of pel loans present on the coast of Florida made by these men ranged 
from one hundred thousand to one million individuals the destruction 
of mullet was claimed to be enonnous. On the other hand as many of 
the men engaged actively in fishing considered the amount of mullet 
and other food fish taken by pelioans a negligible factor in regulat- 
ing the abundance of these fishes* This side of the case is seldom 
heard however as the opponents of the protection afforded the pelican 
are loud in denunciation of the birds, while the others seldom con- 
sider the matter of sufficient importance to dispute them though per- 
sonally they do not concur in these sentiments. For this reason state- 
ments are no^elioited from this class save on direct question. 
According to the Laws of Florida governing Salt water fishing 
(Seotion 2) it is unlawful to fish with any net measuring less than 
M one and one-half inch bar, measured from knot to knot, or a stretched 
mesh of three inches from knot to knot after being tarred or shrunk". 
As a matter of actual fact it was found that the nets in oonmon use 
all of smaller sizes, a condition that was ignjrod entirely by 
the fish wardens though the fishermen were aware that they were violating 
the law. Fish were in demand and were bringing a fair price so that 
it was desirable to market as many as possible. With a smaller mesh net 
than that sanctioned by law it was possible to capture smaller fish in 
laeger number and so inorease the total catch. It is also unlawful to 
place stop nets across creeks^ streams, bayous or passes (Section 5), In 
stop-netting a small-meshed net is stretched across such places at high 
tide when the fish have oome in on the flats to feed. The nets are set 
in Buoh a way that as the tide goes out the fish are left stranded on 
. 
the mud* This practise is a most wasteful one as it destroys quantities 
