KEPORT OF COMMISSIONERS 



to the law abiding trapper two days to rest from his labors including 

 the Sabbath, during which time he may attend to his family duties, i^J 

 he has any, and at least ponder on the advantages of a strict obser- 

 vance of the fourth commandment. 



The grave question, does the spring trapping interfere with the sum- 

 mer fisliing with hook and line in the Narragansett Bay we do not 

 propose to argue. Enough, and more than enough has been printed 

 on this subject and we are no nearer to a solution of the question than 

 we were twenty years ago. 



The argument has been a bitter one, and neither side liavo been at 

 all disposed to listen to reason. Tlie trappers have fonght a hard fi<.l,t 

 w,th a hold front and have never failed to appear when called upon°to 

 assert their position, backing it np year after year with the same argn- 

 nients by the same parties. One wiseacre asserts that the pollntion 

 of the water from sewerage of the City of Providence has ruined the 

 bay fisheries, an opponent takes the floor and proves exactly the con 

 trary, and so statements are followed by denials as fast as made and 

 nothing is proven. Some things can be shown, however, not to be 

 disputed Do the traps at Seaconnet interfere with the fish entering 

 the %. let „s examine the locality and see. Tiie distance from Sea- 

 connet Point to Saelinest Neck is about two and a half miles the 

 average length of the leaders of the traps is about six hundred feet or 

 about one twenty-second part of this distance, a glance at the map 

 sh ws at the traps are so set as to take the fish as they go out and 

 not as hey come in. and this year the most southern and eastward one 

 at West Island took more than any other, showing that the fish s 

 en were bouiu, still farther east. In proof of this, it is a fact th 

 he tiappers at Buzzard's Bay have found that their business has come 

 an end since trap fishing has become systematized and earnV U, 

 so large a scale at Seaconnet. It would seem as far as our prese 

 knowledge permits „s to judge, that the great shoals of scup ,0!, 



---o„owtherdr::::::::!:r^^^^ 



the ivestward of Point Tndifh k^^^ ^ 



^ Judith before any are observed at the south end 



