352 H1S1OEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



period of time that must have elapsed since the mammoth lived iu the arctic circle must be very 

 loug. We know we can talk with perfect safety of ten thousand years. The geological estimate 

 of it is anywhere from fifty to a hundred thousand years; we cannot tell. There is no unit of 

 measure; we know it must have been some hundreds of thousands, and probably it would have 

 remained iu the same condition as much longer. 



" Q. Now, to come to a practical question, is this a mere matter of theory or of possible use? 

 For instance, could this method be adapted to the preservation of bait for three or four months if 

 necessary ? A. The only question of course is as to the extent. There is no question at all that bait 

 of any kind can be kept indefinitely by that process, 1 do not think there would be the slightest 

 difficulty in building a refrigerator on any ordinary fishing vessel, cod or halibut or other fishing 

 vessel, that should keep with perfect ease all the bait necessary for a long voyage. I have made 

 some inquiries as to the amount of ice, and I am informed by Mr. Blackford, of New York, who is 

 one of the largest operators of this mode, that to keep a room ten feet each way, or a thousand 

 cubic feet, at a temperature of 20 above zero would require about 2,000 pounds of ice and two 

 bushels of salt per week. With that he thinks it could be done without any difficulty. Well, an 

 ordinary vessel would require about seventy-five barrels of bait an ordinary trawling vessel. That 

 would occupy a bulk something less than 600 feet, so that probably four and a half tons of ice a 

 month would keep that fish. And it must be remembered that his estimate was for keeping fish 

 in midsummer in New York. The fishing vessels would requiie a smaller expenditure of ice, as 

 these vessels would be surrounded by a colder temperature. A stock of ten to twenty tons would, 

 in all probability, be amply sufficient both to replace the waste by melting and to preserve the bait."' 



CONFLICTS BETWEEN BAIT-FISHERMEN AND OTHERS. 



EARLY FEUDS. Some jealousy has naturally arisen at times between the bait-fishermen and 

 the manufacturers, as is shown by the following extract from Professor Johnston's "History of the 

 Towns of Bristol and Bremen, in the State of Maine :" 



"A special branch of the fishing business has of late been undertaken quite largely here (in 

 Bristol), as at other places on the New England coast, called the 'porgey fishery.' The fish are 

 taken in seines, usually several miles from the coast, and are used for the oil they produce and for 

 manure. 



"These fish, the common menhaden of the coast, have been caught for use as bait in the cod 

 fishery from the earliest times; and at first the new branch of industry, in which such immense 

 quantities are consumed, was viewed by the old fishermen with no little suspicion, as likely to inter- 

 fere with the important and older branch of the fishing business by depriving them of bait. Some 

 riots were at least threatened, and one oil factory was actually destroyed, as was believed, by the 

 old fishermen or at their instigation; but the opposition has ceased, and the general opinion seems 

 to be that it is best to foster such an extensive branch of business, giving profitable employment 

 for a part of the season, as this does, to so many men, even though it may be attended by some 

 disadvantages, which in the end may prove more imaginary than real." 



THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE CONFLICT. In 1877 and 1878 a determined effort was made 

 by the Maine line-fishermen to secure the passage of a legislative act forbidding the use of seines 

 near the shores. Their claim was that the present methods employed in the fishery interfered with 

 their legitimate privilege of catching menhaden for bait, and that their tendency was to drive away 

 all other fishes as well and to destroy the fisheries. 



To this movement the manufacturers made strenuous opposition, claiming that the menhaden 



* Proceedings Halifax Commission, Appendix L, p. 457. 



