REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. O 



DATA ON COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 



Again reverting to the report of the special Committee rendered 

 in 1869, we find that these gentlemen were keenly aware that the 

 salt-water fisheries of the State were a valuable asset which ought to 

 be conserved: "before taking leave of the subject of fisheries in our 

 State we feel it our duty to call the attention of your Honorable 

 Body to the existing condition of affairs in regard to our sea-coast 

 fisheries. While it is right and proper that the river fisheries should 

 be protected and measures taken to increase the supply, it is easy to 

 show that in real importance and commercial value the products of 

 our Bay and shores vastly exceed them. Our markets, and through 

 them the people, depend chiefly upon the salt water for their supply 

 of fish. That this supply is variable and by no means what it should 

 be either in quantity or price is indisputable. 



" That the demand for fish, clams, and oysters has increased within 

 the past few years is no doubt true, and this fact has doubtless had an 

 effect upon the market prices; but the chief cause will be found to be 

 in the steadily decreasing supply of the more common Idnds of shell- 

 fish and sea fishes. 



" Take, for example, the clam, one of PJiode Island's most boasted 

 institutions. Within a few years the price has increased three-fold, 

 while the quality and quantity has certainly deteriorated in the same 

 proportion. 



" This seems to us a subject of grave consideration, and we take this 

 occasion to recommend to your Honorable Body the advisability of 

 appointing a committee of disinterested men who shall examine into 

 the whole matter thoroughly and report at the earliest possible 

 moment, as it is a subject which has been procrastinated much too 

 long for the public good." 



The complete statistics of our commercial fisheries for the last 

 forty years would be of incalculable value, not principally as an histor- 

 ical reference, but as a guide to proper regulation and encourage- 

 ment of particular branches of the fisheries. 



