June 23, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



687 



Anglers' Association is now showing splendid results. Up 

 to this week the weather has been scarcely propitious for 

 large scores," but now everything is promising for good 

 catches. Among the arrivals at the Hubbard House this 

 week are Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Bunker, of New York, who 

 between them, with Steve Leyare as oarsman, caught 34 

 fine bass on Monday and 31 on Tuesday, Mr. Bunker tak- 

 ing the honors. Also Mr. and Mrs. Richard King, of New 

 York, with Frank Fronkier rowing, who on Tuesday 

 made a showing of 32 good-sized bass. J. G. F. 



Tuokerton, N. J., June 15.— "Weakfish are biting well 

 in Tuckerton Bay now. Parties who went out very 

 recently pulled in as high as ninety-four some of them. 

 Fishing very good. Geo. O. Adams. 



Toledo, O., June 15.— Both the Brooks and the Visitor, 

 the American steam yachts captured off Pelee Island by 

 the Canadian cutter Petrel, on tho 8th ult., have been re- 

 leased on bond, and have returned to Put-in-Bay. 



Jay Beebe. 



A NEW-SUBSCRIBER OFFER. 



A bona fide new subscriber sending us $5 will receive for that sum 

 the Forest and Stream one year (price $4) and a set of Zimmerman's 

 famous "Ducking Scenes" (price $5)— a 89 value for $5. 



This offer is to neio subscribers only. It does not apply to renewals. 



For $3 a bona fide new subscriber for six months will receive the 

 Forest and Stream during that time and a copy of Dr. Van Fleet's 

 handsome work, "Bird Portraits for the Young" (the price of which 

 is $3). 



0nhf[nlinn mid <$i$h ffrokqtion. 



Relations of the Community to the Fisheries. 



BY MARSHALL M'DONALD, V. S. FISH COMMISSIONER. 



[A paper read before the American Fisheries Society, 1894.] 

 [Concluded from page 516.] 



I hold in my hand a table giving the comparative summary 

 of the fisheries of the entire United States for the years 1880 

 and 1892: 



NEW ENGLAND STATES, 



Capital invested. 



Persons employed. 



1880. 



1892* 



37,043 



37,025 



56,853 



90,685 



7,546 



16,138 



5,181 



12,019 



16,803 



16,771 



5,050 



9,738 



131,426 



182,376 



1880. 1892. 

 19,937,607 19,859,508 



MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES. 



12,685,331 19.405,151 



SOUTH ATLANTIC STATES. 



695,160 1,693,076 



GULF STATES. 



546,584 2,993,080 



PACIFIC STATES. 



2,748,883 8,873,813 



GREAT LAKES REGION. 



1,345,975 5,4: 



Value of products. 



1880. 

 12,509,071 



1692. 

 12,445,569 



16,360,517 



19,047,580 



1,256,578 



1,589,894 



1,337,544 



2,499,595 



5,545,588 



7,258,925 



1,784,050 



2,471,355 



38,683,348 



45,312,818 



37,958,040 58,242,708 



This table is taken from a report on the statistics of the 

 fisheries of the United States, prepared in the Division of 

 Fisheries of the United States Fish Commission, and based 

 upon field investigations conducted by the employes of the 

 Commission, in part under the direction of Mr. J. W. Collins 

 when assistant in charge of the Division of Fisheries of the 

 Commission and in part by his successor, Mr. H. M. Smith, 

 now in charge of that work. The data are taken in large 

 part from the books of the fishermen. They have been col- 

 lated with care and judgment, and may be relied upon to 

 furnish as accurate a statistical presentation of the conditions 

 of the fisheries as can be obtained with the means and re- 

 sources at the command of the Fish Commission. 



By reference to this table you will find that in 1892 the 

 number of persons employed in all branches of the fisheries 

 and related industries in all parts of the United States has 

 increased 38.77 per cent., as compared with the number em- 

 ployed in 1888. The capital invested bas increased 53.43 per 

 cent., while the total value of the products of the fisheries 

 has increased but 17.14 per cent. This indicates in a general 

 way that the fisheries in 1892, taken as a whole, have not 

 been so productive in proportion to the number of persons 

 employed and capital invested as they were in 1880. We are, 

 however, liable to err if we attempt to apply this general 

 conclusion to the case of any particular fishery, though the 

 general fact is broadly emphasized that our fisheries do not 

 now yield the profitable return to individuals and to invest- 

 ments that they did in 1880. 



