26 



posts. A gateway is easily and effectively made by having 

 one end of a wire attached to a movable stake which can be 

 swung aside or laid across, so as to open or close the entrance. 

 In several places along the coast, the fishermen utilize what- 

 ever drum fish that may be caught by salting and drying them. 

 In this form they are quite palatable, having the taste of salted 

 cod. When properly cured in this manner, they are tender, 

 and can be served up in the form of fish-balls to make a tasty 

 dish. This suggests a remedy for reducing the numbers of the 

 fish. Instead of throwing back the fish when they are caught 

 in the seine or elsewhere to the waters, they could be saved as 

 an edible fish and salted down for the market. By thus creating a 

 demand for the fish, it would be taken from the waters, and 

 instead of increasing in numbers, as it would if they were to be 

 thrown back, its numbers are at least held in check. An example 

 of a created demand for an obnoxious fish is seen in the case 

 of the dog fish found along the Atlantic coast. This fish was 

 formerly a nuisance to the fishermen and they would not handle 

 it in any way, easting out of the seine any that may have 

 been caught. The resllt was that the dog fish increased to 

 such an extent that something had to be done. This was accom- 

 plished by creating a demand for the various parts of the fish, 

 and today, what was at one time a useless fish, is being con- 

 verted into many articles of use; in fact, nearly every part of 

 this fish is being utilized for some purpose or another. Cannot 

 Louisiana create a market for such obnoxious fish as the drum 

 and the gar and thus help to reduce the numbers of fish detri- 

 mental to a valuable industry and to other game fish ? 



DEPLETED EEEFS. 



Recovering op Depleted Reefs. — Within the last year there 

 has been considerable agitation in regard to leasing depleted 

 reefs. The contention being that there having once been natural 

 reefs, or natural places for oysters to grow, and that although 

 every live oyster may be tonged, yet the reef if left to itself 

 will soon recover and bear oysters in plenty. This is a mistaken 

 idea. A reef, if it is thoroughly depleted, that is, practically 

 every live oyster taken off from it, will probably never recover 



