APPENDIX. 61 



should assume the amount to be in round numbers 1,575,000 pounds, 

 and estimate the population of the state for the year 1909 to be 

 525,000, an equal division by weight of the lobsters taken, among the 

 inhabitants of the state, would give each person three pounds. It 

 is self evident that each person does not annually get, and never can 

 get, his or her proportional part of the total catch of lobsters in any 

 year, therefore a division of the catch of lobsters among the people 

 of the state cannot be considered to be a feasible way in which to 

 preserve the rights of the people in the lobster fishery. If there was 

 to be such a division of the catch among the people, it would be proper 

 to pay the fishermen a fair price for their labor, a fair return for the 

 capital invested, a fair amount for wear and tear of boats, tackle and 

 fishing-gear, and such other items as are usually considered in mer- 

 cantile adventures of this sort. It goes without saying that people 

 of the state residing in portions of its territory remote from the sea- 

 shore could hardly afford, even if it were possible for them to do so, 

 to go to the shore and attempt to engage in lobster fishing merely for 

 the purpose of obtaining what they might deem to be their fair share 

 of lobsters from the public waters of the state. All children of 

 tender years, the aged and infirm, together with delicate women 

 would be absolutely debarred from participation in a fishery in which 

 all are interested. In such circumstances it is necessary to consider 

 how the people of the state may receive the greatest benefit from the 

 •conservation of their interests in this regard. The great majority 

 of the people undoubtedly have heretofore bought and in the future 

 will be obliged to buy their lobsters, therefore it is for their interest 

 to have them plentiful and cheap. And by the immutable law of 

 supply and demand, when unhampered by other influences, cheapness 

 will result from plenty. Free and unrestrained fishing might, for a 

 time, seem to accomplish that result because thereby more lobsters 

 would be taken and placed for sale upon the market, but without 

 regard to the age, size or condition of the same. Without protection 

 from the rapacity of man, lobsters inevitabl}^ must become scarcer, 

 and consequently dearer. This has been the costly experience of all 



