REPORT. 



To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and 

 Providence Plantations, at its January Session, 1912: 



The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries herewith present their 

 forty-second annual report, for the year 1911, with such recommenda- 

 tions and suggestions as they deem for the best interests of the 

 fisheries industries of the State. 



Your Commission desires at the commencement of this report to 

 thank the members of the assembly for the support which they have 

 accorded this branch of work. It was indeed the confidence shown 

 by this continued support — covering, as it does, the past forty years — 

 that prompted your Commission, after the recent veto of their 

 appropriation, to continue, as economically as possible, such portions 

 of their work as would prevent great loss to the branches of the fish- 

 eries under their jurisdiction and occasion the least waste of the money 

 that had been already expended in preparation for the season 's work. 

 That it was at all possible to do even this much was due to the per- 

 sonal financial support of certain members of the Commission. 



It may be pointed out that weighty reasons demanded this con- 

 tinuance of the work of the Commission. 



Three hundred and twenty citizens of the State had paid into the 

 State treasury $5.00 each, making a total of $1,600.00, for licenses to 

 catch lobsters. The law which provides that they become licensed, 

 delegates the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries as guardians of the 

 lobster industry and requires them to appoint deputies to enforce the 

 laws. From this it will readily be seen that the State through its 



