80 riSHES or THE EAST ATLAXTIC COAST. 



€ssly slanglitered to serve the ])leas\ii'o and avarice of greedj- capi- 

 talists among whom it ■\vouhl he safe to het there is not one angler. 



As a result of this system of wholesale depletion the mossbanker 

 IS steadily decreasing and threatens to become scarce and finally to 

 become extinct. If this should ever happen Ihei-e would be an im- 

 mediate falling ofE in our fish suiijily, and, unless the hand of 

 Providence interposed, a total failure of it. But there is no reason 

 why the capture of menhaden should l/C stoj^jjed altogether, but 

 tliere is every reason whv the menhaden fishermen should limit their 

 destructive trade to certain periods. To secure this it behooves the 

 Assemblies of the States bordering the Atlantic lo jiass an act lim- 

 iting the catching of menhaden with seine nets to an open season 

 and have the rest of the year closi'. Tliis would allow the menha- 

 den time to multiph' and would secure the future of the fish markets. 



In form the menhaden resembles the shad. It has the same sha])e 

 and contour of body. It is a bright silvery fish, and so far as I 

 know, has never been taken with a hook. One of the most useful 

 purposes the menhaden serve is in the lobster fisheries; the fish are 

 salted before being used for bait. The menhadi.'ii are almost all of 

 one size — about twelve inches long. The farmers of Long Island 

 sometimes eat the mossbunker. It has an oily, rather rancid and 

 " fishy" taste. 



It is necessary that every angler should use his best influence to 

 secure some protection for the menhaden, else they will become ex 

 tinct and with them a threat branch of salt water fishinc. 



