THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH RMERICA. 119 
Captain Nathaniel Atwood, of Provincetown, while earnestly com- 
batting the assertions in regard to the injurious effects of the trawl- 
line upon the fisheries, admits that they do appear to have a positive 
action on the abundance of the halibut, or at least those of the large in- 
dividuals which are specially sought after for the market. He thinks 
that these large halibut are quite likely each to occupy a considerable 
area of ground, to the exclusion of others of the same species, and that. | 
when they are caught, it takes a considerable time for their restoration. 
He mentions a curious relation in the co-existence of halibut and had- 
dock, the result of the capture of the halibut in the grounds conjointly 
occupied by them, being a very marked increase of haddock, so much 
so as to render them almost a drug in the market and reducing the price 
very materially. This is due to the fact of haddock being devoured in 
immense numbers by the halibut while present, and their consequent 
increase when their enemies are captured.* 
I have already adverted to the fact that in the course ofan extended 
and exhaustive investigation by Professor Huxley and his associates 
into the subject of the British sea fisheries, contained in a Blue Book of 
1400 pages and involving the answering of 61,830 questions, there 
were but six witnesses of the entire number examined who made any 
objections to trawl-lines. One fisherman alone (vol. 2, p. 554, question 
24,996) considered it a destructive mode of fishing in itself, his objec- 
tion being that by using very small hooks they caught too many young 
fish, which, had they been allowed to grow up, would have furnished a 
more fSAtAbIo yield. 
One fisherman, in answer to wndations 39,994 and 40,389, said he found 
a difficulty in getting bait of the right kind with which to supply the 
hooks, although approving of their use. 
To No. 40,976, a fisherman replied that the trammel nets, such as he 
used, were liable to be torn by contact with the long-lines. Another 
trammel-net fisherman, in answer to question 41,023, maintained that 
the long-lines frightened the fish away from his net, so that he could 
not get all that he expected. 
The net—Having thus concluded the subject of line fishing, we come 
to the second of our principal divisions, namely, that of the use of nets. 
It is hardly necessary to go into any minute account of this mode of 
*Another instance of this mutual interdependence of fish, as asserted by the fisher- 
men, occurs on the coast of Nova Scotia, in this case between the lobsters and the 
starfishes. According to this the lobsters are destroyed by the starfishes in great 
numbers, and in the immediate vicinity of the canning establishments where the 
lobsters are taken and put up there is found to be an appreciable diminution of them 
' from this cause. The starfishes are then said to multiply very greatly. The fisher- 
men insist that the starfishes feed upon sea-weed, and that they devour this in such 
quantities as to clear the bottom of this covert, and that the food-fishes finding no 
means of concealment do not resort to what were formerly excellent fishing-grounds. 
The statement that starfish eat sea-weed is perhaps yet to be substantiated. 
