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from tlie waters adjacent to them, instead of from the 

 market, as well as thousands who resort to the waters 

 along our coasts for food fish as well as for recreation 

 and health ; the food fish should be protected within 

 the three-mile limit before it is too late. If the use of 

 the purse net was properly restricted, or prohibited 

 within a reasonable distance from the shores, and used 

 only in waters beyond the depth of the net used, it 

 would go far to stop the present waste and to ensure a 

 continued suppl}^, now so seriously threatened. 



I would most respectfully ask the consideration of 

 the members of this Society, and especially those who 

 are commissioners of fisheries of the respective sea- 

 board states, to this important questiou. 



