PEESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 31 



Mr. Be cord : 



Mr. Swan's father told me that at the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury scup were a new fish. 



Extract from correspondence ivitli parties near Newport. 



"Newport, E. I., August 4, 1871. 

 " About the 10th of October, in the year 1869, Captain Joseph Sher- 

 man and William B. Gough in three hours' fishing caught 250 pounds of 

 tautog and 10 pounds of cod and sea-bass. Another boat occupied 

 the same ground the same day, and caught 250 pounds tautog — two 

 men fishing. 



"WI. B. GOUGH." 



"Newport, August, 1871. 



" Dear Sir : Thinking you might wish to verify, or inquire more into 

 the matter while here, I send you the statement of Captain Garritt, of 

 Westerly, Ehode Island. He has known bass caught in June that 

 weighed from half to one pound, that were first put into a pond, and, when 

 tajken out in October following, weighed six pounds. A boy living with 

 him caught, at the mouth of a small brook, two miles above the fishing- 

 ground on Pawcatuck Biver, a female tautog weighing about 5 pounds. 

 It was very full of far-developed spawn. He thinks the spawn would 

 weigh a pound. The water where taken was not over one foot deep. 

 He also states that the light-house keeper, (not the present,) Mr. Pendle- 

 ton, lost a bob fishing for bass at Watch Hill, that was taken next day 

 with the fish in Long Island Sound. It was identified and returned to 

 him. 



" Yours, with respect. 



"J. M. K. SOUTH WICK. 



" Professor Baird." 



" Tiverton, August 11, 1871. 



" Dear Sir : I have been informed that you are collecting information 

 about fish for the purpose of guiding Congress, if they see fit, to take up 

 the question. If so, I should like to submit some facts to you about 

 their increase, decrease, &c, that have come under my observation. 



" This question is important, for it affects a large number of people, 

 and there are large sums of money invested, and hasty legislation upon 

 one-sided facts might ruin men, and all trouble might be averted pro- 

 vided the proper facts were presented. 



" My opinion is that man is not an enemy of a salt-water fish. I mean 

 by that statement that all machinery yet devised by man for taking fish 

 does not perceptibly affect the supply, although there are many facts 

 about fish, looked at superficially, that would tend to lead a man to a 

 different conclusion. For instance, scup have* disappeared from Narra- 

 gansett Bay. Some say seines have been the cause, or traps. But 

 squeteague have taken their place, and where, ten years ago, there were 

 millions of scup, now there are almost none, but millions of squeteague. 

 How does that square ? If the traps destroy one, why not the other, for 

 they both come the same course and both are caught in traps. But the 

 most significant fact in relation to the squeteague question is, they don't 

 come few at a time and gradually increase from year to year, but sud- 

 denly appear. Hundreds of acres could be seen any clear day between 



