REGULATION OF THE SEA-FISHERIES BY LAW. 9<J 



season to depopulate the waters south of Cape Cod, or lay waste any 

 honies there ; lor wheu they come the soup and tautog have spawued\ 

 and they have gone to their feeding-grounds in deeper waters. Mr. 

 Atwood himself conclusively shows the complete improbability of their 

 being destroyed after tliat in what he says of tlie fecundity of fishes. 



1 repeat what he says on this subject : How vast is the number of 

 eggs produced by a single fish ; hundreds of thousands, which, if any 

 considerable percentage should come to maturity, the waters would be 

 filled to overflowing. 



How vast, then, I submit, is that destruction which prevents the 

 spawning offish ! 



In order of time it also appeared from the testimony in both States 

 that the traps, pounds, and weirs are set before the arrival of either of 

 the fishes nnder consideration, and to catch them as they arrived, when 

 they are coming with the shoalerand better serated waters to spawn. 



If, therefore, it was a matter of surprise to the senator that men pro- 

 fessing to be acquainted with fish should come before the committee and 

 say they did not know blue-fish ate any other fish but menhaden, it is 

 more a matter of surprise that Mr. Atwood, the man who did know all 

 about it, did not tell the senators when these food-fishes appear, in what 

 order they come, when they spawn, and whether they did not go im- 

 mediately into shoal water for that purpose. He could have told, too, 

 when the blue-fish appear, and what fish they are pursuing when they 

 come, and whether the traps were not set before the arrival of any of 

 these fishes, and to catch them when they came near the shore to deposit 

 their spawn. And, in my judgment, he would not have failed to do this 

 if he had not seen the obvious effect of it upon the cause of the trappers, 

 w'hom he was placed in his position to protect. 



Whatever may be said about it by Mr. Atwood, scup, nor tautog, nor 

 sea-bass, nor yet the food of any of the food-fishes of the j^ew England 

 coast are the natural or chief food of the bliie-fish. Menhaden and her- 

 ring are the fish which they mostly pursue, and upon these they cliiefly 

 feed. This all the witnesses testified to, and this everybody on \he 

 seacoast knows, and, what is a significant fact about it, these fishes on 

 the whole do not greatly diminish. 



Again, as to this blue-fish, horse-mackerel snapper, or by whatever 

 other irame he may be called, Long Island Sound is full of them, and 

 yet we do not learn that he has depopulated those waters of scup, tau- 

 tog, sea bass, or striped bass, nor laid waste any considerable towns or 

 villages there. So we conclude that, bad as the blue-fish is, too much 

 blame is laid upon his shoulders; and I am not sure that he does not 

 furnish food enough, and that which is good enough, to pay for all he 

 eats. 



It is more than doubtful whether, in the arrangements of Divine Prov- 

 idence, any species of fish can be destroyed by any other ageuc}' than 

 man, and not by him, unless he prevents their increase. He who gave 

 the law to increase and multiply abundantly on the face of the earth, 

 knew how to make its operation certain, and gave dominion to man 

 alone to control it. It cannot be shown that any species of fish has 

 been exterminated b\ any other cause than by preventing their increase. 

 Salmon and trout feed upon their own spawn and upon their own young, 

 and yet how did they abound, until prevented from spawning by im- 

 proper modes and times of fishing! 



Secondly. Are the modes of catching fish by pounds, weirs, traps, &c., 

 a probable cause of the scarcity of any or all the fishes now under con- 

 sideration ? 



