20 FISH-CULTURAL ASSOCIATION, 
separate and distinct—may, and do, occur at all seasons. $0; 16 
a close time be advocated, it would be extremely difficult. to 
choose such atime, as it is impossible to show that any better 
results would be obtained at one time than at another. 
I leave this part of the subject without further discussion, 
except to say that I am open to conviction. 
The difficulty in the way of procuring reliable statistics in 
regard to the benefit derived from the laws we now have, arises 
from the fact that even were these laws strictly enforced, the 
catch is so much influenced by the weather and the number of 
men engaged in fishing at different seasons, that what comes to 
-the market gives no real information as to their relative scarcity 
from one year to another. It is not a matter of conjecture, but 
it is a settled fact that lobsters are becoming more and more 
scarce every year, and it is of the greatest importance that a new 
interest in the matter should be awakened, and that continued 
and increased efforts for their protection should be made. 
Mr. MATHER.—It seems to me that Mr. Johnson has solved the 
problem of lobster protection, and the only wonder is that no 
one has thought of making the lobster pots with apertures large 
enough to permit the small ones to pass out before this time. 
Perhaps some some of the men engaged in the fishery may have 
thought of this, but as they sell the small lobsters to the can- 
neries, it is their present interest to catch them. If the States 
will regulate the apertures in the lobster pots as they do the 
meshes in fish nets, then the small ones will have a chance to 
gTow.. 
, 
Mr. Pace.—Mr. Johnson’s long experience as one of the 
largest lobster dealers in the country certainly gives great weight 
to his propositions, which seem to me to be eminently practical. 
Probably if this Association brings this matter to the notice of 
the different Fish Commissioners, some such laws regulating 
the catching of lobsters may be enacted. 
Mr. BLACKFoRD moved that the election of officers be post- 
poned until the next day, on account of the small attendance, 
