REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 15 



from Warren and Fall River to Newport and Sakonnet, and outside 

 the mouth of the Bay, the number of traps has been nearly doubled 

 in the last seven years. At Block Island the statistics have not been 

 taken until the past year. The trap fishing commences in the spring 

 as early as the traps can be set, and continues until late in the fall. 

 The winter flounder, haddock, shad, scup, sc|uiteague, tautog, blue 

 fish, mackerel, and cod are all of great importance. Butter fish, 

 bonitos, sea bass, sturgeon, and many other species are caught also 

 in considerable numbers. During the past season an unusual num- 

 l^er of sword fish have been caught. (See tables.) The season for 

 these fish begins near the first of July, when the fish are moving north- 

 ward, and ends in September or October, when the southward mi- 

 gration is in progress. 



The trap fishermen report that for two years the squiteague have 

 been unusually scarce in the traps inside the mouth of the Bay, and 

 that, while in 1903 the northeasterly winds may have prevented their 

 entering, this cause could not be assigned for the scarcity in 1904. 

 Many complaints have been made by fishermen of the heavy target 

 practice, on the ground that it has an unfavorable influence on the 

 migration of fishes. This question is, of course, a serious one, but 

 one not easy to solve without more definite data. During the past 

 season the fish seem, in some instances, to have changed their cus- 

 tomary routes of travel and to have been abundant where they are 

 usually scarce and vice versa. 



The increasing number of spiny dog-fish has been noticed in the last 

 few years. These fish are a serious menace to the cod fishing, the 

 trap fishing, and the lobster fishing. 



It seems reasonable to suppose that there are causes or conditions 

 which determine these remarkable changes in the movement of 

 fishes and the sudden or gradual increase or decrease of the abund- 

 ance of certain species in certain places. Could we know what these 

 conditions are, even if we could not in any measure control them, we 

 might predict the movement in such a way as to take advantage of 

 them. A knowledge, for example, of the causes or conditions which 



