26* BULLETIN <JF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



small ambition possesses many who would like to be deemed sportsmen, but whose 

 rightful designation is "pot hunters." 



Is it remarkable, then, in view of the many causes inimical to fish life that have 

 been named, together with the still more extended catalogue of minor ones, that there 

 has been a constant decrease of food-fishes in our inland waters, resulting in mauy 

 cases in entire extermination 1 ? 



SALT-WATER FISHES. 



Turning from fresh- water to salt-water fishes, it is a question with many — some of 

 them scientists of the highest repute, who have given the subject attention — whether 

 there has been a decided diminution. However that may be, there are some facts, 

 serving to show a temporary decrease at least, that merit consideration. 



It is well known that migratory fishes — the herring and the mackerel for in- 

 stance — suddenly appear or disappear at various points and intervals along the 

 coasts, the causes of their appearance and disappearance alike lacking satisfactory 

 explanation, some observers attributing the latter to continued tempestuous weather, 

 others to the temperature of the water; but there is, I believe, no general agreement 

 on the subject. 



There are other varieties of coast fishes whose sudden comings are as mysterious 

 as those of the herring or the mackerel, but whose departure is more gradual, and 

 whose first plentifulness is not repeated in the subsequent year. Some twenty years 

 ago immense multitudes of croakers suddenly swarmed along the coast of New Jersey. 

 Although constant residents of near Southern waters, they were entire strangers to 

 the oldest Jersey fishermen. What specific influences caused their presence in such 

 countless numbers has not yet been explained. They were readily taken in any 

 desired quantities with hook and line. They reappeared the following summer, but 

 in sensibly diminished numbers, the diminution continuing from year to year, until 

 to-day they are only occasionally captured. The cause of their gradual disappear- 

 ance is as much a mystery as their sudden first arrival. 



Squeteague or Weakfisli. — Thirty or forty years ago the coast of New Jersey and 

 its estuaries fairly teemed with squeteague or weakfish, but year by year their 

 numbers have been steadily decreasing. There was a time, which extended through 

 a number of years, when such a thing as scarcity of that favorite fish was unknown. 

 The decline was specially noticeable last summer. A season of like scarcity is not 

 remembered. Very few were taken in the estuaries, save in May, when they appeared 

 in sparse numbers. A large proportion of those taken were captured in pound nets, 

 weirs, and with seines, the majority of them being in a gravid condition. It was 

 specially noticeable that the spawners eagerly took the bait offered them by hook-and- 

 line fishermen, the males persistently refusing it. 



That the killing of so many gravid fish thus early in the season for years previous 

 had the effect of curtailing their numbers in subsequent seasons can not be questioned; 

 but the curtailment was not sufficient to account for their steadily increasing scarcity. 

 That it was a contributory eause must be admitted, and for that reason restrictions 

 upon early spring fishing for them should be made part of the laws of New Jersey. 



By some close observers last season's decline was attributed to the attacks of the 

 bluefish, which no doubt had something to do with it, but that they were a principal 

 cause is refuted by the fact that, during the period referred to, bluefish had decreased 



