8 REPORT OF commissionp:rs of inland fisheries. 



ample of the comparative value of restrictive measures and of de- 

 veloping the natural resources. Without restrictive measures the 

 natural oyster grounds, once ample for all demands, would have been 

 exhausted long before they were, but the present enormous output 

 of oysters could never have been produced by merely restricting the 

 fishing. 



The problems to be solved differ with the different kinds of fisheries; 

 but there are so many examples of the development of a particular 

 branch of the fishing industry that it seems certain that in other 

 branches the difficulties may be overcome one after another. Ex- 

 perience clearly shows that the first step toward permanent im- 

 provement of a branch of fishing industry consists in finding out the 

 habits, food supply, movements, and general conditions of life, of 

 the species in question: That the Federation of Fisheries Boards in 

 northern Europe is occupied with the systematic study of the general 

 conditions in the ocean from the English Channel to the Baltic Sea 

 shows the general recognition of this fact. 



While the problems of the development of the fisheries are too 

 numerous and complex to be solved by any one country or state, or 

 in any one generation, your Commission begs leave to point out that 

 the State of Rhode Island has already taken an honorable part in 

 gathering information and working out practical methods which are 

 of value not only to the local but to the general development of the 

 fisheries. Through the earlier investigations of your Commission, 

 many questions of importance concerning the life history, breeding 

 habits, means of distribution, and rate of growth of the starfish and 

 the scallop were for the first time settled, and later similar researches 

 on the soft-shell clam were successfully concluded. In addition, a 

 practical method of clam culture was established which formed a 

 basis for an industry which is already started in other states and 

 may ultimately in this state rival in importance the oyster industry. 



Eight years ago your Commission, in collaboration with the United 

 States Fish Commission, undertook the problem of rearing lobsters 

 after they had been hatched. The obvious value of this procedure 



