6.-0UR OCEAN FISHES AND THE EFFECT OF LEGISLATION UPON THE 



FISHERIES. 



BY J. M. K. SOUTHWICK, 



Fish Commissioner, Newport, Rhode Island. 



No question can arise concerning' our fisheries of more importance than that relat- 

 ing- to our ocean fisheries. Of ocean fishes that particularly interest us at this time 

 are those that periodically visit our coast and remain in our waters during the warm 

 weather. The taking of these fish has become an important industry, its value is far- 

 reaching; besides those directly employed, it ramifies into almost all departments of 

 industry and trade. It stimulates the business of the mechanic, the manufacturer, the 

 merchant, and has become an important factor to the farmer, furnishing an essential 

 and valuable fertilizer. 



Statistics give but a partial idea of the relative value of this compared to other 

 industries, for of this branch for every dollar represented as the product there are 100 

 cents added to the country's wealth; besides this there is a great unknown quantity 

 not accounted for, taken by everybody who chooses that can get at the water. 



Besides the industrial side of this question, there is one not to be ignored or over- 

 looked. I refer to the sport or recreation derived from fishing. It amuses the child, 

 it affords relaxation to the professional man, the merchant, the mechanic; everybody 

 who will, may derive pleasure from it, and we hold that this should be fostered and 

 encouraged as an essential to the health, comfort, and pleasure of the people. 



The fishery is the spontaneous gift of nature to man and is without stint, as in 

 the beginning "the waters brought forth abundantly." 



In the utilization of this bounty of nature it is important that we do it wisely. 

 It deserves and should have the most thorough investigation and the wisest counsel 

 of the students of natural history and political economy. 



The habits of the different species, their varying numbers, their absence for long- 

 periods, their sudden reappearance, their appearance in waters where never before seen, 

 are interesting phenomena, the effects of natural laws but little understood and which 

 baffle the most astute student. But of one thing we can be sure, that the fluctua- 

 tions in numbers have ever been and ever will be a law of their existence. Nor is 

 this strange. It would indeed be strauge were it not so. Their fluctuations have 

 been noticed all along through their history and were as marked in the past as in the 

 present, probably more so. 



In considering this subject of fluctuations it will be well to note some of them 

 more definitely. The soup, the most numerous of all our edible fish at present, were 



39 



