Belding. — Preservation of the Alewife 95 



lished. Experience has likewise shown that a poor year, when 

 but few alewives reach the spawning grounds, is followed 

 at a stated interval by a corresponding lean year. From 

 such observations we can accept the "Parent Stream Theory" as 

 the best working hypothesis available. 



II. The Fishery. 



Operation. — In Massachusetts there are two types of alewife 

 fisheries, the natural and the artificial, both of which have been 

 developed under town control. In early days nearly every coast 

 town possessed one or more natural streams upon which fisheries 

 were soon established under town management, and in a few cases 

 by private individuals. Unless the fishery was completely ruined, 

 its operation was conducted in one of four ways: (1) free, (2) town 

 operated, (3) leased, and (4) private ownership. 



Methods of Catching. — Every householder was early given the 

 time-honored privilege of obtaining alewives, in whatever manner 

 and at whatever time he desired. Later, when the towns exercised 

 control over the alewife fisheries, certain places were designated 

 and set aside by law as locations where alewives could only be 

 taken, and fishing was forbidden elsewhere. These stations have 

 been developed by regulating the water flow, and by building 

 screened locks and weirs, in which the alewives are taken on stated 

 days of the week. From the catching pens, the alewives are 

 removed by seines, or dipped with scoop nets, according to the 

 method best suited. 



Marketing. — While the majority of the fish taken during the 

 spring run are cured, an increasing number are marketed fresh. 

 In 1918, Boston alone used over 2200 barrels of fresh alewives, 

 showing that the value of the alewife as a food is becoming more 

 appreciated. 



DECLINE. 



While in some streams the alewife fishery has held its own, or 

 even improved, it has diminished to such an extent usually that 

 we can accept without reservation the general statement that the 

 alewife fishery as a whole has declined. The causes which have 

 contributed to this condition are so numerous and so complex that 

 the exact separate influence of each cannot be absolutely deter- 



