PETITION TO THE FISH COMMISSION. 37 



prices ; for prices of course fall with the greatly increased abundauce of 

 tlie fish, and the chances are great that he who buys must lose if he 

 sells at once. Meanwhile the fish are injured more or less, even on ice 

 or in brine. 



Fourth. As a few days of good trawling uiay give tliose fishermen an 

 enormous quantity of cod, es])ecially where from thirty to sixty vessels 

 are trawling ; and as no one can tell when such good fishing may come, 

 the dealer buys with great caution, lest he shall have on his hands a 

 large amount while the market is becoming more and more crowded 

 every day. Serious losses of this kind have made dealers very cautious 

 in buying. 



But the trawling is good and the trawler is impatient to go to the ground 

 again, and anxious to get rid of fish which he fears will spoil on his hands j 

 so he sells at any price. Thus the difficulty is aggravated, and the amount 

 of damaged fish thrown on the market is greatly increased. When cod 

 were caught only by hand-lines the supply was much more uniform and 

 more susceptible of correct anticipation, while at the same time the fivsh 

 were sold to the consumer at prices very reasonable, compared with other 

 food staples. At the same time each man could care for what he caught, 

 and thus a much better article of food was produced. 



Fifth. When, a few years since, trawling was begun at Gloucester, 

 Mass., cod were caught in large quantities near the port. So close were 

 they taken that tbey were sent ashore as soon as a large dory was loaded, 

 and in such quantities that the dories Avere generally loaded and sent 

 ashore three times in a day. Soon the fish could not be caught there, 

 having been either taken or scared into deeper water. The trawlers 

 kept on until now the fish are not caught in quantities, on some of the 

 grounds east of Massachusetts, nor except in one hundred and twenty fath- 

 oms of water. As the grounds failed, the trawlers extended their opera- 

 tions along the coast, spoiling the grounds wherever they went. AVhere 

 they have fished long the hand-fisherman can no longer get his living by 

 -catching cod. Now they have come to our grounds. They are nearly 

 all strangers, men of Portuguese birth, and we can already see the bane- 

 ful influence they are exerting. Nor are the causes of the direct injury 

 to us difficult to find nor hard to understand. The fish are driven into 

 deeper water and so tiir from shore that we, returning home every night, 

 can com])ete only at great disadvantage, for we can be on the ground 

 only a few hours at best; and the farther we must go, the fewer hours 

 we can remain. It is remembered well here that four of our best fisher- 

 men went seventeen times in one season to Coggeshall's Ledge, nearly 

 twenty miles from Block Island, and caught an amount of cod reckoned 

 at fo^u' quintals per trip to each man. Since trawlers have been there 

 we cannot catch enough to pay for the trip. 



We would further respectfully call your attention to the following 

 facts : 



First. In former years our government, in the fostering care which 



