51 



The neglect of the town officials to force the cranberry bog 

 owners to respect the rights of the alewife fishery has been the 

 principal cause of the depletion of certain streams. The cran- 

 berry interests have been considered more important and more 

 worthy of encouragement, since they yielded a greater revenue 

 in the form of taxes. 



The Marston's Mills Herring River may be cited as a con- 

 crete example of such neglect. This stream, once possessing a 

 fair alewife fishery, capable of producing 500 to 600 barrels an- 

 nually, to-day yields scarcely anything. The water is used for 

 flooding cranberry bogs which line its course, and in its upper 

 part a small pond has been raised by flowage to serve as a large 

 artificial reservoir. Since the dam at this point unequipped 

 with a fishway made the stream impassable, an unsuccessful at- 

 tempt was made some years ago to provide access for the ale- 

 wives to the spawning grounds in Cotuit Pond by an artificial 

 waterway (Fig. 7). In 1913 the ditch was dry, and no ale- 

 wives could or had passed through it for some time. The in- 

 evitable result was the ruin of the fishery because the fish could 

 not get to the spawning grounds. 



The fishery was established in 1843 by an act which provided 

 that the selectmen of Barnstable should prescribe the manner, 

 time and place for taking fish, regulate the course of the stream, 

 remove obstructions, and determine the dates between which all 

 dam owners should keep open a passageway for a period of 

 sixty days. This law was amended in 1851, so that a committee 

 was annually appointed and vested with the above powers, 

 while dam owners were required to keep a free passageway for 

 thirty days. Thus the entire regulation of the fishery and 

 responsibility for its welfare rested on the town officials. 



The attitude of the town officials was but the reflection of the 

 indifference of the majority of the people who did not care 

 whether the fishery existed or not. Because of its depleted con- 

 dition and the lack of encouragement on the part of the town 

 officials no one had purchased the fishery since 1903. In 1913 

 the selectmen were of the opinion that it would be poor judg- 

 ment to interfere with the cranberry industry for the sake of a 

 fishery which would bring practically no revenue to the town, 

 whereas the cranberry bogs yielded an appreciable amount in 



