24 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AHD FISHERIES. 



Answer. My proposition to the legislature was, to allow only a certain 

 number of nets from Point Judith to Saughkouet liiver, so as to allow 

 the fish to come in. 



Question. Suppose the pounds were down from the 1st of June through 

 the summer, and only then, what would be the elfect ? 



Answer. I should say they should not be set before the 15th of June. 

 From the 15th of May up to the middle of Jnne I have caught tautog 

 and scitp that were full of spawm, and were ready to shoot spawn at 

 the toncli, and when they were taken into the boat they would throw 

 their spawn; you could almost see the fish in the egg. The fish are 

 later in a cold, backw^ard season. 



Question. What would be the effect of this plan : To reqnire the fish- 

 ermen to take up the pounds two days in seven, say from V2 o'clock 

 Saturday till Monday, and have a proper penalty for violation of the 

 law? 



Answer. It would have the effect of making a great catch Tuesday ^ 

 morning. As a general thing, they would get almost all the fish. 1 nsed 

 to do the same thing. The fish w^ould lie back of the leader, not having 

 a free passage. 



Question. Suppose you pull up the leader ? 



Answer. Then the course would be clear. 



Question. Suppose you were to require that the nets be so arranged 

 that there could be no impediment for two or three days, would not 

 enough fish get by the nets so as to secure an abundant stock of the 

 fish, year by year ? 



Answer. That would help ; of course it would. Why do the fish come 

 in to the shores ? So'that every man can get them. How was it with 

 our fathers? I remember wdien my father used to saj- he w^as going off 

 to the beaches for scup. Every family in the spring of the year used to 

 go and pick up scup enough for their use. They smoked them. Do 

 you see them now ! Why not? Because our stock-fish are taken away 

 at the season of the year before they have spawned. And now the 

 human child has got to suffer for it. Traps are down here all summer, 

 and they catch eels, flounders, and Spanish mackerel, and everything 

 that swims, more or less. 



Question. Squeteague ? 



Answer. We have always caught squeteague here with the hook. 

 They are not a new fish to me. I have always known them from child- 

 hood. I know you cannot go off' Point Judith and catch a scup to-day. 

 I will give a dollar a pound for every scup. Ten years ago you could 

 catch any quantity, and there was fifteen miles of coast you might fish 

 on. The scup used to come from Point Judith to Brenton's Reef in 

 about two tides. I used to have my boat ready to run back and forward, 

 and in about two tides or twenty-four hours after catching them at Point 

 Judith I got them at the Reef. It is about twelve miles. If the wind 

 was northeast, they would come slower. They come in on the tide and 

 go ba(5k on the ebb, and sway with the tide, going a little farther forward 

 every time. When they first come in, they are kind of numb ; some call 

 them blind. I think there is a kind of slime on the eye in winter, and 

 they want a sandy bottom to get off' the slime. From Point Judith to 

 Saughkonet is about four tides — two days. 



(j^uestion. Did they come much earlier than usual at Point Judith 

 this year? 



Answer. About the same. They expected them in February, and 

 got the seines ready. They had them in the water in INIarch. 1 always 

 Judge by the dandelions; when 1 see the first dandelion, scup come in; 



