questions to which the preceding discussion leads are : 
1. Can the return of salmon to Lake Ontario be accomplished ? 
2. Are the conditions sufficiently favorable to warrant the attempt? 
3. How is the reestablishment of the salmon fishery to be brought about, and 
what steps would be necessary to secure the best and most immediate results? 
4. Will it be possible to obtain a sufficient abundance of salmon to permit the 
prosecution of commercial fishing, and will the value of the fishery to the State be a 
profitable return for the original outlay? 
The first question can be promptly answered in the words of the United States 
Fish Commissioner in his report to the Senate, to which reference has already been 
made: u It is not only possible, it is entirely practical, to restore and maintain these 
fisheries by adequate recourse to means and agencies entirely within our control.” 
The present conditions in most if not all the streams are certainly not such as to 
invite efforts to secure a return of salmon to them. Refuse and insurmountable dams 
are still present. A very important consideration, also, is the change in the topog- 
raphy of certain regions due to the clearing up of swamps and the cutting away of 
forests, by which the water supply of some streams has been materially affected. 
Mr. B. E. Ingersoll thinks the fishery for salmon can not be reestablished in the 
Oswego River, as it is so filthy with sewage and refuse from manufactories that the 
salmon will not go up it. It is thought, however, that they might ascend the Salmon 
River, as that is less filthy than the Oswego River, and beyond Pulaski, where the manu- 
factories are located, the water is of good quality, although it is open to the further 
objection that the river gets very low, especially in dry weather, and rises and falls 
very rapidly after rains, because the swamps that formerly acted as reservoirs for the 
surface water are being gradually cleared up. 
The initial steps in an attempt to obtain a return of salmon would include an 
examination of the streams in order to determine the character of the water, the num- 
ber and nature of obstructions, and the extent of the contamination of the water by 
refuse .from manufactories, sewers, etc. This should be followed by the removal of 
unnecessary obstructions and the building of fishways in such dams as were required 
for the prosecution of important business enterprises. Provision should be made for 
other disposal of mill and city refuse. Protection of salmon for a term of years should 
be secured. Cooperation bet ween Canada and this country should exist from the out- 
set, as Canada has streams as well adapted to salmon as any in New York and would 
no doubt profit by work done on the southern shore of the lake. Uniform regulation 
of the lake fisheries by the two nations would be necessary, but this can not now be 
secured, owing to the exclusive jurisdiction of New York over the American portion 
of the lake. The Canadian members at the international fishery conferences held 
in November and December, 1891, in New York, Rochester, and Hamilton (Ontario), 
expressed the hope that the Imperial Government would cede to the provinces the 
control of the inland waters; but even if this privilege were granted, no agreement 
between New York and Ontario affecting the lake fisheries would be binding on either 
party, and protective laws would be subject to repeal at any time, and the work of 
restocking the lake with salmon (and other fish) would be in constant jeopardy. The 
