^Suggestions and Recommendations. 



IN our report of last year we recommended that power be granted to this Commis- 

 sion, by legislative enactment, to close waters for a term of years not to exceed five, 

 when in the judgment of the Commissioners such action is necessary to establish 

 or re-establish fish in such waters. This power is given to Fisheries Commissioners 

 in other States and it is most desirable that this Commission should have similar 

 powers, the waters to be closed by posting notices on the banks of the streams or 

 lakes which are to be stocked or restocked, and by notices in the local newspapers 

 stating the period for which the waters are closed to all fishing. The tendency is to 

 fish a stream as soon as it is stocked, and in the case of newly-planted waters, the fish 

 should be allowed to grow to maturity and spawn at least once before fishing is per- 

 mitted, if the fish are to be permanently established in the waters. 



At present the Commission must go to the Legislature and urge that the 

 machinery of that body be set in motion to close a stream a few miles in length when 

 the same result may be attained by a few posted notices signed by the Commission, 

 provided that the Legislature grants that power to this Board. 



The Fish and Game Laws now in force, article XV, throws around the waters of 

 the St. Lawrence river certain safeguards not enjoyed by other portions of the State, 

 and these safeguards, properly enforced, will do much to keep up the supply of fish 

 food in that stream. We would recommend that certain provisions of article XV be 

 applied to all the waters of the State, viz.: Sections 319 and 320 giving right of 

 search without warrant; section 315 making the limit of length for black bass ten 

 inches; section 316 limiting the number of black bass to be taken by one person in 

 one day to twelve. 



Black bass is the common game fish of the people of the State, and as it cannot be 

 hatched artificially like trout, pike-perch and shad, it requires unusual restrictions 

 about it, if the fish is to be preserved. Already complaint comes to the Commission 

 of its scarcity in some waters, and applications are sent in for millions of black bass 

 which cannot be filled. To prevent its ultimate extermination, laws must be enacted 

 to preserve the stock now in the waters or stock fish must be purchased from waters 

 outside of the State. Prudence suggests that we make every possible effort to pre- 

 serve the fish we have and to that end we earnestly urge that black bass be included 

 among the fish mentioned in section 109, and that the open season for fishing for 

 black bass close on the 31st of October of each year. Black bass differ from other 

 food fish more than in their breeding habit, which does not permit of artificial propa- 

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