IO 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



Pineries and Game. 



The Commissioners desire to call attention to the fact that under the old Game 

 Law, section 273, chapter 31, of the General Laws, 1892, power was conferred upon 

 boards of supervisors "to pass at their annual session such laws and ordinances as 

 shall afford additional protection to and further restrictions for the protection of birds, 

 fish, shellfish, and wild animals, except wild deer, and to prohibit the taking and kill- 

 ing of the same." This law was repealed by the game law now in force, Chapter 

 974, Laws of 1895, Section 302, except as to Suffolk county, and all protective laws 

 must come from the Legislature. The Commissioners have occasion, not infre- 

 quently, to stock new waters with plantings of trial fish, to restock old, worn-out 

 waters with the fish that once abounded therein, and to introduce new species into 

 the lakes, ponds, and streams of the State ; and to obtain the best results, the fish so 

 planted should remain unmolested until they establish or re-establish themselves. 

 Special laws to cover such cases seem only to make the general Game Law burden- 

 some and conflicting. 



Following the precedent established by sister States, we would recommend that 

 power be conferred upon the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commissioners to close 

 streams or other bodies of water in the State for a term of years, not to exceed five, 

 when, in their judgment, it is necessary to resort to such procedure to enable fish 

 planted by the Commission to obtain suitable size, before fishing of any kind is per- 

 mitted, the waters to be closed by a printed notice signed by the Commissioners 

 and erected on the banks of stream, pond, or lake, or by a similar notice published 

 in the papers of the county in which the water is situated. 



The Commissioners would also recommend that all bills relating to the fisheries, 

 game and forest interests of the State should be referred to them for their considera- 

 tion by the legislative committees having them in charge, before action is taken upon 

 them. The Commission is in session practically throughout the year, and through 

 its agents and employes, distributed over the State, is in a position to know of and 

 1 \jf advise intelligently regarding needed leg- 



islation in its department. This course 

 would tend to do away with conflicting 

 legislation, make the laws more simple 

 and less confusing, and the State would 

 be protected from the harmful influence 

 of ill-advised fish and game laws. 



