REGULATION OF THE SEA-FISHERIES BY LAW. 103 



iutiaence into the scale than the fishermen. " Leave to withdraw" is the 

 stereotyped report of the Massachusetts " committees ou tlie flslieries," 

 and bills to protect are everywhere quietly voted down. 



Mr. Atwood closes his remarks by alluding to the antiquity of nets, 

 and recites the simple and beautifal narrative of the calling' of Peter 

 and Andrew, James and John, the fishermen of the sea of Galilee, to 

 make them fishers of men. 



It does, indeed, show that nets were in use at that remote period, but 

 it does not show the justness or lawfulness of the practice, and commits 

 not the Master to its approval. For he said unto them, " Follow me." 

 "And they straightway left their nets and folloW'Cd him." 



Once, indeed, in the ship, which w\as Simon's, he performed the mir- 

 acle of the great draught of fishes, but while he compensated the dis- 

 cii)les in that they had toiled all night and taken nothing, he destroyed 

 their nets. 



There is another class of persons interested in the continuance of the 

 fisheries, to which I have but slightly alluded. What little w^assaid by 

 them or in their behalf before the committee in ^Massachusetts was 

 sneeringly received, and tliey themselves contemptuously referred to. I 

 mean the amateur fishermen. These men also have some rights of 

 which the tra]iping of fish is a violation. Though they are anglers 

 rather than fisliermen, and i)ursue their finny game for recreation 

 and not money, they are entitled to no little consideration. As a class 

 they are rapidly increasing in numbers and in influence. Driven dur- 

 ing the heated months of the summer season from our more crowded 

 and unhealthy cities, rod in hand, they flock to the mountain-streams 

 and the sea-side. Generally men of means, of leisure, of cultivated 

 tastes, they form themselves into clubs or associations, build comely 

 houses, and beautify their grounds. Lands long since worn out and 

 become comparatively useless, and well nigh abandoned, ihey increase 

 in value; they add to the revenue of the towns and State they visit; 

 men of intelligence and culture for the most part, they stndy the habits 

 of the fish tliey catch, and add not a little to the stock of our knowledge 

 of a subject of which the people know so little. 



In the investigation of this interesting subject, while we hope to find 

 out more about the habits of the fishes upou our sea-coast, and what 

 are the proper modes and times of catching them, we shall not alto- 

 gether have wasted our time if we find out that there are some things 

 valuable which do not pay, and some things worth considering which 

 do not result in dividends. 



Whether a case has been made out showing that the traps and pounds 

 are solely responsible for the growing scarcity of fish, the methods of 

 otherwise accounting for it, resorted to by the trappers and their de- 

 fenders, are proved to be insuflicient and unsatisfactory. Enough has 

 been showni to demonstrate that, by these means, the " exhaustion of the 

 sea-fisheries" as to these particular species of food-fishes is possible. 



This is enough to entitle the subject to serious consideration, and to 

 warrant the Government in early legislation to prevent it. 



It will be better that the trappers should submit to some inconven- 

 ience — be put to some loss, indeed, rather than that action should be too 

 long delayed. 



It is easier now to interpose to save, than it will be by and by to 

 replenish, our depopulated waters. 



GEO. H. PALMEK. 



:New Bedford, January 1, 1872. 



