INSHORE FISHERIES 229 



has been greatly reduced; that important fishing grounds 

 for game fish have been ruined ; that where food-fish are not 

 actually caught in the purse seines they are driven off; 

 that fish that frequent the bays and there undergo the 

 spawning process are prevented from reaching the desired 

 grounds by the presence of menhaden vessels at or near the 

 mouths of the bays. Of the foregoing objections to the 

 fishery, greater importance is laid on the first two points. ' ' * 

 Two vessels were used by the Fish Commission during 

 the summer of 1894 in making investigations in the 

 menhaden business. These two vessels made 1,078 seine 

 hauls and took a total of 28,060,565 fish of all kinds. Of 

 this total, there were 27,965,755 menhaden, and 94,810 other 

 fish. Alewives and shad made up 89,043 ; so that the actual 

 number of fish taken outside of the herring family was 

 only 5,767 fish, in a total of over 28,000,000 fish taken. 

 After sportsmen had determined that the amount of game 

 fish destroyed in taking 28,000,000 menhaden was only 

 about one-fiftieth of one per cent, they, and the public 

 with them, realized how weak their claims had been that 

 the catching of menhaden destroys many kinds of food- 

 fish. 



i Smith, Investigation of the Menhaden Fishery in 1894, p. 286. 



