828 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Massachusetts Bay, New York, in 1758, passed a law to prohibit the sale of bass 
during the winter months on account of the great decrease of that kind of fish. In 
1762 the inhabitants of Marshfield, Mass., also sought to regulate the fishery for bass 
by passing favorably on a petition to the General Court to enact a bill for the preserva- 
tion of the fish and to prevent its capture in the winter season. 
Abundant as the supply of striped bass may have seemed to many early his- 
torians, its ease of capture, because of its large size and habit of dwelling close ipshore 
about coastal streams throughout the year, made possible the depletion of the species 
over the greater part of its northerly range along the Atlantic coast. North of Cape 
Cod only one localized population of striped bass, at Parker River, Mass., appears 
to have maintained itself in appreciable quantities (Pearson, 1933 b). The gradual 
decline of striped bass in southern New England waters was indicated by Bean (1905) 
who reported a decrease in the annual catch at various angling clubs during the last 
century. 
Although overfishing was probably the original cause of depletion in the northern 
rivers, the industrial uses to which nearly all rivers along the North Atlantic seaboard 
INCHES 
Figure 2.— Length-frequency distributions of mature striped bass taken by commercial fishing gear near Havre de Grace, Md., in 
April and May 1932. Solid line indicates male, and dotted line indicates female fish. 
have been devoted for many years has had an effective part in the diminishment of 
the species and in the retardation of reestablishment of the fish in depleted areas. 
The construction of impassible dams in the lower reaches of the Merrimack, Connecti- 
cut, and Susquehanna Rivers, shutting off probable spawning grounds; the pollution 
of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers; and unregulated commercial fishing in all sections 
have been exceedingly detrimental to the striped bass as well as to other anadromous 
food fishes such as the shad, smelt, salmon, and sturgeon. Restoration of these 
fishes to their original abundance clearly involves a restoration of coastal streams, 
where possible, to their primeval conditions of purity and accessibility, together with 
adequate restrictions against overfishing. 
A reduction in the natural supply of striped bass at centers of greatest abundance 
in Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina has not been so marked as in more northerly 
areas. This condition has been influenced by the relative absence of industrial devel- 
opment and the limited population in these localities. Nevertheless, a diminishing 
annual catch of striped bass is noted in many sections of the Southern States. (See 
fig. 26.) 
In California, particularly in the San Francisco Bay region, the striped bass has 
increased many fold since its introduction. The commercial fishery, prior to 1930, 
yielded over 17 million pounds despite many years of restricted fishing. In 1931 it 
became unlawful to take the species by nets and no estimation of their present abun- 
dance is possible. 
