VI -REPORT OF CONFERENCE OF UNITED STATES 

 COMMISSIONER WITH COMMISSIONERS OF RHODE 

 ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS. 



EEPOET OF CONFERENCE HELD AT BOSTON, OCTOBER 5, 

 1871, WITH FISHERY COMMISSIONERS OF MASSACHUSETTS 

 AND RHODE ISLAND. 



There were present at the conference : Mr. Reed, of Providence, com- 

 missioner of Rhode Island; Mr. Lyman, of Boston, commissioner of 

 Massachusetts; Mr. Powel, of Newport, a member of the Rhode Island 

 legislature, and Mr. Baird, United States commissioner. Such portions 

 of the discussion as have no special bearing on the subject in question 

 have been omitted. 



Mr. Samuel Powel. I think the trappers of Rhode Island would 

 agree to the close time ; and Governor Stevens, I think, would consent 

 to it. 



Professor Baird. I think the traps have a positive influence ; but I 

 still think that the blue-fish are a great cause of the trouble. A decrease 

 of the blue-fish would give the other fish an opportunity to increase ; 

 but the young blue-fish are as much more plenty than usual this year 

 as the young soup ; so that I think it is expedient to try the experiment 

 of a close time. If the blue-fish were to run out again, T think it would 

 not be so imperative to adopt any restrictive measures. We cannot 

 regulate the blue-fish, but we can control the traps. 



Mr. Reed. I think scup feed more or less on the small crustaceas, 

 perhaps slags, and a species of leech. I think they would feed on the 

 small muscle. I have seen little scup, when the water was clear, bump- 

 ing their noses against the rocks, as though they were picking something 

 off. Some say that the salmon do not feed while not in the salt water, 

 but I think they do. I have seen them strike the dragon-fly with their 

 tails when it was skimming over the water. 



The blue-fish wfll attack almost anything as long as he can eat, even 

 a piece of rag he will bite. I think the "slick" on the water so often 

 seen is, in many cases, produced by the oily matter proceeding from fish 

 that have been attacked by the blue-fish, they first swallowing as much 

 as they can, and then vomiting it up, so as to eat again. 



As to the scup, I think the bine-fish attack them throughout the sea- 

 son, especially the small scup. I think the bine-fish feed near the sur- 

 face. 



Professor Baird. I think, as a general rule, that the blue-fish swims 

 at the surface in the day-time and at the bottom at night. We find 

 rock-crabs, eels, and sand-launces in their stomachs. We have found 

 scup in the stomachs of the blue-fish from the 15th of June to the 1st of 

 October. 



Mr. Reed. Two years ago we had an unusual run of blue-fish late in 

 the fall. In half an hour I caught thirty-five, averaging about a pound 

 each. We used a hook smaller than usual for blue-fish. We have 

 plenty of food for scup in our bay. 



