Ill -A PETITION TO THE FISH COMMISSION OF THE UNITED 

 STATES, SIGNED BY THE FISHERMEN OF BLOCK ISLAND, JUNE 



12, 1877. 



A PETITION. 



State of Rhode Island, NEwroRT County, 



New IShorcham, Block Island., June 12, 1877. 

 To the honorable Fish Commission of the United States : 



We, your petitioners, citizens of the United States and of Block Island, 

 natives and fishermen, believe that the catching of cod by means of trawl 

 lines is diminishing the cod on our grounds, from which we believe that 

 fish will eventually be driven if that mode of taking them is continued, 

 because — 



First. At any time the cod will bite the bait upon a small hook more 

 readily than upon a large hook, because the smaUhook is hidden. The 

 hand-fisherman uses a large hook, for he must, in pulling, keep his line 

 taut, and the sharp struggles of the fish would break a smaller. Small 

 hooks are used on trawl-lines, which are never very taut, and hence are 

 quite elastic. During December, January, February, and in early March, 

 when these fish deposit their spawn, they are very shy, and only a few 

 will bite the large hook on the hand-line. lu the past they have been 

 secure in depositing their spawn, thus securing their propagation. ISTow 

 that the trawl-lines have come into use, the fish, biting at the baited 

 hooks, are taken in large quantities at a time when their destruction in- 

 volves the destruction at the same time of myriads of eggs, thus directly 

 tending to prevent the perpetuation of their species. 



Second. It very frequently happens that a trawl-line with from 600 to 

 1,000 hooks attached becomes so chafed by the rocks on the bottom that, 

 when loaded with fish, it breaks, and only a portion is secured. The 

 remainder, with hundreds of struggling fish, is carried hither and thither 

 until the fish die. Their struggles frighten the other fish very much 

 more than when caught on a^ hand-line, for then the captured fish is im- 

 mediately taken from the water, and l)ut little of his distress is seen by 

 other fish. Moreover, when the fish die, their bodies, becoming putrid, 

 etfectually rid the ground of cod until the bodies rot from their lasten- 

 ing and drift away, leaving the water jiure again, or soon to become so. 



Third. Oftentimes, the fish caught on the trawl-hooks are left to 

 struggle for hours before the trawlers get time to take them on board ; 

 and, indeed, this is usually the case, for they use so manj^ lines that 

 they can haul them only a few times in a day. Meanwhile, many of the 



as 



