COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 17 



CHAPTER II. 



THE COLLECTION OF DATA AND STATISTICS RELATING 

 TO THE COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 



At present this highly important branch of your Commission's 

 work is, without doubt, the most difficult to accomplish of all the 

 tasks which have been assigned to them. And, indeed, at present 

 the resulting data is far from satisfactory. Yet, the importance of 

 collecting reliable data extending over a number of years can scarcely 

 be overestimated. Rightly interpreted, it should form the basis for 

 all legislation which is intended to upbuild and conserve the various 

 branches of this great industry. Nevertheless your Commission is 

 dependent upon the courtesy of individual fishermen, and while in 

 general these fishermen have been sufficiently long sighted to see 

 that the ultimate end of gathering such data is to protect their own 

 interests, still, in individual cases such data has either been refused 

 or has been erroneously given. 



Because your Commission is thoroughly convinced that it is only 

 by insuring the systematic collection of such data that it can success- 

 fully accomplish one of the most valuable reasons for its creation, it 

 has decided to recommend the passage of a law similar to that now 

 in force in Massachusetts and Connecticut, which compels the fisher- 

 men to furnish the State with the desired data. The proposed 

 legislation will be found briefly stated in the chapter on the "En- 

 forcement of State Laws." 



GENERAL CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 



In general, this past season's fishing in Rhode Island has been 

 very poor. Storms early in the season greatly interfered with trap 

 fishing, and for some unexplained reason the regular runs of fish were 

 much smaller than usual. This was true even in the case of the so- 

 called "trash fish" (fish not marketable as food). It is not to be 



