58 



Herring Inspectors. The fishery is regulated by the herring 

 committee or inspectors annually appointed by the town. Not 

 infrequently this office, especially if salaried, becomes involved 

 in town politics, and the administration of the fishery becomes 

 a political shuttlecock. Provided men who understand the 

 needs of the fishery are elected and its welfare is put beyond 

 petty local jealousies, this method of administration is the best 

 which town control can offer. 



Laws. Laws have accelerated the decline of the alewife 

 fishery by non-existence when necessary, harmful provisions, 

 and, most important of all, by their non-enforcement. In addi- 

 tion to voluminous legislative acts there exist still greater quan- 

 tities of town regulations, showing the influence of town politics 

 and reflecting the varying condition of the fishery. In these 

 laws may be traced the development of certain ideas for its 

 administration. The most prevalent erroneous idea is that 

 restriction alone is sufficient to preserve a fishery, and people 

 have failed to see that restrictive laws, unless combined with 

 constructive legislation, are valueless. The principal criticism 

 of the present laws, in addition to their antiquated provisions, 

 is their lack of uniformity. In place of the voluminous local 

 legislation a few simple general laws capable of local modifica- 

 tions would aid greatly in the re-establishment of the fishery. 



Town Responsibility. The present method of town control 

 is directly responsible for overfishing. The fishery, a town- 

 regulated affair, has declined as a result of the evil practices 

 which have grown up under this system. In many instances 

 the attitude and ability of the town to manage a fishery is 

 hopeless, and some method should be devised to force such 

 careless and incompetent towns to conduct their fishery in a 

 legitimate manner. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



This investigation of the Massachusetts alewife fishery has 

 shown its present condition, the causes contributing to its de- 

 cline, and has brought out certain points in the life history and 

 habits of the alewife, which furnish a basis for establishing 

 cultural methods. 



The requisite steps in this reconstruction work are: 



