CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 59 



lowering the death rate in the most critical period. Great care, 

 however, is needed at every stage of the process, and especially 

 at the last, since the young do not seek the bottom at a uniform 

 time. 



Had it been our attempt to destroy this animal, could we have 

 acted more effectively than by destroying its great egg-producing 

 class? When we attempt to rid this country of the English or 

 house sparrow, will it help greatly to break its eggs and destroy its 

 yoimg ones, though so relatively few and with a far higher life 

 rate than in the crustacean? Must we not eventually kill the 

 producers of the eggs, if we would be rid of the pest? This is 

 the nature of the treatment which the lobster has received. If 

 we would preserve this fishery, we must reverse our laws, as Dr. 

 Field ha& ably pointed out, and follow the principles and practice 

 of breeders of domestic animals everywhere: use the smaller and 

 better animals for food, and keep the older, and in this case by 

 far the most valuable, for propagation. 



To apply the principles already discussed, I would make the 

 following recommendations : — 



1. Adopt a double gauge or length limit, placing in a perpetual 

 close season or protected class all below and all above these limits. 

 Place the legal bar so as to embrace the average period of sexual 

 maturity, and thus to include what we have called the interme- 

 diate class of adolescents, or smaller adults. These limits should 

 be approximately 9 inches and 11 inches, inclusive, thus legalizing 

 the destruction of lobsters from 9 to 11 inches long only when 

 measured alive. In this way we protect the young as well as the 

 larger adults, upon which we depend for a continuous supply of 

 eggs. The precise terms of these limits are not so vital, pro- 

 vided we preserve the principle of protecting the larger adults. 



2. Protect the "berried" lobster on principle, and pay a 

 bounty for it, as is now done, whether the law is evaded or not, 

 and use its eggs for constructive work, or for experimental pur- 

 poses with such work in view. 



3. Abolish the present close season; let the fishing extend 

 throughout the year. 



4. Wherever possible, adopt the plan of rearing the young to the 

 bottom-seeking stage before liberation, or co-operate with the 

 United States Bureau of Fisheries or with sister States to this end. 



5. License every lobster fisherman,^ and adopt a standard trap 



> This recommendation has been re-oast and made more exphcit m regard to the adoption 

 of a standard trap with entrance rings of specified diameter m accordance with a suggestion 

 made by Governor Guild ; and the subject of hoensing the fishermen, which is herein in- 

 cluded, was suggested by a recommendation made at the conference by Mayor Hernck ol 

 Portsmouth, N. H. 



