What is the remedy for these great evils? One hundred thousand men are actively engaged in the fisheries of the United States, and at least one fiftieth of the entire population of the country are, to a large extent, dependent on the fishery industry. Fish is the poor man’s food, for unlike any other food product it may be had for the taking. A fish swimming in the water has cost no man labor. There floats four pounds of savory shad, fifty pounds of nutritious sturgeon, a hundred barrels of whale oil; there lies a bushel of oysters, or a barrel of sponges. They are God’s gift, and man has only to gather them in, and possibly submit them to a very simple process of preparation, to be the possessor of a valuable piece of property. If the matter can be properly regulated, good fish ought to be sold in every town and village for two thirds or half the price of beef and pork. As it is, poor fish often cost more than beef and pork, and in many localities good fish can not be had at any price. It is a great problem in political economy, and one which we are, as yet, far from thoroughly understanding.
We are confronted with the question, What can be done to neutralize these destructive tendencies?
There are evidently three things to do.
1. To preserve fish waters, especially those inland, as nearly as possible in their normal condition.
2. To prohibit wasteful or immoderate fishing.
3. To employ the art of fish breeding.
a. To aid in maintaining a natural supply;
b. To repair the effects of past improvidence, and
c. To increase the supply beyond its natural limits, rapidly enough to meet the necessities of a constantly increasing population.
The preservation of normal conditions in inland waters is comparatively simple. A reasonable system of forestry and water purification is all that is required, and this is needed not only by the fish in the streams, but by the people living on the banks. It has been shown that a river which is too foul for fish to live in is not fit to flow near the habitations of man. Obstructions, such as dams, may, in most instances, be overcome by fish ladders. The salmon has profited much by these devices in Europe, and the immense dams in American rivers will doubtless be passable, even for shad and alewives, if the new system of fish-way construction devised by Col. McDonald, and now being applied on the Savannah, James, and Potomac, and other large rivers, fulfills its present promises of success.