ken care of, will
furnish much larger supplies of fish than are now obtained.

The interesting discovery has been made that the waters around the
islands of Santa Catalina and San Clemente form important spawning
grounds for many food fish, including the great tuna. These waters were
fished so destructively that many of the fish were found to be
decreasing. This has led to the establishment of a fish preserve for
three miles about Santa Catalina Island. Within this area no fish are
allowed to be taken except with a hook and line. Some of the most
valuable fish, which were almost gone, are now becoming more numerous.
The fact that the fish stay close about the island where the water is
shallow makes the establishment of the preserve possible.

The salmon and halibut fisheries of the Alaskan waters have long been
the source of much profit. This region, owing to the many bays and
islands, fairly swarms with fish of many kinds. Protection will soon be
needed here if this great storehouse of fish is to be kept filled.

The cod fisheries of the Newfoundland banks are among the most valuable
in the world, and are almost the only ones where fishing has long been
carried on and where the supply is not decreasing. The "banks" are
formed by a great flat reef four hundred miles long, over which the
water is shallow enough to offer a fine home for cod.

Hatcheries have been established in many parts of our country for the
purpose of collecting and hatching fish eggs. These are used for
restocking those waters that have been fished out. After the eggs have
hatched and the young fish have reached a certain stage, they are
shipped to the streams where they are needed. The United States fishery
on the McCloud River, California, has distributed rainbow trout all over
the United States. Shad and striped bass have been brought from Eastern
fisheries and planted in Pacific Coast waters, where they are now
rapidly increasing.

Thus we learn that valuable food fish live within certain narrow bounds
instead of being distributed all through the waters of the globe. It is
as easy, with our many ingenious devices of net and weir, to destroy the
inhabitants of the water as it is to destroy those of the land with
guns.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

MAN MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN THE OTHER ANIMALS

We have learned something about the struggle among the plants and
animals for food and for room on the earth. We must not think, however,
that this s