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sion, Says: ‘‘I have always felt that the maintenance of the lobster fishery 
rested more essentially upon proper regulation of the matter by the States than 
upon any efforts in the way of artificial propagation. The most usual regula- 
tion is that prohibiting the sale of lobsters below certain dimensions ; the min- 
inum limit, though varying with the different States, being smallest in 
Massachusetts. In Maine, where the law is enforced and the minimum fixed, 
I believe, at ten inches, the result has been a marked improvement in the 
lobster fisheries during recent years.” 
A law was enacted by the New York Legislature in 1880, prohibiting the 
taking of lobsters smaller than ten and a half inches, but it was repealed, 
largely it is said, by reason of the efforts of a hotel keeper in New York city 
with political influence, who was determined to serve small lobsters on his 
table, regardless of the effect of rescinding the regulations. 
The difficulty of securing legislation on this subject of enforcing the laws 
when they are enacted, and preventing their repeal through the efforts of 
persons who have no regard whatever for the consequences of their acts, com- 
pels those who desire to see the supply of this wholesome food fish kept up, to 
look to artificial propagation as the most available method for securing the 
object desired. 
For three seasons lobsters have been hatched in small numbers at the station 
of the New York Commission, Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. The embryos are 
very delicate, and when lobsters are placed on ice, as many are which come to 
market, the embryo is generally ruined for hatching purposes. 
Fred Mather, Superintendent of the Cold Spring hatchery, and a man of 
wide experience in fish propagation, said recently that lobsters were not only 
decreasing in numbers, but also in size. A two-pound lobster was now con- 
sidered a fair average. 
New York is next to the largest receiving market for lobsters in the country, 
yet the lobster fisheries within the boundaries of the State are not now import- 
ant, and are confined to eastern Long Island. In former years lobsters were 
found in large numbers in New York Bay and at Hell Gate. The disappear- 
ance of this food fish is due mainly to over-fishing, but also to the establish- 
ment of manufactories, which have polluted the waters. Lobsters were taken 
at Robbin’s Reef, New York Bay, as late as 1879, but they were small and 
were not exposed for sale. 
Lobsters are sold in New York during the entire year, but the demand is 
five times greater during July, August and September than during any other 
three months of the year. The demand is the least during February and 
March. The consumption of lobsters at Coney Island in summer reaches 
3,500 pounds a day. 
The experience on the coast of Maine seems to be similar to that already 
stated. In 1890 twenty millions of lobsters were taken, which was a falling 
off of five millions or twenty per cent. from the catch of 1888 and ten per cent. 
from 1889. There has also been a steady decrease in the size of the fish sent 
to market. During 1889 and 1890 the average length of lobsters offered for 
