The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1908-10-16
AN IMPORTANT SESSION
OF the Tlans-Aiississippi Congress il
San Francisco.

San Francisco, Oct. 9.-The ses-
sion of the Trans-M Mississippi Com
mercial Congress held today was de-
voted largely to addresses covering
4 wide variety of subjects. The dele
CATION of the committee on resolu-
.ss:eps which took action upon num-
Der of important questions and to
the entertainment of delegates in
form If auto and trolley rides over
The city Practically all contests
before committee of resolutions, at
fecting directly or indirectly the ex-
pressed policy Of the national govern
ment administration upon matters
relating to the conservation of the
resources, and in some instances it
IS expected that controversies will
be carried to the floor Of congress
tomorrow morning when the report
If the committee is presented for
consideration.
The notable feature of the session
Of congress today was the address
made by DR.. David Jordan, president
Of Stanford university, advocating
the institution of national bureau
for the protection of fish. The doc
ter said:
'rrhe International fisheries COM
III ;ssion represents a most interesting
effort to settle at once number OF
problems in international law, in
constitutional law, in conflict Of laws,
in equity, and at the same time in
biology, for no statute for the pres
ervation and propagation of fish can
be effective unless the nature of the
individual species, it's food, it's dis
tribution and it's habits, is primar-
| lily and persistently kept in view.
1.-The boundary waters of the I'm
tied States and Canada include two
of the greatest fishing areas in the
world. The Great Lakes constitute
the greatest body of fresh water be-
longing to any single system, and it
is richer in fish life than any other.
Puget Sound and the adjacent wa
tiers are part of the great Alaskan
system, the region of all the world
richest in salmon.
In these boundary waters the
statutes of the Dominion of Canada,
those of the different provinces and
those of the different states of the
American Union are more or less
at cross purposes. Over Lake Erie,
for example, the richest of the lakes
in fisheries, four states and one prov
ince claim jurisdiction, with the
greatest variation in theory and prac-
tice of fish protection.
"In the treaty of April II, 1908,
an attempt is made to remedy this
condition of affairs by the adoption
by Great Britain and the United
States of identical statutes relating
to the fisheries. Under this treaty
two commissioners have been APP
pointed to draw up this code Of fish
cry statutes, and is agreed that the
code shall be submitted to both ma
lions for adoption by the first of jan
uary, 1909.
This treaty involves, first. j.,int in
i ternational actions in the ease CT mi
gratory animals moving from waters
of one nation to those of another in
plac eof national control on the two
sides of the boundary; second, sub
stitution of international legislation
in this regard for that of the several
provinces, states and counties, and
third the code of statutes must de-
pend vn the nature of the different
species of animals it is designed to
protect, the matter becoming, at bot
tom, one of natural history.
I'm nearly all cases the final key
CATION. Artificial Matching is
not process. 1t is an art, and like
all arts it must rest in science. Each
species of fish, like each plant in the
garden, has it's own nature and must
be met on its own ground. 1t is set
the habits of any other species.
The species of fishes affected by
this legislation can be grouped into
about six types, as represented by
the herring, the whitefish, the red
salmon of the Pacific, the black bass
|
"The herring is marine fish ex-
listing in incalculable numbers and
swarming by the million in many
1 places on both shores of the North
Atlantic. The catch of herring in
navigable waters is less than a droT
4 in the bucket. and the fishery stat.
utes must concern the protection an
regulation of the fishing industry
rather than the conservation of the
/ herring itself.
The wbitefish is a type of a group
of fishes part of them the Helpless
prey of the predatory fishes, the
rest feeling freely on other forms
4 but all spawning in November. The
4 eggs are large, free and easily mani
pulated. so that they can be easily
cared for by processes OF artificial
j propagation; BY caring for these
A eggs perhaps twenty times as many
3 young can be returned to the lake a:
{ would naturally develop. The bas
protection to such fishes is tho o. i
llsize limit, forbidding the buying O
lselling of all which have not reaehe
1.-THE degree of maturity involved i,
the second appearance on the spawn
ing grounds. To forego catehin,
them for a month or so before th,
spawning period, then to allow FIRE,
]. fishing for adult fish on the par
Z OF those fishermen prepared to pre-
& serve the spawn is the best mean
& OF maintaining and increasing fish
cries OF this type. To remove til,
a nrnn ~ Ornwn flsl,as ma koa we n