80 FISHES OF THE E.\ST ATLANTIC COAST. 



iessly slaughtered to serve the pleasure and avarice of gi-eedy capi- 

 talists among whom it would be safe to bet there is not one angler. 



As a result of this system of wholesale depletion the mossbunker 

 is steadily decreasing and threatens to become scarce and finally to 

 become extinct. If this should ever happen there would be an im- 

 mediate falling off in our fish supply, and, unless the hand of 

 Providence interposed, a total failure of it. But there is no reason 

 why the capture of menhaden should be stopped altogether, but 

 there is every reason why the menhaden fishermen should limit their 

 destructive trade to certain periods. To secure this it behooves the 

 Assemblies of the States bordemng the Atlantic to jjass an act lim- 

 iting the catching of menhaden with seine nets to an open season 

 and have the rest of the year close. Tiiis would allow the menha- 

 den time to multiply and would secure the future of the fish markets. 



In form the menhaden resembles the shad/ It has the same shape 

 and contour of body. It is a bright silvery fish, and so far as I 

 know, has never been taken with a hook. One of the most useful 

 purjjoses the menhaden serve is in the lobster fisheries; the fish are 

 salted before being used for bait. The menhaden are almost all of 

 one size — about twelve inches long. The farmers of Long Island 

 sometimes eat the mossbunker. It has an oily, rather rancid and 

 " fishy " taste. 



It is necessary that every angler should use his best influence to 

 secure some protection for tlie menhaden, else they will become ex 

 .tinct and Avith them a great branch of salt water fishing. 



