THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 159 



All the European herring fisheries, especially the most important, as 

 those of Norway and Great Britain, are without restriction as to time 

 of catch, and indeed it is when the herring are fullest of ripe roe that 

 they are the most esteemed. At the Magdalen Islands the herring are 

 taken principally during their spawning season without any restriction 

 or suggestion of diminution. The question, therefore, as to the actual 

 importance of the measure referred to may be considered as unsettled, 

 although I can hardly believe that the provision in regard to the her- 

 ring fisheries at Grand Manan has not had a beneficial iniiuence. It 

 will not, however, do to prohibit the catch of herring wheu they are 

 filled with roe, since it is when they are in this condition that they are 

 most highly prized and most marketable, the roe of the sea herring being 

 universally considered a very great delicacy. 



There are, however, some fish on the coast of the United States for 

 whose protection during the spawning season I have already urged in a 

 previous report that some provision of legislation is desirable. I refer 

 more particularly to certain fish on the south side of New England, 

 especially the scup, sea bass, and the tautog. These fish appear to 

 come to the coast in well defined bands of immense numbers, at a par- 

 ticular season, following generally a definite line of migration and pro- 

 ceeding to their spawning-grounds, where the operation of reproduction 

 is conducted on an enormous scale, in this respect closely resembling 

 the anadroinous fish, such as the salmon, shad, aud alewife, and appar- 

 ently almost equally susceptible to any interference by human agencies. 

 Legislation is expedient here, too, both for the protection of the fish and 

 of the fishermen themselves, since after a few weeks' fishing the glut is 

 so enormous as to bring down the price to a mere nothing, involving 

 the necessity of wasting immense numbers of the catch, the best use to 

 which they can be put being their conversion into manure. 



In this case, however, I simply suggested an intermission of capture 

 from Friday night until Monday morning, or if this be too long a period, 

 from Saturday night until Monday morning, so as to secure the escape 

 of a sufficient number of the school and an opportunity to deposit their 

 eggs, this weekly intermission to be continued only for the limited 

 period during which these particular fish are on the move. They move 

 in so close and solid bodies and in so limited an extent that it is by no 

 means impossible to imagine the capture of the greater part of the 

 school and the cutting off' of the rest of it from reaching a suitable 

 spawning-ground, or disturbing the individuals so that their eggs ate 

 not deposited at the proper time or under proper conditions. 



The other fish taken during the same period, especially the mackerel 

 and menhaden, are not affected, as it is only a portion of the migrating 

 bands, and that which happens to be nearest the shore, whieh is taken 

 under such circumstances, enough possibly passing outside to maintain 

 the supply of eggs and young fish. 



As to the conclusions at which 1 arrived in 1871 in regard to tlie pro- 



