BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 457 



161.— THE FISHERIES OF MAMA. 



By JOHN WORTHINGTOIV, Consul.* 



[Dispatch No. 142 to the State Department. ] 



. The governor of Malta, in a communication relative to the Maltese 

 fisheries, transmits a report on fish-culture, made by a board appointed 

 by the government to report on the fishing regulations of Malta, and 

 also a report made by Professor Gulia on the same subject. These 

 reports I herewith transmit. The governor expresses the hope that 

 Professor Baird will find in the reports inclosed sufficient information 

 to enable him to afford to the fish board and the Maltese people infor- 

 mation on the culture and preservation of the fish of Malta, which will 

 be of interest and value to all concerned here. The fish question is a 

 very serious one, as year by year the supply has been falling off and 

 the prices increasing, until now the poorer classes of Maltese can 

 seldom afford to indulge in the food that ought to be cheapest and 

 best in these markets. 



The nature and character of the currents and bottoms of the bays and 

 coasts of the Maltese Islands are, I believe, well explained in Lieut. - 

 Commander Henry H. Gorringe's book, entitled " Coasts and Islands of 

 the Mediterranean Sea," Vol. Ill, published at the Government Print- 

 ing Office, Washington, in 1879. The portion of the volume that treats 

 on Malta' begins at page 83. 



United States Consulate, 



Malta, August 23, 1885. 



REPORT ON THE FISHING REGULATIONS OF MALTA. 



The complaints made generally by the several fishermen, principally 

 owners of ground seines (" tartanoni"), in regard to the regulations pub- 

 lished on November 14, 1873, seemed to apply especially to the para- 

 graphs following each of the articles 1, 2, and G, prescribing certain addi- 

 tional limits to that kind of fishery from April to July, inclusive; and 

 also to the interdiction of certain nets, which will be specified hereafter, 

 and which, as they asserted, caused no injury to the bottom of the sea 

 and captured no fish before maturity 5 whereas, on the other hand, the 

 use had been conceded of certain instruments which they said were 

 highly objectionable because of their disturbing the bottom of the sea 

 and capturing multitudes of young fish and driving them away from our 

 ports. 



Having thus determined the nature of the complaint, our next duty 

 was that of considering attentively the regulations, for the purpose of 



* See also page 400 of this volume. 



