4 INLAND FISHERIES COMMISSIONERS REPORT. 



It will be seen that this amendment of Chapter 751, extends the 

 close-time law to all the waters of the State, while before said law ap- 

 plied only to the waters of Narragansett Bay, north of a line drawn from 

 the south end of Sakonnet point to Narragansett Lower Pier. The in- 

 crease of territory to protect and the added nnmber of heart nets made 

 a larger number of assistants necessary to properly enforce the law, 

 the Commissioners, therefore, engaged the services of Captain Samuel 

 Place of Warren, (whom we have formerly employed). Captain Whea- 

 ton Cole of Warren, Captain Brown of Warren, Captain Gardiner of 

 Wickford, E. F. Lewis of Westerly, and P. T. B. Smith of Newport. 

 These assistants were given their grounds to cover as near their respec- 

 tive residences as possible to save expenses, and all performed their 

 duties faithfully and satisfactorily; at least no comj^laint of any dere- 

 liction of duty has been reported to your Commissioners. At Sakon- 

 net Point there were five (5) traps; at the south end of the island of 

 Ehode Island, nine (9), and in the vicinity of Watch Hill, east and 

 west, six (6); making twenty (20) all told. There was no disposition 

 on the part of the fishermen to evade the law; every trai)-owner or 

 Captain of a gang was served with a printed notice giving the law as 

 amended, and informing them of the determination of the Commis- 

 sioners to enforcu the same; and if all classes of the community were 

 as law-abiding as the fishermen have proved themselves to be the past 

 year, it would be a blessing. 



The catch of scup was small all along the coast, but prices were fair 

 and in some cases high, and the men got an average fair return for 

 their labor. Taken year by year, what with comparative scarcity of 

 some seasons, abundance another but with very low prices, and the 

 damage to the traps by heavy weather, it would seem as if the trap- 

 per's business was not very remunerative, and that they may be said 

 to fairly earn their money. 



In the bay, scup of fair size have been very abundant the past sum- 

 mer, more so, it is asserted, than for the past fifteen years, and the 

 advocates of the close- time law have again, as they had last year, rea- 

 son for congratulation, and good arguments in its favor for the future. 

 The Commisssioners of Inland Fisheries do not consider it their duty 



