89 
haddock on George’s Bank was only an incident of the 
fishery. I was there and can speak by the card. The 
market fishery for haddock on George’s Bank began 
about 18 years ago, and a friend of mine inaugurated 
the! fishery. He made the first haddock trip» to 
Georges, At that time, ay fare: of thirty or, forty 
thousand pounds of fish was considered a good catch, 
and fifty thousand pounds was something extraordinary. 
The fish taken were mostly haddock, though large 
quantities of cod were caught. Last Marcha consider- 
able number of the market schooners which sell their 
catch at Boston, brought in fares averaging upward of 
100,000 pounds of fish each. And in one instance the 
schooner /uzdzana landed a fare— the result of three 
days fishing— of 132,200 pounds. Think of it! Sixty- 
five tons of fish taken in three days fishing in the 
month of March ! 
Now, these are facts. I have no desire to give any- 
thing else to this Society, or to anyone else, especially 
the honorable gentlemen who are connected with the 
Pennsylvania Fish Protective Association. But I have 
felt impelled to cite these instances, in view of what Mr. 
Chamberlayne has said 
Now, sir, I do not know how other gentlemen may 
view this matter, but I contend the fishermen have a 
right to organize for the collection and dissemination of 
knowledge concerning the industry in which they are 
engaged, If they do that work faithfully, as I believe 
they will, they will add not only to the knowledge we 
now have, and help to produce the most accurate 
fisheries statistics, but they should be able to add vastly 
to the sum of our scientific knowledge. And why not? 
Where does the United States Fish Commission get 
its statistics, and its information concerning fisheries ? 
From ; the’ fishermen, ‘Where can the | state; fish 
commissions secure statistics, if they gather them, 
except from the fishermen ? 
