62 COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



countries where the experiment has been tried. The natural tendency 

 to kill the goose that lays the golden egg is always exhibited when the 

 opportunity is afforded. And when anyone, attempting to stay the 

 unsparing hand of the despoiler, suggests that something should be 

 saved for posterity he is likely to receive this interrogative reply: 

 Why should we care for posterity, what has it ever done for us? 

 After us, the deluge. It is necessary that man should be saved from 

 the consequences of his own selfishness, thoughtlessness and waste- 

 fulness in the matter of fisheries. And for this purpose an ounce of 

 prevention is worth a pound of cure. 



In this connection the following quotation from the report of the 

 Commissioners of Inland Fisheries for the year 1908, is deemed 

 pertinent : 



"The statistics of the lobster fishery, which have been gathered for 

 the last five years, are more nearly completed than those of any other 

 branch of the fisheries of the State, and, for several reasons, these 

 data are just now of paramount importance. For many years this 

 industry had been evidently waning, so that the outlook had become 

 extremely serious, and numerous and various remedies were sug- 

 gested. This was the situation in 1901 when the General Assembly 

 passed laws that could be enforced and placed their enforcement in 

 the hands of the Commission of Inland Fisheries. These laws, 

 designed to protect young lobsters and egg-lobsters, have, since 1901, 

 been conscientiously enforced as far as possible by your Commission 

 and their deputies. In 1900, also, the lobster propagating establish- 

 ment at your Commission's Wickford station began to get practical 

 results, which have increased in importance from year to year. Since 

 the work of propagation and enforcement of the laws regulating 

 lobster fishery began, there has been a remarkable increase in the 

 catch of lobsters. This is a fact which is commonly known to all 

 those interested, and one which requires no statistical proof. How- 

 ever, statistics do confirm this fact and would seem to answer defi- 

 nitely the much-discussed question whether or not artificial propaga- 

 tion and protective regulation can be effective in maintaining the 

 lobster industry. 



