OUR HERri AGE OF THE FRESH WA'l'ERS 
83 
Photograph hy Eugene J. Hall 
FISHING IN THE GORGE BELOW NIAGARA FALLS 
'I'he Great Lakes constitute a vast inland reservoir of fish life, the annual commercial catch sometimes 
exceeding 100,000,000 pounds. 
In many countries all wastes available for 
fertilization are restored to the land and 
not sent insensately through sewers into 
the streams, while manufacturing wastes 
are converted into valuable by-products. 
The exhaustion of our fresh-water re¬ 
sources through overfishing and water 
pollution is not inevitable. There is now 
a saving fund of knowledge relative both 
to propagation and protective measures, 
awaiting application through the force 
of aroused and insistent public demand. 
A more recent but increasing danger to 
which angling waters are exposed lies in 
the ever-increasing use of the automo¬ 
bile. Bass and Trout waters heretofore 
reached with difficulty have become the 
easily accessible resorts of camping par¬ 
ties, with the result that their resources 
are being exhausted. 
Many as are the sportsmen taking toll 
of our wild life with the gun, those who 
use the rod are vastly more numerous. 
It is as easy to exhaust a small stream 
by overfishing as it is to exhaust the 
quail supply of a neighborhood. For¬ 
tunately, the preservation of the fishes 
is always possible through the employ- 
