REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 15 



men interested, and particularly so as the failure on the American coast is still 

 more marked than in former years. The reason for this state of things is easily 

 understood by those who have given the subject any thought or intelligent con- 

 sideration. Scientific investigation both in Europe and America have demon- 

 strated that : 



1st. All the mackerel caught by man amounts to but a drop in the bucket to 

 what are destroyed by natural causes and devoured by their natural enemies, 

 both in the sea and upon its surface. 



2d. Mackerel are controlled in their movements by temperature and food in- 

 fluences, and not by modes of fishing, sawdust, purse seines, etc. The matter 

 of temperature is of course beyond the reach of human laws, while that of food 

 supply is not. It is quite obvious to those who will give the subject any intelli- 

 gent thought that the almost total destruction of the alewive fishery of Nova 

 Scotia up to 1882-3 had well nigh destroyed a very important item in the food 

 supply of the coast fishery in all its branches, as has been the case in otlier coun- 

 tries. Knowing this I addressed myself to the work of improving fishways and 

 opening the streams for the ascent of anadramous fishes, with what results the 

 public know, and the departmental reports of the catch of alewives during the 

 past seven or eight years prove, and the increasing catch of mackerel bear wit- 

 ness to the correctness of the views 1 have maintained, and which are recorded 

 in every published report from year to year. 



Having done this for my native province in the face of the most fierce and 

 bitter opposition of certain public men who live for nothing but self and have 

 no use for anybody or any improvement unless they contribute to the inflation 

 of their purse or vanity, I am now spending the few remaining years of my life 

 in opening the streams of the United States, and am sending shad, alewives, 

 salmon and other fish over doors and up such rivers as the Hudson, Delaware, 

 Susquehanna, Raritan and other great streams, on some of which scores of 

 thousands of dollars had been wasted on such silly devices as the Hawkins abor- 

 tion, by men who knew no more of the matter than he does. I note what was 

 said in your columns recently as to the salmon caught in Wilmot's trap at the 

 Rhino dam. I am quite familiar with the conditions existing there, and know 

 what occurred as well as if I had been on the spot, and will assert that no 

 salmon ever did or ever will pass through a Hawkins fishway under a six-foot 

 head or upwards, or alewives under a four-foot head or upwards, and that every 

 dollar spent upon it of either public or private funds will be wasted. The his- 

 tory of a few years will prove the soundness of these views, as it has already 

 done in the sawdust and other important matters in relation to the interests of 



the fisheries. 3ut then "Experts (?)" are now employee^. 



W. H. ROGERS. 



