Bisbee daily review., 1908-10-10

\
 gIatory animals moving from waters of one nation to those of another in place of national control on the two
 sides of the boundary; second substi- tuition of international legislation in
 this regard for that of the several provinces, states and counties. and third, the code of statutes must de pend on the nature of the different species of animals 1t is designed to protect, the matter becoming, at bot i ton, one of natural history.
 In nearly all cases the final key to the situation Is found in artificial propagation. Artificial matching is not a process. It is an art. and like all arts it must rest in science. Bach species of fish, like each plant in the garden, has its own nature and must be met on its own ground. It is set in it's ways, and will not conform to tae 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 iof the Pacific, the black bass, the wall-eye, and the sturgeon.
 The herring is marine fish existing | in incalculable numbers and swarm ing by the million in many places on both shores of the North Atlantic. The catch of herring in navagable wa ters is less than drop in the bucket, and the fishery statutes must concern the protection and regulation of the l fishing industry rather than the' con servation of the herring itself.
 ! The whitefish is type of groNp Of fishes. part of them the helpless prey of the predatory fishes, the rest | feeding freely on other forms, but all spawning in November. The eggs are large, free and easily manipulated. so | that they can be easily cared for by processes of artificial propagation. By caring for these eggs perlaps twenty times as many young can be returned \ to the lake as would naturally develop.
 The best protection to such fishes is that of a size limit, forbidding the buying or selling of all which have
 not reached the degree of maturity in volved in the second appearance on the spSwning grounds, To forego | catching them for a month or so be- 1 fore the spawning period, then to al
 low free fishing for adult fish on the 1 part of those fishermen prepared - preserve the spawn is the best means | of maintaining and increasing fish cries of this type. To remove. the
 crop of grown fishes makes way for | the new generation. In this regard
 we already see every prospect of sue cess in the Great Lakes as even under present conditions, with tn present
 hatchery facilities, the number of
 fishes of this kind is steadily increas' ing.
 To another category belongs the salmon of the Pacific Coast, which feed in the sea, spawn in the rivers, ascending the streams for the most part when four years old, all individ- uals, male and female, dying soon
 after the first spawnisg. In this case the fish are valuable only when about to leave the sea, or in the lower
 courses of the rivers.
 Here the problem is to allow fish enough to escape the nets and to as cend the rivers to cover the spawning grounds and to keep the hatcheries occupied. The most valuable of these | species, the red salmon, spawns only
 in streams at the head of lakes. In Puget Sound the supply has been greatly depleted by everlasting.
 Under such circumstances the only thing to be done is to establish sea scnal or weekly close seasons, when a certain large number shall have op portunity to pass up to the lakes.
 The black bass is the type of still
 another group Of fishes. The male bass maintains his own hatchery The [ hs Eoa t0nf Eby artificial means. The male fish builds nest, the eggs are placed in 1t. Then he stands guard over them, driving away all intruders including i the mother bass, until the matching is
 complete. Then he eats some of his
 own young, let us hope the least active,
 as contribution to natural selection, and the rest escape No artificial inn
 provement over his methods is possi- ble. In this case protection consists
 in preventing the catching of the i'm
 mature fish, and the absolute preserva- 1 ton of the spawning grounds from in-
 trusion of net or hook.
 i Another class contains predatory i fish like the wall-eye and perch, spawning in spring, but susceptible of assistance through artificial matching. | In general, these are adequately pro ! tected by the law of the size limit, by which the immature fishes are kept f from the markets. Sometimes, how ever, nets must be kept out of the line of their spring migrations.
 Still another class is composed of | the sturgeon. It reaches a great size, and when running to it's spawning beds in the spring it is an easy victim to | the pot hunter The vast majority of the surgeons in our lakes have been killed for the eggs which are made into caviar. The sturgeon thus far has resisted the attempts at artificial prop agation, by reason of certain peculiar ities Of its own.
 i With these species, there is but one
 method of artificial increase-to pre-.
 vent all killing for a series of years, corresponding to the years of mercf
 less and unlimited slaughter
 To protect for their greatest useful ness the varying groups of fishes, in all the lakes, rivers and seas of our northern boundary, is the task of the International Fisheries commission In so far as this commission is success | ful, it should extend tbe fisheries, in crease the amount of available fish food, and bring about more harmo. nious relation between the United States and Canada. Furthermore, 1t snould improve the lot of each individ- ual fisherman. If the work is success ful 1t should furnish models for the statutes of the different states and provinces which have like problems and like interests.
 If this international project is car