Referring to this same table and considering the statistics 

 of the fisheries by geographical divisions, we find that the 

 fisheries of the New England States as a whole are practi- 

 cally unchanged since 1S80. The number of persons employed 

 is slightly less, the capital has been reduced less than one- 

 half of one per cent. , while the value of the products has in- 

 creased one-half of one per cent. 



For the Middle Atlantic States we find the number of per- 

 sons employed has increased 51 per cent. , the capital invested 

 53 per cent., while the increased value of the products is only 

 16> a ' per cent. For the South Atlantic States the number of 

 persons employed has more than doubled, being 113 per cent, 

 the capital invested has increased 14 per cent., while the 

 value of the products rises to a little above 26 per cent. 



In the Gulf States the percentage of increase in persons 

 employed is 137.95, the capital invested 82, and the increased 

 value of the products 103. 



In the Pacific States the number of persons employed is 

 about the same as in 1880, the investment of capital has more 

 than doubled, while the aggregate increase in value of pro- 

 ducts amounts to 30 per cent. 



In the Great Lake States the percentage of increase in 

 persons employed is 92.63, of capital invested 232.7, the in- 

 creased value of the products rising only to 38.52 per cent. 



The figures for the Great Lakes are very significant. With 

 nearly double the number of persons employed in the fish- 

 eries, and with upward of 50 per cent, increase in the capital 

 invested, there is but 17 per cent, increase in the total value 

 of the product. This comparison is more significant when 

 we consider that the increased production has been brought 

 about by the utilization for market supply of species of fish 

 such as the herring and others which constitute but an 

 insignificant portion of the total products of 1880. The most 

 important fishery of 1880— thit of the whitefish — has vastly 

 deteriorated, the take in 1892 being considerably less than 

 one-half of the catch of 1880. And this result has arrived in 

 spite of the fact that artificial propagation of the whitetish 

 has been carried on on a stupendous scale by the different 

 State Commissions and by the United States Commission on 

 all of the Great Lakes. This deterioration in the number of 

 whitefish is clearly to be attributed to the methods em- 



* This year is placed at the head of the columns because it is the 

 most recent one to which tbe statistics relate, and the one to which 

 most of the figures apply. The data for the New England, Middle At- 

 lantic and Pacific States are for that year; those for the South Atlan- 

 tic States are for 1891, and those for the Gulf region and Great Lakes 

 are for 1890. 



ployed, and the necessity of some restraint upon these 

 methods is imperatively indicated, not only in the general 

 interest of tbe consumer, but in the interest of the fisheries 

 themselves. 



I would now call your attention to a table of the compara- 

 tive statistics of the catcb of certain species of fish in 1880 

 and 1892, taken from the same report: 



COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF THE CATCH OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS IN 1880 

 AND 1892. 



1880. 1892. Increase or decrease 



'pounds. Value. Pounds. Value. Pounds. Value. 



Alewives 45,684,333 526,546 59,176,183 554,740+12,491,850 +28,18* 



Blueflsh. 14.707,708 366,756 15,957,830 637,305 + 1,850,128 +270,549 



Cod .llffil.87:*60 3,475,106 93,643,811 2,990 691—26,493,539 —478,415 



Lobsters 30.238,683 631,769 23,301,149 1,050,677 + 3,062,466 +418,908 



Mackerel 73,317.563 1,803,910 17,041,736 1,102,651-56,275,827 -761,259 



Mullet... 6,701,950 .225,009 21,214,840 387,916+14,512,890 +102,907 



Salmon.. 51.033,824 1.086,839 93,826,527 3,730.410+42,192.703+2,644,077' 



