REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 5 



lobster fishing-, and clam digging on the total product of these 

 fisheries. 



It is an undoubted fact, which has too often been demonstrated, 

 that many species of fish and shell-fish cannot withstand for an in- 

 definite period of time the onslaught of indiscriminate fishing. The 

 favorite species must be propagated, fed, and protected. The de- 

 termination of the best methods of propagation, of providing for 

 food, of protection from natural enemies and man, necessitates a 

 special knowledge of the natural conditions under which those 

 species live. But more than this, the time has come when these food 

 and game animals must be produced in abnormal quantities to meet 

 the increased demand, and it is more than ever necessary to know 

 natural conditions. A good case in point is that of the oyster 

 fishery. Within the memory of the older generation the natural 

 oyster beds of our Bay furnished an ample supply ; but as time 

 went on, the demand upon these beds became so great that even 

 with protective laws the beds could not begin to supply it. The 

 present great oyster industry has been developed at the expense 

 of long experience and a great many costly experiments upon 

 methods of propagation, spat collecting and protection. ( The 

 expense of fighting star-fish alone has been many hundred thou- 

 sands of dollars. The damage done by stars to oyster beds in 

 Connecticut alone for the year 1888 was estimated by Collins, 

 "Notes on Oyster Industry of Connecticut" at $631,500.) The clam 

 fishery, the scallop fishery, the lobster fishery, are now going the 

 way of the natural oyster fishery, while the price is constantly in- 

 creasing. It is possible to some extent to check the further dim- 

 inution of these fisheries by the enactment and enforcement of re- 

 strictive laws, but the framing of effective and reasonable laws 

 obviously depends upon accurate knowledge of conditions of life 

 of the animals in question ; for example, upon the breeding hab- 

 its, age at sexual maturity, rate of growth, powers of migration, 

 etc. While it is very doubtful if restriction in the catching of 

 scup and other migratory fishes would have any beneficial effect, 

 there is no doubt that restrictive measures regulating the clam 



