154 Tliirhi-si'vriith AiiiukiI Mn'tiinj 



thousands of dollars for fish culture, it persistently refuses to 

 make any appropriation or to give the State Warden Department 

 any material assistance in the enforcement of such laws as we 

 now have, and whih' the state navy is eharoed l)y law to enforce 

 the laws for fish protection, the character of their Ijoats prevents 

 them from going into shallow waters to do any work, even if it 

 oculd take the time to divert the Ijoats from oyster in-otection to 

 do this. 



What 1 have said above is l)ut the foundation for specific 

 reasons which I shall give for failure of protective legislation, 

 and in my opinion can be reduced to the following, to-wit : 



First — Up to this time, it is absolutely impossible to get the 

 tidewater fishermen to agree on any bills ; in my judgment, even 

 if proper laws were enacted under the system in our state, they 

 would absolutely fail of enforcement. 



Second — -I declare next to the above reason that the greatest 

 reason for non-passage of fish protective l)ills, is the action and 

 influence of the duck gamners of Maryland. This class of sports- 

 men either by purchase or lease, secure absolute control of water 

 fronts in the tidewater counties for their ducking clubs and 

 shooting grounds. These gentlemen, among the foremost citi- 

 zens of our state, are largely residents of the city, and are jealous 

 of the rights that they claim they have paid for, and in order 

 that they may preserve them, are in constant conflict with the 

 resident fishermen who ply their industry in the waters fronting 

 on, or adjacent to, their shores. Bteing, as a rule, men of wealth 

 and influence, there is small opportunity to prevail against that 

 influence with the legislators, when there is a conflict l)etween 

 the rights of the duckers and the fishermen. 



There are a number of other reasons which, in my ()])inion. 

 prevent the passage of proper fish protecti\e laws, l)ut these are 

 sufficient for any purpose. 



Now as to the remedy. I shall offer hut one, l)ut T think this 

 will be sufficiently radical to bring down on my head all tlie 

 knocks that I can stand up under. 



You will remember that I made this suggestion at the last 

 annual meeting of this society: "Admitting the necessity of 

 protection of young fish after being placed in the waters by the 

 states and the United States, the question that confronts us is, 



