INLAND FISHERIES. 17 



" An allowance of ten fish per clay to each bliic-fish is not excessive, 

 according to the testimony elicited from the fishermen, and substanti- 

 ated by the stomachs of those examined ; this gives ten thousand mil- 

 lions of fish destro3'ed per day. And as the period of the stay of the 

 blue-fish on the New England coast is at least one hundred and twenty 

 days, we have in round numbers twelve hundred million millions of fish 

 devoured in the course of a season. 



" Again, if each blue-fish, averaging five pounds, devours or destroys 

 even half its own weight of other fish per day (and I am not sure that 

 the estimate of some witnesses of twice this w^eight is not more nearly 

 correct), we will have, during the same period, a daily loss of twenty- 

 five hundred million pounds, equal to three hundred thousand millions 

 for the season. 



" This estimate applies to three or four year old fish, of at least 

 three to five pounds in weight. We must, however, allow for those of 

 smaller size, and a hundred fold or more in number, all engaged simul- 

 taneously in the butchery referred to. 



"• We can scarcely conceive of a number so vast ; and however much 

 we may diminish, within reason, the estimate of the number of blue-fish 

 and the average of their captures, there still remains an appalling ag- 

 gregate of destruction. While the smallest blue-fish feed upon the 

 dimmutive fry, those of which we have taken account capture fish of 

 large size, many of them if not capable of reproduction, being within 

 at least one or two years of that period. 



*' It is estimated by very good authority that of the spawn deposited 

 by any fish at a given time not more than thirty per cent, are hatched, 

 and that less than ten per cent, attain an age when they are able to 

 take care of themselves. As their age increases, the chances of reach- 

 ing maturity become greater and greater. It is among the small 

 residuum of this class that the agency of the blue-fi.sh is exercised, and 

 whatever reasonable reduction may be made in our estimate, we can- 

 not doubt that they exert a material influence. 



'' The rate of growth of the blue-fish is also an evidence of the 

 immense amount of food they must consume. The young fish which 



3 



