Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-06-14
Take Care of the Fish.

We commend to the co1siderate and thought
ful attention Of our readers the following Judi
cious remarks of the Cincinnati Commercial,
ia calling attention to consultation to take place
Ia Cincinnati on yesterday concerning the pres
ervation Of fish, also the reckless wastefulness
Of our peoples
On the 18Th OF June there is to be consulta-
| tion, in this city, of parties having a business
and Official relation TO the subject, lacking to the
adoption Of a policy for the pre- servaton Of lsh
in our lakes. As the business of taking them is
now conducted. the magnificent fish that once
abounded in our lakes, and that, il cared for with
intelligence, would be an excellent and inex-
haustibe source of food-supply, chcapening
through all time the cost of living in this coun-
try those 6sh are being destroyed, and so rap
| id is the process Of destruction we are assured
| that within five years, If adequate measures of
| prevention are not Immediately taken, there will
| be marked scarcity Ofsalmon and white fish 4:
while within ten years they will be an important
| article Of merchandise. Notice the way this is
coming abnut When the ice passes away and
the spring rains swell the rivers the fish ruu up
! the streams to deposit their spawn. This the
| time nf mnlt plving. and when the fish are Of IN
ferior quality for the table, is selected for king
! them, and they are raked in from all the BAYS
and rivers bv thousands Of barrels, and the
| boats in which they are gathered are smeared
| every night with spawn an inch deep, repre-
senling the millions of the fish of the future that
should be, ruthle lessly aud wantlnly annihilut.d
! So far has the work of exterminating the hnnv
! tribes of the lakes pr grcSsed that those engag
| ed ia the business say four times tie quantity
are now demanded. This would inlicate that
| the number Of valuable fish in the lakes is not
| more than one fourth what it was five years ago
! and as the demand is constantly ON the increase
! and the work Of destruction goes on with accul-
Grated velocity, it is not difficult to determine
that the end is nigh, unless laws, both State
| and National, can be framed and executed To
check the extravaganee Of the wastefulness that
| We have described The first thing required Is
| a law !orbidding fishing with nets in the bays
! and rivers (that will protect the spawning fish, }
! and one compelling an increase in the size Of
/ the meshes Of nets used in the lakes. The next
! thing is a law encouraging the destruction Of
the sturgeon and the Lizard -gluttonous. worth
less creatures that are terrible consumers Of
spawn. The additional requirement is an ap-
preparation, by The Nation or tue State, or both,
| Tor replenishing the lakes with the splendid fish
that we have allowed to be murdered on the way
to their spawning grounds. II is work of the
greatest importance, and that should enlist the
hearliest popular sympathy.
or course there will be q cry against these
regulations, but the Am ,ricau people must come
to understand that their scandaluusly wasteiul
system Of culhvatng the soil, by which its val
ue Is svery year percoptibly decreased the lid
oous ignorance with which they waste the most
precious mauures the stupid conceits under the
influence Of which they reve in the destruction
OF forests, rejoicing in the fall Of great toe
and looking upon the planting Of trees as man
Hesitation Of imbeciity the horrible destruc-
tiveness with which Onue the enor ANUS herds Of
buffalo are being slaughtered 50 that 1t is the
boast ofhunters that they killed thousand each
per annum; and the criminal carelessness and
proHigacy with which the lake fisheries are ru'
inedas rapidly as if to provide against lake
fish in the future was grand design vigorously
pursued in behalf Of humauity-the American
people we say mnst correct their public opinion
aud their laws in these matters, or the day OF
their comparative impOverishment is not sO dis
t>ut as they have been accust0m I'd to believe.
II maaures are wasted and forests destroyed,
and there u universal wantonness in consum-
ing the capital OF the soil from year to year, the
barre mess Of the exhausted East will be upon
US before our time. and the painful contrast be
tween the fruitfulness Of tie past and the poyer-
ty of tho present. that is the burden OF all the re-
ports from Palestine. will be our home expert
ence and the Persian famine tells rs what Is
beyond for those who are too ignorant, or reek-
less, orgreedy, to have care for the future.
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4 & LII -. Nt.aUs