V-REPORTS OF STATE COMMISSIONS IN REGARD 

 TO REGULATING THE SEAFISHERIES BY LAW. 



IlEPOET OF COMI\riTTEE OF EHODE ISLAND LEGISLATURE, 

 MADE AT NEW POET JUNE 15, 1870. 



The committee,* at tlie first of its several meetings, (wliieli have taken 

 place at Providence, Tjvertou, Seconuet, Newport, and Narra<iansett 

 Pier,) chose Francis Briuley, of Newport, chairman. They found it ne- 

 cessary to obtain the services of a secretary who should aid them in 

 recording the testimony of witnesses examined bj^ them, and J. Talbot 

 Pitman, esq., of Provideu('e, consented to act in that capacity. The 

 duties have been performed by him with accuracy and to the great sat- 

 isfaction of the committee. 



The i)rocess of oral examination was so exceedingly slow and tedious 

 that the committee were soon convinced of the impracticability of con- 

 tinuing it if their labors were to terminate in season to report at the 

 May session, and a series of eighty-two interrogatories was ])repared, 

 with printed instructions, (copies of which are annexed,) and widely dis- 

 tributed. The chairman has received i)rompt, sworn answers from many 

 persons. As was anticipated, the statements are somewhat contradict- 

 ory, and in some particulars utterly irreconcilable. These numerous 

 documents have been carefully examined and considered by the com- 

 mittee with an anxious desire to get at the truth. It should always be 

 borne in mind that the fisheries have, from the time of the charter of 

 Charles II down to this present time, been considered deserving of re- 

 cognition and special regard. The right of fishing belonged to each 

 individual, and he could not and ought not to use it so as to infringe 

 upon or destroy the right of ar.other. Now, it is the alleged violation of 

 this individnal right, and of a common but sound principle of law as 

 well as of morals, by the introduction of trap-fishing, that the people on 

 the inland waters of the State comi)lnin. 



The oral and written testimony laid before the committee, establishes 

 the fact that whereas scup were formerly abundant in the waters of 

 Narragansett Bay, and constituted a cheap and nutritious article of 

 food to the inhabitants, readily found and easily caught,' they have 

 gradually left these waters, until they are quite abandoned by this 

 species of fish, and partially so by other species. 



To what cause shall this change be ascribed! The opinion is very 

 generally expressed by witnesses, that it is owing to the interception of 

 fish by the various traps and nets which are scattered in their way, so 

 that some of the deponents entertain a belief that they will soon be 

 utterly exterm in ated . 



In this connection let us advert to the deposition of Mr. C. H. Bassett, 



* The firsf. part of the report is omitted as consisting of general considerations on the 

 subject in the way of statistics, &c. 



