X XXYi EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



however, the States will pass the regulation requiring a close time of 

 two days and three nights, and for six weeks only, from the 20th of April 

 to the 15th of June, as proposed in the bill, severer measures will, I 

 trust, be unnecessary, and we shall probably find a gradually increas- 

 ing supply of valuable food. 



EESULT OF INQUIBIES IN 1872. 



In consequence of an unavoidable delay in the publication of the 

 present report, I have been enabled to include in it the results of inquiries 

 respecting the fisheries on the south coast of New England during the 

 season of 1872, having revisited many of the localities of the investiga- 

 tions of 1871, and sending an assistant to others. 



I found what I had expected, that with the exception of the scup, 

 fishes of all hinds in Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay were as much 

 scarcer in 1872, compared with 1871, as they had been in that year com- 

 pared with the preceding one. (See pages 1S3-194 et seq.) The testi- 

 mony everywhere, with scarcely an exception, both from line-men and 

 trappers, was that the whole business of fishing was pretty nearly at an 

 end, and that it would scarcely pay parties to attempt to continue 

 the work on a large scale in 1873. 



The pounds of Messrs. Jason Luce & Co., at Menemsha, took a larger 

 number of fish, as shown by their statement of catch kindly furnished to 

 me, (p. 173,) but only by increased exertion, and this during a very 

 short period. The other pounds, according to testimony taken by Mr- 

 Edwards, scarcely met their expenses in any single case. 



At Nantucket most of the fishermen estimated the decrease at from 

 one-half to three fourths, compared with last year. 



Very few blue-fish were taken on the north side of the island with the 

 line, the supply being furnished by means of gill-nets alone. According 

 to some the supply was rather greater on the south side ; but the differ- 

 ence between the two seasons was the greater, as the period for fishing- 

 was longer this year than the last, and was less obstructed by stormy 

 weather. 



Several of the fishermen at Nantucket (all, however, personally inter- 

 ested in gill-nets) contested the statements of others as to the decrease 

 of fish, while many, both pound and line fishermen, stoutly maintained 

 the fact. 



At Edgartown and Hyaunis the testimony was absolutely unanimous 

 as to the fact of a woful diminution and the doubtful future of the 

 entire fishery interest. At various places on Martha's Vineyard, as 

 already remarked, the evidence was in the same direction from both net 

 and line men. 



Captain Hinckley, of Wood's Hole, testified that fish were never so 

 scarce at his pound as this season, with the exception of menhaden, ale- 

 wives, and dog-fish. These he found it difficult to dispose of on account 

 of their numbers, and was obliged to turn many out of his nets unsold. 



