Transcriber's note: Italics is represented with underscore _, bold with the equal sign = and small caps with ALL CAPS. Everything (including inconsistent hyphenation and spelling) has been retained as printed, unless stated below: p. 7: "in the Misippi River" Misippi changed to Mississippi. Some words were broken up due to line endings. As they only occur once in the book it's not absolutely clear if they should be hyphenated or not. This concerns the words: short-sightedness, sand-shell, head-waters. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BUREAU OF FISHERIES HUGH M. SMITH, Commissioner THE PROTECTION OF FRESH-WATER MUSSELS =By R. E.COKER, Ph. D.= _Director U. S. Biological Station Fairport, Iowa_ Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 793 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1914 THE PROTECTION OF FRESH-WATER MUSSELS =By R. E. COKER, Ph. D.= _Director U. S. Biological Station, Fairport, Iowa_ Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 793 CONTENTS. Page Present conditions 3 The mussel industry 3 Depletion of the resources 4 The interests of the community 5 Artificial propagation of mussels by the Government 7 Establishment of propagation 7 Results dependent upon protection 8 Protection 9 Essential considerations for effective legislation 9 Examination of protective measures 10 Two measures for immediate application 10 Measures not suited to existing conditions 10 Size limit--necessity and application 12 Exhaustive nature of the fishery 12 Waste illustrated 13 Size limit in relation to economy 15 Reasons for the proposed 2-inch limit 16 Details essential to effective legislation 17 Closed regions--necessity and application 18 Injury to spawning mussels and to young 18 Considerations determining size of closed regions 19 Practicable division of river systems illustrated 20 Procedure for establishing closed regions 21 Enforcement of the law 22 Summary of recommended legislation 23 THE PROTECTION OF FRESH-WATER MUSSELS. By R. E. COKER, Ph. D.,