118 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



localities, there is no reason to believe that the flsh have decreased in 

 number in consequence, the captures always being proportioned to the 

 increase in the length of the lines and the size of the vessels and their 

 crews. In some cases it is alleged that the cod, in its well-known vo- 

 racity, swallows the head and backbone of its fellow as it is thrown 

 into the water, and is thereby rendered ill and sometimes even killed by 

 the feast. This can only result from the laceration of the gullet and 

 stomach by the bones, a condition which must ensue very rarely in a 

 fish which fills its stomach with large sharp-edged shells without expe- 

 riencing any evil effect. 



The digestion of fish is very rapid, and it is not an uncommon thing to 

 find that when a fish has been seized by another and is too long to be 

 swallowed entire, the portion near the stomach is digested while the 

 fragment projecting from the mouth is fresh and sound. 



Upon the whole, therefore, I am inclined to conclude, from all the 

 considerations and the testimony offered, that there is no actual proof 

 that the use of the trawl or long line in. itself is injurious to the fish- 

 eries, so far as relates to the driving of the fish away from the grounds. 

 It may render the desirable fish less eager to take the hook, or it may 

 attract predaceous fishes, so as to frighten away the more noble for the 

 time ; but that any influences thus exerted can extend over a period of 

 more than a few hours it is difficult to understand. If there be any 

 evil effect, it is possibly from the gurry, but even this I am not willing 

 to admit. This evil, if it be one, will be remedied in our waters, as it 

 has been within a recent period in other cases, by a utilization of this 

 material as a wasted product, the yield or profit therefrom and its con- 

 version into oil or guano being greater than the cost of saving and de- 

 livering it on shore. At any rate, before any legislation is invoked, a 

 more careful examination on the ground of the more important regions 

 alleged to be affected should be made by scientific men. The question 

 of refuse matter on the bottom at depths of 15 to 30 fathoms can easily 

 be settled by the use of the water telescope, a well-known implement 

 in scientific research. 



In further illustration of the subject, I call attention to the fact 

 that in the investigations in Norway as to the cause of the disappear- 

 ance of the herring from accustomed grounds, it was maintained that 

 the dead fish, dropping from the gill-nets, or remaining in the meshes 

 of the nets, that had become lost and entangled at the bottom, had pro- 

 duced this state of things. The water telescope was brought into use 

 and it was ascertained that the number of such fish was much less than 

 was alleged and that after being dead one day they had entirely disap- 

 peared, and furthermore it was found there had been an entire aban- 

 donment of certain localities where the gill-nets had not been used at all, 

 and fish had previously been taken wholly by drawing seines from the 

 shore. 



