196 American Fisheries Society 



But this is not done. I find that many of our coast 

 states do not require licenses to operate line, gill, or pound 

 nets, and for that reason their officials are unable to tell 

 how many of these nets are in operation in their waters. 

 Others do not require from the licensed fishermen reports 

 of their catches, in consequence of which they are unable 

 to tell whether or not the fish in their waters are increas- 

 ing or diminishing. For illustration, an official at the 

 head of the Fisheries of the State of Rhode Island con- 

 fessed that "the absence of a law making fishery returns 

 compulsory prevents the securing of accurate data in 

 fisheries." Now the squeteague, one of the four principal 

 fishes of that state, has decreased considerably; yet no 

 accurate data are obtainable by which to determine the 

 percentage of decrease, or the causes which have pro- 

 duced the same. 



In Connecticut the catch of shad has decreased in the 

 past ten years over 70%, that of bass, over 86%, and 

 that of the pickerel over 54%. The Superintendent of the 

 State Board of Fisheries attributes this decrease to the 

 pollution of water and streams running dry. 



The Chief Game and Fish Warden of Delaware writes : 



"I regret that no statistics are available. We are just 

 beginning to work on fish protection in Delaware. Our 

 warden service is less than a year old and from lack of 

 funds has been able to do nothing but preparatory work 

 with our food fish industry." 



And yet the four principal fish of Delaware are the 

 trout, shad, menhaden and sturgeon — a most valuable 

 series. It will be remembered that the catch of the last 

 named fish brought over one million dollars annually to 

 the fishermen of Delaware until unregulated fishing de- 

 stroyed the fisheries. 



It will be noted from the excerpts quoted that the in- 

 sufficiency of laws is blameable for the losses enumer- 

 ated. 



Rhode Island fails to require its fishermen to make 

 returns of their catches, in consequence of which that 

 state is sustaining an undetermined loss. 



Connecticut suffers from a river pollution which she 