Sea bass. 2.642,650 113,176 8,401,553 355,602 + 5,758.903 +242,426 



Span. Mac. 1,887,423 131,639 1,773,081 129,259 -114,342 —2,380 



SQ'teaguel5,463,500 437,022 22,340,433 ' 708,830+6,876,873 +271,808 



In this table we have arranged by sections the statistics of 

 a number of economic species which furnish the basis of im- 

 portant fisheries. "We will take first the alvewives or river 

 herring, instituting always comparisons between 1880 and 

 1892. We find for this species an increased product of 

 59.000,0001bs. And referring the increase and decrease to the 

 different geographical sections in which the fishery is prose- 

 cuted, we find the increase wholly in the Middle and South 

 Atlantic States, the New England product having fallen off 

 about 2,500,0001bs. It would appear, therefore, that so far as 

 this fishery is concerned the methods of fishing have had no 

 influence upon the product, and that therefore no restrictions 

 are necessary in regard to this species. As a matter of fact 

 the capture of the herring is made largely in pound-nets and 

 in seines. When the fish are taken in the pounds many of 

 them, both males and females, are ripe, and crowded together 

 as they are, involuntary reproduction is accomplished, since 

 the squeezing and crowding of the multitude in the net ac- 

 complish precisely the same process that we do in artificial 

 propagation. The eggs under these conditions are fertilized 

 m vast numbers— being adhesive and floating off with the 

 tide, they attach themselves not only to the walls of the net, 

 but to every available object in the tideway— and for this 

 reason I am inclined to think that so far as the alewives are 

 concerned the pound-net fishing, instead of working any dis- 

 advantage, is actually improving the condition of this fishery 

 all the time. 



The next species in order is the blueflsh. The census of 

 1880 gives the total catch of this species for the entire coast 

 at 14,707, OOOlbs. The catch of 1892 reaches nearly 16,000,000, 

 being l,250,0001bs. in excess of the catch of 1880. Considering 

 the data by geographical sections we find that the decrease 

 in this species in the New England States since 1880 has 

 amounted to 4,223,0001bs. The largest increase of 4,321, OOOlbs. 

 is in the Middle Atlantic States. The increase for the South 

 Atlantic States is 602, OOOlbs.; for the Gulf States 545,0001bs., 

 this being a new fishery for that section. Whether the vast 

 increase in the New England States is to be attributed to the 

 methods employed there, or is the result of the larger and 

 growing catch in the Middle and South Atlantic States, is a 

 matter about which we cannot at present form a conclusive 

 opinion. 



The cod fishery is prosecuted mainly in the New Englan d 

 and Middle Atlantic States; there being, however, an import- 

 ant and growing fishery in the North Pacific. Considering 

 the fishery as a whole, we find a falling off of 26, 500, OOOlbs. in 

 product as compared with 1880, the decline being the largest 

 in the New England States. 



It is to be noted in connection with this fishery that the 

 species is taken almost entirely, if not entirely, by hook and 

 line, and the greater proportion in off shore waters. The de- 

 terioration cannot, therefore, in this case be attributed to any 

 of the different forms of apparatus that are used in our coast 

 waters. 



In the case of the lobsters we find an increase of 3,000,000 

 pounds in the product of 1892 as compared with 1880, which 

 is to be attributed probably in part to the stringent laws 

 regulating this fishery which are now in operation, and in 

 part to the great increase in the number of persons employed 

 in the fishery. 



The mackerel Is another important fishery to which I wish 

 to call your attention. We find a decrease in this fishery in 

 1892 as compared with 1880 of 56,275,000 pounds. The great 

 fluctuations in this fishey from year to year are inexplicable 

 at the present time. In the absence of specific knowledge as 

 to the spawning grounds of the mackerel and the conditions 

 under which spawning takes place, we are not prepared to at- 

 tribute any influence to methods as now pursued in affecting 

 the results of the fisheries. 



The mullet fishery, which is more important in the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, shows an increase of 14,000,000 

 pounds in 1892 as compared with 1880. This increase, how- 

 ever, has no significance as bearing upon the question of 

 regulation , from the fact that it has arisen by the development 

 of new grounds in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and 

 by more active fishing in the Middle Atlantic States. 



The salmon, you know, is one of the most important eco- 

 nomic species of the West coast. We find in this case an in- 

 creased production in 1892 of 3,730,000 pounds as compared 

 with 1880. This certainly furnishes no argument in favor of 

 unrestrained fishing so far as it relates to this species. The 

 increase is due entirely to the development of new grounds, 

 and has been accompanied by an alarming decrease in those 

 rivers which in 1880 furnished a large part of the salmon for 

 market. I refer particularly to the Sacramento and the 

 Columbia rivers, where there has been a marked deteriora- 

 tion in the fisheries, clearly the result of the fishing opera- 

 tions. 



The sea bass, or blackfish of New Jersey, shows an in- 

 creased production of 5,758,0001bs., which is pretty equally 

 distributed to the three geographical sections of the Atlantic 

 seaboard. There is no decrease indicated anywhere in either 

 the New England, the Middle or the South Atlantic States. 



