OUR VANISHING FOOD FISH 



553 



A Penobscot River Salmon Weir. 



Large numbers of these traps are set in the Penobscot during the short season, and they intercept 

 practically the^ entire run of salmon. The fish thvis caught are the sole source of eggs for the 

 hatchery on Craig Brook, a small tributary of the Penobscot. 



for the exploitation of the sturgeon, the 

 catch decreased over !)(i per cent in ten 

 years, notwithstanding a more active 

 prosecution of the fishing. 



FAILURE OF ST.\T]-: RllCfLATIONS 



The inability of the several States to 

 agree between themselves upon legisla- 

 tion protecting the fish in interstate 

 waters is so well known as to be his- 

 toric. For public men seeking office 

 through the suffrage of a fishing con- 

 stituency to lend support to reforms in- 

 volving the curtailment of any substan- 

 tial right of the fishermen, has been 

 ever tantamount to their eft'acement 

 from politics. This unrelenting opposi- 

 tion of the fishermen has caused State 

 Legislatures to ignore the problem en- 

 tirely or apply only half-way remedies 

 productive of little good. 



Should a legislature pass restrictive 

 measures, at the succeeding election it is 

 certain to be vigorously assailed for 

 having "surrendered" the "inalienable 

 rights" of its citizens, or with having 

 confiscated, bartered, or disposed of 

 l)rivileges immemorially enjoyed. It is 

 this deplorable condition, accompanied 

 with petty jealousies, that have rendered 

 it practically impossible for States with 

 jurisdictions covering different sections 

 of the same bodies of water to mutually 

 agree upon constructive legislation. The 

 experience of Maryland and X'irginia 

 in the Chesapeake is a notable illustra- 

 tion. This same ignoble and disastrous 

 history has been duplicated with more 

 or less serious results in other States 

 along the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and those bordering the Pacific 

 Ocean. As a result, no other great in- 



