78 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ous, destroying other fish in proportion, so that it will somewhat tax 

 the human imagination to appreciate the total destructiveness of animal 

 life, resulting from the action of this one species alone. 



Mr. Goode, in discussing the distribution and natural history statis- 

 tics of the menhaden, attempts to make an estimate of the number of 

 these fish devoured on the coast of New England in the summer months 

 by bluefish and other species, and he comes to the conclusion that these 

 may safely be given at three thousand millions of millions. In compar- 

 ison with this the 750,000,000 captured by man during the same period 

 sinks into utter insignificance. This calculation might be pursued to 

 any extent ; but I have presented enough to show that the question of 

 human agencies in the way of affecting or influencing the great ocean 

 fisheries is scarcely worth considering. I by no means wish to be under- 

 stood as deprecating any legislation in regard to the fisheries, especi- 

 ally in respect to the spawning-grounds, as interference here, while not 

 unnecessarily diminishing the supply to any appreciable extent, may 

 tend to prevent their coming on particular parts of the coast, and thus 

 within the reach of fishermen of a special neighborhood. 



If it were in any way our duty to take measures for the prevention of 

 the destruction of life in the sea, and of maintaining the yield of fish 

 generally at its largest figure, we could accomplish it in no better way 

 than by increasing the extent and magnitude of certain of our fisheries. 

 Thus I have shown that there may be a saving of herring by the cap- 

 ture of the cod and ling on the British coast. For every bluefish cap- 

 tured in the waters of the United States many hundreds of other fish 

 are left to enjoy their life, perhaps, however, in their turn to be the 

 means of an increased destructiveness in another series of animals. The 

 capture of whales gives a respite to the schools of mackerel and men- 

 haden, while the destruction of the herring and menhaden relieves, 

 though in an almost infinitesimal degree, the drain upon the crustaceans 

 and the smaller fish. 



Another consideration must not be lost sight of, namely, that the 

 adult and old fish, which constitute an object of pursuit on the part of 

 man, are, in proportion to their numbers, much greater destroyers of 

 other fish and the marine animals generally than the younger. It is a 

 well-established principle in the development of vertebrates that the 

 earlier in life the greater the increase of the body resulting from the 

 same amount of food. Thus the new-born infant of 8 to 12 pounds .will 

 double his weight in a few months, and with increasing ratio the rate of 

 growth diminishes until when maturity has been reached, unless under 

 particular conditions of the system, the consumption of several pounds 

 per diem does not produce the slightest appreciable increase, and, in- 

 deed, may be attended by an actual reduction in weight. The same 

 principle applies to fishes, although, perhaps, to a less degree, and ex- 

 periments have been carefully made in regard to trout, the culture of 

 which has been the source of greater care than that of any other fislj. 



