Belding.— Preservation of the Alewife 103 



carried on. In fairly prosperous fisheries, the one year closed 

 season alternating with the five year lease should prove a good 

 prophylactic measure for insuring the welfare of the fishery. 



Season. — The length of the season should be the same through- 

 out the state, and not exceed a maximum of 60 days. The exact 

 dates for the commencement of fishing should be determined for 

 each individual stream. 



Fishing Days. — The time of catching should not exceed three 

 consecutive days per week. Any combination may be selected, but 

 the period from sunrise Tuesday to sunset Thursday is recom- 

 mended as giving the best opportunity for preparing and disposing 

 of the catch. 



Fishing Places. — To insure easy enforcement of the law fishing 

 should be conducted at definite places. Suitable equipment in the 

 form of buildings, catching basins, etc., should be provided at 

 these carefully selected places. Only in exceptional instances 

 should more than one catching place be allowed per town, viz., 

 seining privileges on the larger rivers. 



Methods of Capture. — The methods of fishing should be clearly 

 and definitely stated. The length and size of mesh for seines 

 should be regulated. 



Uniform Sale. — The method of conducting the sale of the ale- 

 wife fishery leases should be uniform as regards time of sale, sub- 

 mitting of bids, awarding of contracts, payment, forfeiture and 

 all other provisions. 



SUMMARY. 



The following points have been considered in this paper: 



(1) The valuable alewife fishery in Massachusetts has declined 

 because of unwise legislation, overfishing and obstructed streams. 



(2) A study of the life history and habits of the alewife has 

 indicated the proper methods of checking this decline. 



(3) Experimental constructive work in providing unobstructed 

 passageways to the spawning grounds, and in restocking depleted 

 streams, has so far given excellent results. 



(4) A satisfactory type of fishway for alewives has been 

 designed. 