The Spanish mackerel is an important economic species, 

 the greater supplies of which during 1880 were drawn from 

 the Chesapeake region. Since that time the fisheries have 

 been extended and largely developed in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States. In spite of the productive fishing grounds 

 of the Gulf States, we find a diminished production of 114,- 

 OOOlbs. in 1892 as compared with 1880. The production of the 

 Middle Atlantic States having fallen from l,852,0001bs. to 

 976,0001bs. This fishery, I think, furnishes a marked example 

 of the detrimental influence that unrestrained pound net 

 fishing may exercise upon a coast species. The larger pro- 

 portion of the catch of Spanish mackerel in the Middle At- 

 lantic States is in the Chesapeake Bay by pound nets on the 

 eastern and western shores. The mackerel enter the bay to 

 spawn; the pound nets are set in the track of the run; the 

 fish taken are nearly all spawning fish; and the disposition 

 of the apparatus of capture is such as to intercept them 

 almost entirely in their approach to waters in which to 

 spawn. In this way the great deterioration in the mackerel 

 fishery of the Chesapeake is clearly to be attributed to the 

 pound net fishing. This species, however, furnishes a clear 

 and well defined instance of deterioration which we can 

 fairly attribute to the operations of the fishermen. 



The last species to which I wish to call your attention is 

 the squeteague. We find for this species an increase of 

 6,876,0001bs. as compared with 1880; the increase being gen- 

 eral for all the geographical sections in which the fisheries 

 are prosecuted. 



In considering the question which I have brought to your 

 attention in this paper, it will be interesting to note the 



advance of public sentiment in Great Britain as to the neces 

 sity of protection to the sea fisheries in territorial waters, 

 since the publication of the report of the Trawling Commis- 

 sion of 1863, of which Professor Huxley was president. At 

 that time there was little or no knowledge of the life history 

 or the spawning habits of the different species which were 

 the object of the commercial fisheries. There were no statis- 



of the perplexities and embarrassments as to tbe conclusions 

 to be drawn from the conflicting testimony of the fishermen, 

 the Commission states as follows: 



"Fishermen as a class are exceedingly unobservant of any- 

 thing about fish which is not absolutely forced upon them 

 by their daily avocations, and they are consequently not only 

 prone to adopt every belief which seems to tell in their own 

 favor, but they are disposed to deprecate a comparison of the 

 present with the past. Nor in certain localities do they lack 

 the additional temptation to make the worst of the present, 

 offered by the hope that strong statements may lead the 

 State to interfere in their favor with dangerous competitors." 



The general conclusion of the Commission, upon which the 

 advocates of free fishing in this country base their protests 

 against any interference whatever, by the State in controlling 

 their operations is as follows: 



"I. We advise that all Acts of Parliament which profess 

 to regulate, or restrict, the modes of fishing pursued in the 

 open sea be repealed, and that unrestricted freedom of fishing 

 be permitted hereafter. 



"II. With respect to inshore fishing; although the evidence, ■ 

 so far as it is conclusive, appears to us to prove that the tak- 

 ing of small and immature fish has not yet produced any 

 injurious effect upon the fisheries; it is undoubtedly possible, 

 that by the use of improved engines, the destruction of fry 

 might reach such a pitch, as to bear a large, instead of, as at 

 present, an insignificant ratio of the destruction effected by 

 the natural enemies of fish, and by conditions unfavorable 

 to their existence. 



"The existence of such a state of things, however, could 

 only be determined by the examination of trustworthy sta- 

 tistics of the fisheries in question, extending over a consider- 

 able number of years. Should it ever be satisfactorily 

 proved to have arisen, we conceive that the best remedial 

 measure would be to place a restriction upon the size of the 

 fish permitted to be brought ashore, and subject the possessor 

 of fish below a certain specified size, to penalties, but to avoid 

 interfering with the implements of fishermen, or with their 

 methods of fishing. 



"For the present we advise that all acts of Parliament 

 which profess to regulate or restrict the methods of fishing 

 pursued inshore be repealed, with the exceptions, purely on 

 grounds of police, of the local act regulating pilchard fish- 

 ing at St. Ives, and for that part of Loch Fyne which lies 

 above Otter Spit, of the act prohibiting trawling for her- 

 rings in Scotland." 



