81 
CONFEEENCES WITH FISHEEMEN. 
Arrangements were made through the Educational Committee 
of the County Council for the delivery of a lecture at several of the 
fishing stations on the Crab and Lobster Fisheries, when the facts 
set forth in the paper on that subject in this report were presented 
and discussed. 
The fishermen confirmed the conclusions which had been arrived 
at with reference to the proportions of the berried crabs and 
lobsters, and in many cases of the soft crabs. They are thus 
prepared to admit the importance of the berried lobster, but in most 
places they are desirous of having lobster culture tried, if only to 
avoid the immense sacrifice that the returning of the berried 
lobster entails. It was confessed that the practice of stripping the 
berried lobster so that it could be marketed was quite common. 
A matter of great moment for the improvement of the condi- 
tions of the inshore fisheries is the supply of bait. This was 
pointed out in the preceding and in previous reports. The Budle 
Bay Mussel Farm is now in the hands of Mr. Mitchell, who also 
keeps for sale a supply of oysters in the pond which was built some 
years ago for the purpose. The mussel farm, however, is not at 
present in a very successful condition, and as a matter of fact all 
that was available for sale for bait was 6 tons. The question of bait 
deserves the most serious attention of the Committee, and thorough 
enquiry should be made without delay to find out the cause or 
causes of the diminution of the local supplies, and what could be 
done to improve them. 
