12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



for manure, sLoAving that natural causes were at work that were 

 quite sufficient to produce, and did produce great changes, com- 

 pared to which the catch by man was not to be considered. 



The late Prof. Baird estimates the .daily destruction of other 

 fish upon our coast at 10,000,000,000 or 2,500,000,000 pounds by 

 bhie fish alone and says that their food consists of menhaden, 

 mackerel, herring, scup, and other species. 



Does this slaughter go on all the year ? 



He also gives us an estimate of the number of menhaden de- 

 voured on the coast of New England at three thousand million 

 million, 3,000,000,000,000,000, in the summer months. 



Does this continue when they are absent from our coast ? 



He further says "that this calculation might be pursued to any 

 extent but I have presented enough to show that the question of 

 human agencies in the way of affecting or influencing the great 

 ocean fisheries is scarcely worth considering." 



Who is there that knows more about this subject ? 



Whom sliall we consult ? 



If no better is offered we shall still quote from him : " If it 

 were in any way our duty to take measures for the prevention of 

 the destruction of life in the sea, and of maintaining the yield of 

 fish generally at its largest figure, we could accomplish it in no 

 better way than by increasing the extent and magnitude of certain 

 of our fisheries. 



" Thus I have shown that there may be a saving of herring by 

 the capture of the cod and ling on the British coast. For every 

 bluefish captured in the waters of the United States many hun- 

 dreds of other fish are left to enjoy their life, perhaps however, in 

 their turn to be the means of an increased destructiveness in 

 another series of animals. 



" The capture of whales gives a respite to the schools of mack- 

 erel and menhaden, while the destruction of the herring and 

 menhaden relieves though in an infinitesimal degree, the drain 

 upon the crustaceans and the smaller fish." 



