6 INLAND FISHERIES COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 



robbing the State. It robs the shore-men of thousands of dollars 

 every year. The oil manufacturers claim that they give employment 

 to hundreds of men, but at the same time they are robbing thousands. 

 One of the most profitable sources of income to the bay fishermen 

 exists in catering to the anglers who come to the shore every year. 

 They are growing fewer every season, because the fishing is being 

 destroyed. These thousands of men spend money freely among the 

 fishermen, farmers and boarding house keepers. It is safe to say that 

 for every dollar spent in the State by menhaden fishermen, the anglers 

 spend hundreds. Nor is this all ; the wholesale destruction of food 

 fishes, as the blue fish, weak fish, and mackerel, is a wicked waste of 

 what Providence provides for the poor and hungry, and to continue to 

 permit the piratical invasion of the menhaden boats along the coast, in 

 the face of a common protest, is a great wrong to the whole people. 

 It was announced at the close of the season that the menhaden fishing 

 had been unprofitable and that the business would probably be relin- 

 quished by many of the companies. This looks like an effort to fore- 

 stall legislation by quietiug the opposition. 



" It is to be hoped that it will not succeed in producing any indiffer- 

 ence to the great evil which now exists and which will certainly 

 continue until the last fish is caught or driven from the coast. The 

 enormity of the business may be understood when it is known that 

 over two hundred steamers, each with a capacity of catching from 

 forty to fifty thousand fish per day, are constantly patrolling the 

 coast." ♦ 



The same applies to our waters, and some action should be had 

 which shall prevent this wholesale destruction of our shore and bay 

 fisheries. So important has this subject become that Congress has 

 been appealed to for special legislation in this matter. 



Annexed hereto is our financial report. 



JOHlSr H. BARD EN, ) Commissioners of 



HENRY T. ROOT, \ Inland Fisheries for the 

 WM. P. MORTON, ) State of Rhode Island. 



