226 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



were enabled to secure very interesting details in regard to the pnrse- 

 net lisbing for menliaden in the Chesapeake. 



The important point established by the inquiry in the Chesapeake 

 was that the schools of menhaden entering the capes do spatcn either 

 in the bay itself or in the tidal estuaries tributary to it. The evidence 

 to this effect, though circumstantial, is so lull and precise as to leave 

 little or no room for doubt, and confirms the conclusions at which I had 

 already arrived from the study of data previously accumulated. Such 

 being the case, the menhaden fisheries of the Chesapeake region are 

 under like conditions and affected by the same agencies as the shore 

 and river fisheries are, the fish being taken on their spawning grounds 

 or intercepted and captured before reaching them. 



As the necessity of legislation for the regulation of the fisheries, 

 either by Federal or State authority, was not apparent unless it could 

 be clearly shown that the abundance of the food-fish supply could be 

 injuriously affected by man's agency — either directly in the prosecution 

 of the commercial fisheries, or indirectly by impeding or hindering ac- 

 cess of certain species to their spawning grounds — I was requested by 

 Senator Lapham, chairman, to appear before the committee as a wit- 

 ness and submit for their consideration the conclusions reached by me 

 in reference to this question. 



The statements and conclusions submitted for the consideration of 

 the committee were substantially as follows : 



There are two fundamental questions involved in the inquiry prose- 

 cuted hr the committee: The first relates to the possibility of the 

 exhaustion of our salt-water as well as river fisheries by the inter- 

 ference of man, either directly in the prosecution of the commercial 

 fisheries, or indirectly by the exclusion of the species from their spawn- 

 ing grounds. If this question is answered in the affirmative, what 

 measures of legislation are necessary or expedient in the interest of the 

 fisheries ? 



THE RIVER FISHERIES. 



That man by his interference, directly or indirectly, may seriously 

 impair or even destroy our river fisheries does not admit of question or 

 controversy. 



The most important river fishes, those which are the motive and the 

 object of important commercial fisheries, are what are termed auadro- 

 mous, and the most valuable members of this class in the Atlantic coast 

 waters are the salmon, the white shad, the rock or striped bass, and 

 the alewife or river herring. These all spawn in fresh water, and 

 access to fresh water is the fundamental condition for reproduction. 

 The young spend a portion of their lives in the streams, and then go to 

 the ocean and remain one, two, three, or more years ; there they get 

 their development, and return to the rivers only for the purpose of 

 reproduction. If, as in the case of the salmon, the spawning grounds 



