XXVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The propriety of authorizing the erection of weirs and. pounds occu- 

 pied the attention of the Canadian authorities a number of years ago, 

 and, in consequence of the results of special inquiries, and the general 

 impression on the part of the fishermen and others interested, the use 

 of weirs and traps was forbidden in certain portions of the Dominion, as 

 in the vicinity of Miramichi, and they were placed under close restric- 

 tion in other localities. The amount of offal usually thrown into the 

 water in the vicinity of the herring- weirs was supposed to have an inju- 

 rious effect in driving away schools of herring; and a marked decrease 

 in the shad-fishery of the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 

 was ascribed to the action of the weirs in entrapping the young fish and 

 causing them to perish in immense numbers. In the appendix to the 

 present report I give the testimony of various English writers in regard 

 to the necessity of protecting the fisheries by restricting the time of 

 capture and the nature of the apparatus. Among these Bertram is 

 very outspoken in his views, taking direct grounds against the report 

 of the British commission, consisting of Professor Huxley and his asso- 

 ciates. 



As I have already remarked, the ordinary brush-weir arrangements, 

 as used on the coast of Great Britain, are not calculated to produce 

 very serious effects, owing to the fact that it is only species coming into 

 comparatively shallow water that are captured in them ; and there is 

 abundant opportunity for the fish to escape from their toils, unless 

 attended to immediately. I am, however, inclined to think that with 

 the introduction of the improved American methods of traps and pounds 



Clark's Cove ; three on Scouticut Neck; one at West Island, near New Bedford ; one at 

 Mattapoisett ; one at West Falmouth ; two at Quissett Harbor ; two on Long Neck, near 

 the guano- works of Wood's Hole ; one at Hadley Harbor, two at Ram's Head, one at 

 Robinson Hole, Naushon; five in Menemsha Bight; two at Tisbury, five at Lombard's 

 Cove, two in Holmes's Hole, one west of West Chop, Martha's Vineyard ; one at Fal- 

 mouth ; one at Waquoit, and one at Coltuit, on Viaeyard Sound; or a total of thirty- 

 five recorded, besides others probably omitted. Of these the greater number were 

 kept down only to about the middle of June. Among those known to have been 

 worked till late in the season were at least two near New Bedford; two at Quissett; 

 one at Wood's Hole; two on Naushon; four on Martha's Vineyard, and one at West 

 Falmouth ; twelve or more. 



I am informed that the number of pounds and traps in Narragansett Bay, in opera- 

 tion in 1872, was about the same as in 1871, but that there, was a considerable increase 

 to the eastward. Then there were four more at Menemsha Bight; one at Lombard's 

 Cove ; one at Paintville, Martha's Vineyard ; two or more at Kettle Cove, Naushon, 

 and one on the north side of Narhawena, an addition of at least nine to the thirty-five 

 previously enumerated. More would doubtless have been erected if suitable locations 

 could have been found. 



According to the chart furnished by Captain Crowell there were fifteen weirs in 

 Cape Cod Bay in 1871, extending from Barnstable to Wellfleet. 



It is very'probable that I have not learned the situation of all the traps and pounds 

 in JMassachusetts waters, as Mr. Bassett, of New Bedford, in his testimony in 1872, 

 stated that there were seven between New Bedford and Mishaum Point, of which I 

 have only enumerated four. 



