140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Hasty Legislation. 



It would seem that the fishermen themselves have not 

 known what they wanted ; for this matter of catchino; fish 

 in a Avholesale way has been several times liefore our ]\lassa- 

 chusetts Legislature. In 1870 a petition was presented, 

 stating that the practice of pound fishing and drag and 

 l)urse seining was seriously prejudicial to the production 

 of fish, and it was prayed that the Legislature would by 

 suitable enactments protect such fishermen and those of the 

 community interested in their continuance, and forbid ^^ these 

 novel and improper ynodes of fishing." 



But it was proved then, as it will be proved again, that 

 these "novel and improper" methods of fishing are not 

 novel, as we have seen, and are not exhausting the sup- 

 ply, but are in the interest of the. food supply for man and 

 for plants. 



As an ilhistration of our foolish and hasty legislation, 

 Congress passed in 1887 a law prohibiting the taking of 

 mackerel of a certain size for five years, with purse-seines 

 and nets. It was expected by the promoters of the law 

 that mackerel would soon swarm in all our waters from Cape 

 Cod to Eastport. The figures of the Fish Commissioner tell 

 their own story. They show that the smallest catch in the 

 history of the business was during the years 1890 and 1891, 

 three and four years after the passage of the law. As some 

 one has said, "We may pass as many laws as we choose, 

 but we cannot make fish bite or a horse drink by legislation." 



They come here, as we have seen, to feed upon the crops 

 of seaweed and infusorial matter upon our coasts ; and if the 

 supply at the mouths of our rivers and in our large bays, 

 like Buzzard's Bay, is adequate, and the weather is favorable, 

 they will come, stay until they get fat, and then go back to 

 their old hatching-grounds, to come again the foHowing 

 season if weather conditions are again favorable ; and this 

 is no doubt true of many of the food fish, such as herring, 

 shad, mackerel, etc. " 



State Rights and the Fisheries. 

 But there is another phase of this question which I wish 

 briefly to consider. It was said that the Lapham Bill was 



