10 FISH AND GAME. 



practical enforcement of law, and Federal supervision of inter- 

 state shipments, are urged as necessary to safeguard the public 

 interests in the lobster fisheries, and as a basis for uniform 

 laws in the North Atlantic States and provinces. 



Coastal Streams. - - The fisheries of our coastal streams have 

 been severely abused. Within the memory of men now living 

 shad were so numerous in the Connecticut River that they 

 were used for fertilizer. The shad fishery is now confined to 

 only three Massachusetts rivers, where a relatively small num- 

 ber is taken. Trout have been practically exterminated, except 

 where maintained by artificial propagation. Owing to over- 

 fishing and unwise legislation our bountiful alewife and smelt 

 fisheries now yield less than a tithe of their former abundance. 

 These latter fisheries are not only valuable in themselves, but 

 also indirectly serve to attract to our shore more valuable food 

 fish, such as mackerel, bluefish, pollock and others. The cause 

 of this diminution has been the system of leasing the streams by 

 the towns to the highest bidder, and their extensive use as 

 public and private sewers or reservoirs for manufacturing 

 wastes, thus i not alone destroying the breeding ground but also 

 driving away the adult fish, as is the case, for example, with the 

 Merrimack, Charles and Mystic rivers. Fortunately, these 

 abuses can be corrected by legislative action through the intelli- 

 gent co-operation of the public. As a result of a thorough study 

 of the conditions in the alewife and smelt streams, methods of 

 reclaiming the valuable fisheries can be readily applied, and 

 these streams may again become an important asset to the 

 Commonwealth, provided suitable laws are enacted. The need 

 of Federal and State control is decidedly apparent, owing to the 

 mismanagement of certain towns and their refusal to lease under 

 conditions favorable for improving the fisheries; for example, 

 the Marston Mills Herring Brook, Weweantit River, and of late 

 years the Mattapoisett River. 



Otter Trawl. The increasing use of the small otter trawl in 

 the shore fisheries presents a different problem from the deep 

 sea or large otter trawl. The beam trawl in shore fishing has 

 been largely supplanted by the small otter trawl, and in certain 

 localities excessive fishing has resulted in the depletion of the 



