American Fisheries Society. 99 



THE CLOSE SEASON FOR FISH. 



BY DR. ]!. W. JAM1':S, I'll ILAnia.rillA, PA. 



(Speaking;): Mr. President and (ientlemen — I sinii)ly aim 

 to call attention to a subject which I think we have not discussed 

 in this society, and that is, "The open and closed season for trout 

 and the better class of food fish." It is a subject which should 

 create some little debate, and T thought we might exchange views, 

 so I wrote this brief paper. "The Open and Closed Season for 

 Fish, Birds and Mammals, More Particularly Fish." 



(Reading") : Next to the suljject of the size ot the various 

 fish to be caught comes that of the open season for their catching, 

 and the close-season for their spawning, and we can easily see 

 that this will vary in different States and streams of this continent 

 on account of the variation of the temperature between the Can- 

 adian streams and the warm shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and the 

 State laws will vary a little. While there is some variation due 

 in this way, there is still a period within possibly two or three 

 weeks at the very farthest of variation only to be allowed for those 

 fish which populate ditferent streams, such as shad, salmon, her- 

 ring, etc., while the brook trout, which usually inhabit cold locali- 

 ties, and of course do not exist in streams of the lower portion of 

 the country, might be said to require almost a uniform period for 

 the close-season. The period in three or four of the States into 

 whose interior the larger streams extend, such as the Hudson in 

 New York, Delaware and Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, and 

 others in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and other States 

 only will l)e referred to. In the State of Pennsylvania we find 

 the following law in force : 



