Polluted Rivers
It is a question how far waste oil from ships adversely affects the fish of the sea. There is no question about the effect of
less visible pollution on the fish of the rivers, or at any rate the trout, for they are susceptible to poisons that seem to stimulate dace and pike. River pollution has increased almost in equal ratio with the wholly desirable increase in rural factories. Effluents are ill-regulated. On some rivers it has proved impossible to detect the cause of the poisoning and on others the wholly surprising fact is demonstrated that an upper reach may be fatal to fish that flourish in a reach his.: below it. One reason doubtless is the formation of mudbanks that hold undesirable matter. Quite apart from the fisherman (whose recent zeal has given fantastic value to fishing rights) the purity of our rivers should be a national concern. At present it is so far from being a national concern that there is no known method of legally preventing pollution except in certain streams that supply water to great towns and are under special articles of conservation.
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