184 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Mr. Donnelly thereupon conrageously undertook to see if any of the 

 fish could be saved. He procured the necessary laborers, four large 

 tubs, and a supply of water. He then broke the ice from the small 

 pails, transferring such as contained carp to the water. He states that 

 "in this manner a great number of fish were soon freed from their con- 

 finement, and by constant working with them during the entire day 

 we were able to save 1,300 fish." Although the thermometer continued 

 to remain in the vicinity of zero, by careful management ho succeeded 

 in keeping the 1,300 fish alive until the 8th and 9th, when they were 

 distributed to the applicants throughout the State. 



The saving of 1,300 carp out of a lot of 2,100, under such circum- 

 stances, may be considered a very remarkable achievement. 



Having prepared the foregoing statement from Mr. Donnelly's report? 

 I sent a copy of it to Mr. L. H. Black, route agent. Southern Express 

 Company, Montgomery, Ala., asking how far he knew the statements 

 to be true. Under date of January 25, 1884, he wrote me in reply as 

 follows: "As route agent of the Southern Express Company, my duties 

 call me to Birmingham. I saw the carp first on the morning after their 

 arrival at Birmingham and frequently during the day while Mr. Don- 

 nelly was at work with them. My opinion is that this statement is 

 correct in every particular. I give it from what I saw myself and from 

 information Mr. Donnelly gave me during the day, while he was work- 

 ing with the fish." 



Washington, D. C, January 30, 1884. 



97.-DE8TBUCTIOIV OF SMAI^r. FISH ItV W£IB8. 

 By SETH NICKERSOJV. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.l 



I desire to . call your attention to the great destruction of small fish 

 along our shores by means of deep-water weirs. These engines of de- 

 struction are set in water from 4 to 10 fathoms deep. Oftentimes last 

 year, from many boat loads of codfish, hake, haddock, and other kinds 

 of ground fish, together with mackerel and herring taken, only one bar- 

 rel of fish large enough for market use would be saved. There were 

 sometimes 25 barrels of fish thrown away, leaving the bottom of the sea 

 covered with dead carcasses. If this destruction of spawn and young 

 is not prevented we shall soon have no fresh fish from Provincetown. 

 Formerly hundreds of tons of cod and haddock were caught here with 

 hook and line and sent to Boston ; whereas, during the past year, we had 

 to depend upon Boston for our own supply of fresh fish. Seining is bad 

 enough, but deep-water weirs are the worst engines of destruction 1 

 ever saw. 



Provincetown, Mass., April 28, 1884. 



