Chapter XII.— THE PRESERVATION AND PROPAGATION OF THE LOBSTER. 



The lobster is easily the king of the crustacean class, and though neither "fish, flesh, 

 fowl, nor good red herring," he is excellent eating, and that his race may increase is a 

 wish generally felt and often expressed. Unfortunately, for many years past we have 

 watched this race decUne until some have even thought that commercial extinction, 

 and that not far remote, awaited the entire fishery. What is the matter with the 

 lobster? 



If this is primarily a scientific question, the zoological history of the animal should 

 give us the answer. The lobster has attracted many naturalists and other observers, 

 both in this country and in Europe, especially during the past 15 years, until it has 

 become the focus of a wide literature, as a glance at the bibliography at the close of this 

 work will show. Indeed, few marine animals are now so well known. The main biologi- 

 cal facts concerning this classical type are well in hand, and excuse can no longer be 

 offered on the ground of ignorance. 



If the question is only an illustration of "many men, many minds," we may as 

 well give it up and let the process of extermination take its usual course. However, 

 we consider that this problem is primarily a scientific and not a social one. When the 

 causes of the evil are definitely known, it becomes necessary to evoke the law. If 

 ideal legislation can not be secured, we must then strive for the best within reach. It 

 is obviously useless or even worse to enact laws which can not be enforced, and statutes 

 which are a dead letter and have no moral effect had better be exptmged. 



We have already given a brief history of this valuable fishery (p. 170), and shall 

 now consider in a little more detail the evidences of its decline and what we consider 

 the most effective remedies for its restoration. 



THE FACT AND CAUSE OF DECUNE. 



It is no exaggeration to say that in practically every known natural region of the 

 North Atlantic coast the lobster fishery is either depleted or in a state of decline. The 

 evidences of this condition are to be found in steadily increasing prices and in the sta- 

 tistics of the fisheries. 



The market price, or cost to the consumer, has steadily advanced in direct ratio 

 to the steady decrease in the market supply. Thus, in 1889 the annual catch of lobsters 

 in the United States was somewhat over 30,000,000 pounds, valued at over $800,000; 

 in the course of a decade, or in 1899, the annual crop was reduced by one-half, while 

 its value had more than doubled. Since 1899 the failing supply has not been sensibly 

 checked. Statistics of the fisheries of the two New England States — ^Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts — which are most interested in the lobster question, have the same story to 

 tell. In Maine, which in some years has produced two-thirds of the entire output of 



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