No. 4.] THE HARVEST OF THE SEA. 151 



Mr. Russell. Massachusetts has never allowed that 

 Buzzard's Bay was part of the open sea. 



Mr. BowKER. I lielieve it was considered a part of the 

 open sea in the early history of Massachusetts ; later the 

 State began to pass restrictive legislation. 



Mr. Russell. Do I understand the lecturer as proposing 

 that the government of the United States should take charge 

 of the inland waters of Massachusetts, or any of the other 

 States ? 



Mr. BowKER. There are two phases of that question. 

 One is police regulation. The State, no doubt, should have 

 that under its charge ; but fishing on the part of foreigners 

 on the coast, who are themselves outside of ordinary police 

 regulation, should come, as I look at it, within the regula- 

 tions of the general government, because food fish and fer- 

 tilizer fish may appear one week in Casco, Bay, then in 

 Massachusetts Bay, — they have appeared right here where 

 brother Ware lives, although he does not recall it ; they 

 may appear in Buzzard's Bay, again in Long Island Sound, 

 or anywhere along the coast, and, not knowing when and 

 where they are coming, there should be certain regulations 

 which will allow these fertilizer fish to l)e taken whenever 

 and wherever they appear ; but any fisherman taking food 

 fish along with them and destroying them should be pros- 

 ecuted, for the food-fish industry should be protected first. 



Mr. Russell. Then you would hold, with Mr. Choate, 

 who is merely a retained advocate on one side, not a public 

 man speaking on this question, — you would hold with him 

 that the States should give up their control of the bays, 

 estuaries and shores to the general government ? 



Mr. BowKER. That does not follow, provided the States 

 will pass regulations that will admit of the taking of these 

 fish by the newer methods. It is immaterial to me whether 

 the United States government regulates this matter, or the 

 States, provided they are harvested like a crop of grain, and 

 not allowed to go to waste. But different States have looked 

 at it in different ways, and passed different regulations; and 

 a fisherman with the improved methods never knows where 

 the boundary lines begin, and whether he is obeying the law 

 of one State or another State. He is all at sea, as it were. 



