286 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
OBJECT AND METHODS OF THE INQUIRY. 
Tlie menhaden fishery has received much attention from Congress, the legislatures 
of most of the States whose citizens are engaged therein, and several Federal and 
State courts. The fishery has encountered great opposition on account of its 
supposed injurious influence on the abundance of other fishes, especially those species 
which prey upon the menhaden and are taken by anglers and in the professional line 
fisheries. In recent years, probably no fishery on the Atlantic coast has attracted 
more attention, occasioned more discussion, and been the object of such marked 
opposition. 
The contention is made by sportsmen and others, and very generally accepted by 
the newspapers and the public, that in menhaden fishing large quantities of game and 
other food-fish are taken; that these are usually landed at the factories, where they 
serve the same purpose as menhaden; that on account of the extensive menhaden 
fishing along the coast the supply of food -fish has been greatly reduced; that 
important fishing-grounds for game fishes have been ruined; that where food-fish 
are not actually caught in the purse seines they are driven off; that fish which 
frequent the bays and there undergo the spawning process are prevented from 
reaching the desired grounds by the presence of menhaden vessels at or near the 
mouths of the bays. Of the foregoing objections to the fishery, greater importance 
is laid on the first two points. 
All of these statements are denied by the menhaden fishermen. They assert that 
the quantities of food-fish taken in the menhaden fishery are insignificant and do 
not even regularly supply the vessels’ crews with food; that desirable fishes are not 
utilized for oil and guano; that the food-fish destroyed in a season by any one of the 
thousands of sharks killed each year in the menhaden fishery would vastly outnumber 
those caught by the entire fleet of vessels. The menhaden fishermen contend that 
there is no proof that their operations have even remotely affected the abundance of 
other fish and that this fishery is as legitimate and no more destructive than many 
other fisheries which are sanctioned by popular opinion. 
Neither party to the controversy has brought forward any facts or made any 
arguments which the other felt bound to indorse, owing to the ex parte nature of the 
testimony; and during the entire controversy there has been an absence of detailed 
authentic data bearing on that phase of the subject now under consideration. 
In the Report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1892 the following 
statement is made : 
Since it appears probable that the menhaden fishery will for some years at least be the object of 
legislative consideration and personal controversy, it seems important to secure and have available 
for use all information that can possibly be obtained that is calculated to aid in the solution of the 
very difficult problems involved. It is therefore conceived that valuable material relating to the 
special point under discussion may be obtained by placing the field force of the division [of fisheries] 
on vessels fishing off various parts of the coast, and having the agents make actual records of the 
results of every seine-haul during a period of two or three months. While this plan would involve a 
study of a small part of the menhaden fleet, it would nevertheless afford a valuable basis for 
generalization. 
In 1894 the Commission made arrangements for carrying on the inquiries in 
question. Owing to the necessity for undertaking important field work of another 
character, it was impossible to utilize the full force of the division to which the 
investigation was assigned, and it became necessary to restrict the inquiry to two 
vessels, whose operations during the entire season it was the intention to cover. 
