The Story of Fishing in New York is a short documentary made in the early-1960s by the New York State Department of Conservation’s predecessor, The Conservation Department, then under the leadership of Harold G. Wilm (1907-19??, Commissioner from 1959 to 1966).
The 20-minute film was written by Conservation Department Secretary Cecil E. Heacox (1903-1992) and Clayton B. Seagears (1901-1983), with photography by Douglass Finch, E. Hilfiker, and Seagears.
Cecil Heacox joined the Conservation Department as a fish hatchery helper in 1937 and eventually became Deputy Commissioner in February, 1966, before retiring in 1967. He wrote many articles for The Conservationist, the department’s magazine. After his retirement he wrote several books, including the autobiographical The Education of an Outdoorsman (1976); Gallant Grouse: All About the Hunting and Natural History of Old Ruff (1980); and The Complete Brown Trout (1983).
Clayton Seagears was an artist, writer and naturalist who served as New York State Superintendent of Conservation until 1960, having joined the department in 1937. In 1946 he founded The Conservationist. As an illustrator his work relating to wildlife and conservation appeared in Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post, American Gun, The Hunter’s Encyclopedia and Outdoors Unlimited. In 1953, his design won the national competition for the annual Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp. The film’s several placards appear to have been illustrated by Seagars.
The film examines the variety of fish and fishing across New York State, the conditions faced by the state’s anglers, notably industrial pollution, erosion, flooding, easier transportation, increasing pressure from anglers, less public access, and better equipment.
The film reviews the fish food chain, and the state’s fisheries management at that time. It offers 1960s views of New York State’s outdoors and outdoorsmen, along with film from many of the state’s then 22 fish hatcheries, the variety of fishing opportunities, game fish, hatchery operations and more.
Illustration: Anglers crowd a New York trout stream in a still from The Story of Fishing in New York, ca. 1965 (NYS Conservation Department); and “Less Public Water” graphic form the same film.
