50 TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



the ocean. The others on the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers 

 tributary thereto. 



The census of 1890 shows Maryland to rank first as to the 

 number of peoi)le employed in the fish industry, second as to 

 amount of capital invested and second as to the value of prod- 

 ucts. While the natural advantages which we possess over 

 some of our sister States are those for which Marylanders 

 should be thankful, we can also boast of being foremost in our 

 unsurpassed natural opportunities for im])roving and multiplj- 

 ing our fisheries. Maryland may well feel proud of the grand 

 fisheries which nature has lavished ui)on her with such a 

 bountiful hand, but ,she should not rest satisfied until she 

 greatly improves the vast opportunities she has by increasing 

 these great resources to their utmost capacity, which we be- 

 lieve will be done in the very near future by the thrift and in- 

 telligence of her people. 



Never befbre were our people so much interested in this im- 

 portant matter as now. Never before has the public press 

 given so much space to this great question as during the pres- 

 ent year, and wiien the people fully realize the vast oppor- 

 tunities which they possess to increase their wealth by fully 

 developing the fish industry, then it will not be long until our 

 State makes very rapid progress in this direction and the fish- 

 eries of Maryland will become the most important in the 

 country-. The amount of money appropriated by our State for 

 the artificial propagation of fish is not near so large as the 

 importance of the work demands, especially when we consider 

 the large returns made for the amount invested, but we are 

 expecting great advancement along this line in the very near 

 future. 



Prof. Baird, ex-United States Fish Commissioner, has made 

 the statement "than one acre of water properly cared for will 

 produce five times as much as an acre of land." If this is cor- 

 rect (and we have no reason to believe that he who was so well 

 versed in these matters made a mistake when he made the 

 above statement) then what great possibilities lie before the 

 people of Maryland for the increase of their wealthy, for the 

 employment of still larger numbers of her people and the 

 furnishing of great quantities of the best food fishes at moder- 

 ate prices. The thing that is needed to be done to bring this 

 about is to give the Fish Commission larger means to properly 

 develop the fisheries, to propagate the best kind of food and 

 game fishes in larger numbers and enforce proper laws for 

 the sufficient protection of the same. 



The rivers and inlets of Eastern and Southern Maryland 

 furnish a large supply of the very best food fishes, while in the 

 rivers and mountain streams of Western Maryland can be 



