﻿FISH -SCRAP FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF ATLANTIC COAST. 41 



tain movements or habits of the schools, which in the past have 

 served to protect them from their predatory foes or have enabled 

 them to reproduce, are interfered with by the fishermen. If fishing 

 off the entrances to the various bays and sounds along the coast pre- 

 vents the menhaden from entering these waters, this fact may assist 

 in their destruction by keeping them on the high seas, where, pre- 

 sumably, they are more open to attack than when feeding in the more 

 sheltered bays and river mouths. 



So long as the fish are not interfered with at the time of their 

 spawning season, however, there is little danger of their number 

 being impaired seriously by man, since their rate of reproduction is 

 so enormous. It is maintained that but few spawning fish ever are 

 caught by the fishermen, and that the spawning season begins at 

 about the time the fishing season ends. This is not quite true of the 

 season in North Carolina, where the fishing season and spawning sea- 

 son overlap, and is open to doubt at other places. While many fish 

 are caught containing roe, so few are taken from which the spawn is 

 running that it is probably true that the spawning of the menhaden 

 is not seriously interfered with. 



Doubtless fishing methods will continue to be improved so that 

 more effective fishing will be possible. The development of the 

 fishing end of the industry will have to take place in that direction 

 rather than in an increase in the number of steamers fishing; for the 

 larger the number of the latter, the more will they interfere with 

 each other by frightening and scattering the schools, and to a cor- 

 responding degree will they impair each other's efficiency. Since the 

 operation of the steamers is the most important part of the industry, 

 a fair catch is imperative if the industry is to pay. 



It frequently has been suggested that the number of menhaden 

 could be increased by decreasing the number of their foes. This is 

 doubtless true ; but if the number of the menhaden is not appreciably 

 decreased from year to year by the most vigorous fishing, it would ap- 

 pear equally impossible to decrease their foes by applying the same 

 method. Something, possibly, could be accomplished by attacking 

 the predaceous fish at their spawning beds. Since the most important 

 of the predaceous fish, excepting the dogfish, are among those highly 

 valued for food, it would scarcely be feasible to destroy these food 

 fish to preserve the others commonly not so regarded. 



The number of menhaden now available doubtless represents a 

 state of equilibrium between their natural tendency to multiply by 

 procreation and their destruction by the hordes of other fish whose 

 main food they constitute. This equilibrium doubtless has existed 

 for ages. It is improbable therefore that it will now be upset by any 

 natural cause. 



