26 AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 



that could be devised, while the angling element, especially in 

 the more eastern lakes, is opposed to both. There have been 

 frequent attempts in various States to entirely prohibit the pound 

 net fishing, and there have been equally strenuous efforts to pro- 

 hibit the use of the gill net, and again law^s Have been framed for- 

 bidding the use of haul seines, while fishing with pound nets and 

 gill nets was in no way restricted. Numerous attempts have also 

 been made to control and protect the fisheries by regulating the 

 size of the mesh, but the utter inability of legislation to protect 

 the small fish by this means is shown very clearly by the remark 

 made to me yesterday by one of the gentlemen present, who 

 claimed that if it were possible to insist upon the use of a given 

 size of mesh, the fishermen could still regulate the size of the fish 

 taken quite as his pleasure, by simply pulling hard upon the 

 upper cork line at one end of the net, and upon the lead line at 

 the other end, so as to draw the meshes together, and thus pre- 

 vent the very smallest fish from going througii. 



I bring this matter to your attention because I have come to feel 

 the importance of a definite and positive knowledge in this con- 

 test, when parties interested and parties whose interests are not 

 apparent are clamoring for legislation. I think the time has 

 arrived when the Commissioners of the different States should 

 stand between the contending elements and should settle defin- 

 itely in the minds of the law makers, the questions which are 

 up for consideration, and ncjthing, in m}' judgment, is more 

 necessary to a proper understanding of tliese questions than a 

 careful comparison of the yield of the fisheries of the various 

 localities from year to year. 



With a desire to obtain as reliable statistics as possible, the 

 U. S. Fish Commission has recently, through the co-operation of 

 the Treasury Department, established a series of reports in which 

 I think you will all be interested. The Secretary of the Treasury 

 has consented to require of the owner and master of each vessel 

 engaged in the fisheries of the United States, regardless of the 

 locality, a detailed statement regarding the size, the value and 

 the rig of the vessel ; the number of men employed ; the kind of 

 apparatus used ; the locality where fishing ; the quantities and 

 values of the fish caught, and other questions of importance af- 



