216 REPORT OF^OMMISSIONER OF PISH AND FISHERIES. 



bles that of the tautog, a fish admitted to be local, it must be conceded 

 that the evidence is in favor of classino- them as local fish also. 



The opinion or theory that the scup found at Common Fence Point 

 are lost fish trying to find their way back to the sea, is based solely ou 

 the fact that they disappear from that neighborhood after staying there 

 about a week. This disapi)earance can be more rationally and satisfac- 

 torily accounted for upon the presumption that, having deposited their 

 spawn there, they had dispersed to their feeding-grounds lilce the mack- 

 erel, and, as we think is proved, like the scup at Seacounet l*oint. 



The assertion that fish cannot be diminished by any kind of fishing is 

 not warranted by the facts. The history of the salmon in our waters 

 shows that they have been exterminated. The same is the case with 

 shad in some of the rivers, and in many they are very much diminished. 

 Herring have diminished also. Rimbaud and Bertholet, mentioned in 

 the joint-committee report, testify to the same result in the waters with 

 which they were acquainted. In our own waters the striped bass and 

 many other fish have become scarcer. The fact that scup were found in 

 abundance up to 1845 above Stone Bridge, and since that time have 

 been graduall}' diminishing until purse-seining has been abandoned 

 ^there, shows that something has operated to produce this state of things. 

 And as traps were first set at Seaconuet Point in 1846, and there, only, 

 until 1800 ; and as nine-tenths of the scup w^ere and are taken at that 

 place, it is a conclusion not to be avoided, that the traps are this ob- 

 struction, and have produced the effect complained of. 



And who are those that appear to oppose this prohibition"? Are they 

 the poor'fishermen, whose daily bread would be snatched from their 

 mouths should this kind of fishing be stopped, and for whom the sym- 

 pathy of the community and this legislature is demanded "i 



There are about two hundred and fifteen men engaged in these gangs, 

 and their earnings vary, according to the best estimates obtainable, from 

 $175 to $40 per season. But these men do not appear here. The men 

 who are now represented by counsel before you and appear as witnesses 

 are owners of nets and buyers of fish. These men have an interest far 

 exceeding those of the actual takers of the fish. 



Perha|)s we can form some opinion of the amount of this interest by 

 estimating the value of their profits. One of this firm of buyers states, 

 he and his partners bought 4,500 barrels of fish from the traps, at the 

 average price of $2 per barrel, this past season $9,000. 



Each barrel averaging 150 pounds, gives 775,000 pounds, at 



5 cents per pound $38, 750 



Deduct original cost of 4,500 barrels, at $2 $9, 000 



Transportation of 4,500 barrels, at $1 4, 500 



For three weeks' fishing. 



13, 500 



25, 250 



This is the real head of the opposition, which, under the cloak of de- 

 siring to preserve the rights of the fishermen, are fighting for these 

 profist. 



VALUE OF TRAP PROPERTY. 



Mr. Lorenzo Tallman says : 



That of the gangs in which he is interested (4) each has 450 fiithoms of 

 leader, weighing 300 pounds to 80 fathoms, worth from $1.05 to 25 cents 

 per pound, or, as he suggests, an average of 05 cents. 