In 1878, fifteen years after the investigation by Professor 

 Huxley and his associates, a second commission was 

 appointed to inquire into (1) the use of the trawl net and the 

 beam trawl in the English seas, and the territorial waters of 

 England and Wales; (2) into the use of the seine nets and 

 the ground seine of the coast of Cornell and elsewhere, and 

 (3) into the alleged destruction of fry and spawn of sea fish 

 in estuaries of rivers and bays by the above and other modes 

 of fishing. This Commission, of which Mr. Frank Buekland 

 was chairman, reached the same general conclusion in 

 regard to the decrease in the supply of fish arising by means 

 of fishing operations as did the previous Commission of 

 1863. They, however, took strong grounds for establishing 

 legislative restrictions for fixed engines, under which title 

 is included the different pounds, weirs, traps and. stake 

 nets, which are in common use on our own shores. The 

 views of the Commission in reference to this matter are of 

 sufficient importance to warrant their quotation in full: 



Legislative Regulations for Fixed Engines. 



"So far as the fish themselves are concerned, it is not a 

 matter of much importance whether they are taken by a 

 fixed engine or by a movable net. Provided that the use of 

 these engines is not injurious to the fishing, they ought ap- 

 parently to stand or fall together; and we are inclined, in 

 fact, to arrive at this conclusion with respect to all those en- 

 gines which are either temporarily fixed to the soil, or which 

 are merely attached, like the stow net, to an anchored boat. . 

 But, as we have already stated, there is another kind of fixed 

 engine, permanently attached to the soil, which seems to us 

 to require much more serious consideration. 



' 'From a fishery point of view there is this difference between 

 a fixed engine and a movable n et. The fixed engine is always 

 on the spot. It regularly works with every tide, requiring no 

 rest and keeping no Sabbath. The movable net, on the con- 

 trary, can only be worked by the active labor of the fisher- 

 man. Its use, therefore, is intermittent, and its destructive- 

 ness limited. It is obvious that an engine that is at work 

 with every tide must, or certainly may, catch more fish than 

 a net whose use is limised to the capacity of the fishermen for 

 endurance. The fixed engine, moreover, covers more ground 

 than the movable engine. The fixed engines in Swansea Bay 

 reach across the greater portion of the Bay. They frequently 

 overlap each other. They do not, therefore, like the movable 

 net, take only a proportion of the fish, but they do, or may, 

 take all the fish passing up into that portion of the Bay. 



"The names which fixed engines bear sufficiently indicate 

 their antiquity. 'Weirs,' 'garths,' 'goryds,' 'baulks,' 'hangs,' 

 'butts,' and 'kettle nets,' are corruptions of Saxon, Celtic 

 and Norman words, and have been handed down by succes- 

 sive generations of fishermen from their Saxon, Celtic and 

 Norman ancestors. But, though the engines are certainly 

 old, their use has never been tolerated. Their erection, 

 except on the sea coast, was reprobated in Magna Charta; 

 they have been prohibited by many succeeding statutes; and 

 fixed engines may be said to exist, not by virtue of the law, 

 but in defiance of law. 



"There were two reasons which the Legislature constantly 

 gave in the olden time for putting down these engines. In 

 the first place, they interfered with the navigation; in the 

 next place they gave one fisherman a monopoly of the fishery 

 which was nominally open to all the King's subjects. Fixed 

 engines were, in short, in the first instance, an encroachment 

 on the public rights. Time has in most cases now given 

 their owners a prescriptive right in their use, But the 

 engines were originally an encroachment on the rights of 

 others. The man who erected a fixed engine usually placed 

 it on his own shore. He was usually possessed, therefore, of 

 the soil on which the engine stood. But this is not always 

 the case; the kettle nets in Rye Bay, and we believe many of 

 the hose nets in Bridgwater Bay, are fixed on the property of 

 the Crown; and the same thing is probably true of other 

 fixed engines. 



"We understand that in Rye Bay and on the Sussex coast, 

 the Board of Trade, acting on the instigation of the Admir- 

 alty, have positively refused to allow the erection of any new 

 fixed nets, or to permit the present nets to remain beyond 

 the lifetime of their present possessors. We see no reason 

 why the same rule should not be applied to all fixed engines, 

 wherever situate, standing on the property of the Crown. It 

 would perhaps be unjust to apply the same rule to fixed en- 

 gines on private property. Property acquired by prescrip- 

 tion has a prescriptive right to exist; even in this case we 

 think that there would be no hardship in compelling the 

 proprietor of a fixed engine to 3tate the nature of the engines 

 which he considered he was entitled to use, and to allow him 

 thenceforward only to use such as had been actually worked 

 during some time in the previous ten years," 



