16 INLAND FISHEEIES. 



Y. Observations to Show the Influence that Trap-Fishing 

 May Have Upon Line-Fishing. 



The problem involved in tliis question, and its local bearing-, is 

 briefly stated in the following quotation from the report of last 

 year, as follows : 



"The influence that the trap-flshmg m the lower portion of tlie Bay may 

 have upon the abundance of food-fish in the vipper portion of the Bay has 

 been an oft-disputed question. The heat of argument at any time has 

 been m inverse ratio to tlie number of fish visiting our sliores. The general 

 question of the inexhaustibility of sea products has received special atten- 

 tion during the past year. W. C. Mcintosh, director of the Scottish Marine 

 Laboratory at St. Andrews, and for several years member of the Fishery 

 Board, has endeavored to show, in his book 'The Resources of the Sea,' 

 that there is little danger of over-fishing, that restrictive legislation is un- 

 necessary, and that Nature is amply able to maintain an abundant supply, 

 no matter what demands may be made upon her. Views so entirely at 

 variance with the convictions of those who have made fishing a profession, 

 so radically ditf erent from the opinions of those who occupy positions that 

 have enabled them to study the abundance of various commercial fishes 

 from year to year, and views that deliberately set at nought the legislative 

 provisions of the various maritime countries, have naturally been seriously 

 questioned, and the discussions have certainly brought many facts to the 

 surface that otherwise would have remained unknown. 



"So far as our own interests are concerned, there seems to be little question 

 that certain of our native fishes have been sadly reduced in numbers through 

 neglect and excessive fishmg, but the abundance of many forms which 

 annually come in from the open ocean, and visit our shores for the purpose 

 of breeding, appears to remain unaffected." 



The effect of extensive fishing- upon the actual abundance of 

 these migratory species is a question of international as well as 

 national and local interest. It is a problem of great difficulty and 

 complexity, and its satisfactory solution will doubtless be deferred 

 for many years. 



The following notes are of interest, particularly in their bearing 

 upon the local problem, and they seem to indicate that there is no 

 immediate danger, by means of the nearly 150 traps in the waters 



