160 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



priety of a partial close time, I still maintain the same opinion, and am 

 fully satisfied that a fair trial for four years would show such a positive 

 increase in the number of these most important and valuable fish as to 

 satisfy the most skeptical. Unfortunately, in this particular case con- 

 current legislation of two States is considered desirable, since the mi- 

 grations and spawning-grounds are partly in Rhode Island and partly 

 in Massachusetts, the fish for the most part passing through the waters 

 of the first-mentioned State before they reach those of the latter. So 

 far, neither State has shown a willingness to legislate either separately 

 or conjointly, and the abundance of the fish referred to will probably be 

 determined by the number of the bluefish that visit the same waters. 

 I think, however, that if protected in some way there would be a de- 

 cided increase without reference to the presence of this wolf of the seas. 



I have found a decided unanimity of opinion among fishermen as to 

 the expediency of such a close time, even among those who do not con- 

 sider it necessary, in order to maintain the supply of fish, the preven- 

 tion of a glut of the market, and the securing of time for the proper re- 

 pair of the nets, and for the needed attention to home business, being- 

 important and well-accepted arguments with all classes concerned for 

 the proposed close time. 



In many cases it would seem that fish, after they have deposited 

 their eggs, become sickly and unfit for food, and no one can examine a 

 male salmon under these circumstances and appreciate the alteration in 

 appearance and condition without realizing the impropriety of using it 

 as an article of food. For this reason a close time is proper, not only 

 to secure an opportunity for undisturbed spawning by the fish, but also 

 to prevent the consumption of unsuitable fish. 



In the New England States the alewife fisheries were formerly, and 

 are still in some degree, taken under the protection of the towns, 

 the catch within the jurisdiction of each town being considered as be- 

 longing to its inhabitants, to be distributed pro rata among them, or 

 else sold for the common benefit. Sometimes each individual was au- 

 thorized to take a certain number of fish ; at others officers were ap- 

 pointed to capture them and apportion them suitably. Kegulations 

 were made to secure free access from the sea of the fish to the pounds or 

 other spawning-grounds, and for the escape to the sea again of the fish, 

 both young and old, during the summer. 



How far it will be desirable, now or hereafter, to regulate the size of 

 the meshes of nets used in our inshore fisheries it is hardly necessary 

 to take into consideration at present, for the reasons already mentioned. 



2. — INCREASING^HE NUMBER OF FOOD FISHES BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS. 



There are two methods by which this can be accomplished: (1) By 

 the actual transfer of fishes from one region of the globe to another, or 

 one part of the coast to another ; (2) by the artificial propagation and 

 multiplication of fish found in a particular region. 



