THE COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES 421 
& the capturing of the fish on or near their breeding ground before 
they have spawned; & urging vehemently the passage of laws for 
preventing or regulating the employment of nets or weirs. 
State action has been invoked at various times, for the purpose 
of securing a remedy for the evil in question; but owing to conflicting 
interests and the influence of powerful parties who are concerned in 
maintaining the present mode of fishing, little has been accomplished, 
especially in view of the impression that seems to prevail with many, 
that the subject, if requiring legislation at all, must be provided for, 
in part at least, by the General Government, which controls the 
waters in which the fish are captured. 
The official inquiries into this subject have hitherto been mainly 
prosecuted by Committees of State Legislatures, before which persons 
interested, either in maintaining the nets or in abolishing them, have 
alone been summoned to give testimony. As might be expected, in 
a matter which involved the occupation and support of the parties 
examined, the evidence was directly contradictory; and it is not to 
be wondered at if diametrically opposite conclusions were reached, 
as in the case of the Massachusetts Committee, which saw no reason 
to interfere with the nets, and that of the Committees of Rhode 
Island and Connecticut, which recommended their immediate and 
peremptory removal. I think, however, that the mean lies between 
the two extremes and that a proper investigation will show a time, 
when the use of the nets should be suspended, so as not to interfere 
with the breeding fish, while the capture of the full grown ones may 
be permitted at another period. Millions of dollars are invested in 
the fish pounds and nets, and in the manure and guano establish- 
ments, dependent upon them for materials; and so important an 
interest should not be struck down at a blow, if a satisfactory com- 
promise can be effected. 
Before intelligent legislation can be initiated, however, and meas- 
ures taken that will not unduly oppress or interfere with interests 
already established, it is necessary that a careful, scientific research 
be entered upon, for the purpose of determining what should really 
be done; since any action presupposes a knowledge of the history 
and habits of the fish of our coast, that, I am sorry to say, we do not 
at present possess. We must ascertain, among other facts, at what 
time the fish reach our coast, and during what period they remain; 
