MARINE FISHEPIES OF TEXAS 195 



for feeding grounds for young fish, but in every case where the commissioner has 

 closed such waters the* commercial men have entered a protest claiming dis- 

 crimination and a lack of scientific knowledge on the part of the commissioner as 

 to the need of such procedure. 



Mr. Jefferson describes the attitude of all the better-informed men 

 engaged in the fish business along the whole Texas coast. They main- 

 tain that the big landowners, sportsmen, and sport fishermen bring 

 influence to bear on the legislature, which in turn places new restric- 

 tions on the fishing industry regardless of the biological facts on which 

 the laws should be based. 



When the opinions of various fish dealers along the coast were 

 sought as to the advisability of setting aside certain waters in their 

 territories as breeding areas for fish and closing them to fishing, the 

 commission received the following replies. From Corpus Chris ti one 

 dealer wrote, under date of February 29, 1924: 



We have noted a much greater scarcity of fish in years past than occurs at 

 this time. While, of course, we do not think there is any harm in closing waters 

 or protecting fish (as a matter of fact, it no doubt will do good) , yet we do not 

 think our supply of fish is dependent upon this to any extent. We have virtually 

 only two fishing grounds in this locality — Laguna Madre and the Nueces Bay. 

 While, of course, there is fishing in certain parts of Corpus Christi Bay, it amounts 

 to very little. If Nueces Bay and the Laguna Madre were to be closed to seining 

 we might just as well put an end to our business, as we would be unable to catch 

 any fish. 



Nueces Bay, however, was closed, and that leaves Laguna Madre 

 as about the only source of the 1925 supply of fish at Corpus Christi, 

 according to this dealer. Another paragraph from the same letter 

 might be quoted in its entirety, as it throws light on how the closed 

 season on seines affected the industry: 



Personally, if it were necessary to choose between the two, we would rather 

 see certain territory closed for seining than have a law similar to the one that 

 was in effect two years ago with regard to the -closing against seining during 

 summer months. This law resulted in great hardship to the dealers in that it 

 was necessary to change the type of net used, which caused considerable delay 

 and was very expensive. The summer nets never paid for themselves and were 

 quite rotten by the time the next season came. Then, again, as you may be 

 aware, it caused a large amount of illegal seining to be done at that time, which 

 it was almost impossible to stop. This also tended to create a certain amount of 

 unrest and dissatisfaction among those honest Mexican fishermen who tried to 

 obey the law and yet could not be satisfied with seeing others make money 

 illegally while they could not. It is much easier to enforce a law when the water 

 itself is closed than when the use of certain nets is permitted in those waters 

 and other nets are prohibited. We would almost rather see the whole area closed 

 for two months than to return to this law. 



This clearly illustrates, without further explanation, the effect of 

 a law against certain seasonal gear. 



A letter from another Corpus Christi dealer contained this: 



We would not care to go on record as recommending that certain waters and 

 bays in our immediate territory be closed to the^use of nets and seines for the 

 reason that already the existing laws, regulations, and restrictions are such that 

 if any more restrictions and regulations are added to our statutes, so as to include 

 any more waters and territories, they Would be prohibitive, and as a consequence 

 in time the industry would be destroyed. 



A letter from a fish dealer of Matagorda contains the following: 



While in favor of all measures of any real benefit for the conservation of 

 marine life, we are certainly of the opinion that definite information should be 

 secured before further waters are closed to commercial fishing. It has become 

 a problem to get fish in the waters adjoining this point, and it will take only a 

 few more restrictions to leave us with a bunch of useless seines and nets. 



