March, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
161 
Bulletin —A M E . 
PROTECTIVE 
“More ( 
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E. A. QUARLES, Editor 
SAVE NEW JERSEY’S SALT-WATER 
FISH! 
C ONSERVATIONISTS look askance at 
the widely-heralded recent announce¬ 
ment in the New Jersey press that the leg¬ 
islature will be asked to remove all netting 
restrictions, with regard to salt water fishes 
“in the interest of the food supply.” They 
are inclined to believe that this is another 
attempt in the insidious campaign of the 
food profiteers to plunder the nation’s heri¬ 
tage of wild life in the sacred name of pa¬ 
triotism. 
Particularly disturbing in this connection 
is the statement, apparently inspired, that 
the official powers in New Jersey are back 
of this movement. Can it be that the pres¬ 
ent administration in New Jersey believes 
that the great body of its citizenry will be 
deceived? We think it can be counted on 
confidently to see the “nigger in the wood 
pile”—the skulking food profiteer, nauseat¬ 
ing in his greed, and his despicable attempt¬ 
ed camouflage of “taking the fish in order 
to help solve the problem of food supply.” 
Learning of the projected rape of the 
people’s store-house of wild food, the BUL¬ 
LETIN addressed letters to the three men 
whom it thought best qualified to give an 
authoritative, unbiassed opinion. They 
were: 
Ernest Napier, chairman of the Board of 
Fish and Game Commissioners of New Jer¬ 
sey, who has rendered his state invaluable 
service for years past and has earned a 
reputation for devoted service to the peo¬ 
ple, without fear or favor. 
H. M. Smith, U. S. Commissioner of 
Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 
Dr. C. H. Townsend, director, New York 
Aquarium, New York City. 
Their replies leave no room for doubt as 
to where the citizens of New Jersey should 
stand, with regard to the proposed legisla¬ 
tion to permit unrestricted seining and 
trapping of salt water fishes. 
Mr. Napier writes: 
“Such a measure at this time is entirely 
unnecessary and will do more harm to the 
work of years than can be repaired in a 
quarter of a century. The New Jersey Fish 
and Game Commission will certainly oppose 
the proposed legislation to the utmost.” 
Director Smith, of the Bureau of Fish¬ 
eries, U. S. Department of Commerce, 
writes: 
“In my opinion, the repeal of fishery laws 
should be very carefully considered with re¬ 
gard to both immediate and future effects 
on the supply, and the state fishery au¬ 
thorities should concur in any legislation to 
this end. I have joined the Food Admin¬ 
istration in the suggestion that restrictions 
on the taking of migratory sea fishes, such 
as blue fish and mackerel, over which man 
has little or no permanent influence, be 
waived in order that the food supply may 
be augmented in the emergency that now 
exists; but it is not my idea, and I am 
confident that it is not the intention or the 
desire of the Food Administration, to have 
anything done that may permanently im¬ 
poverish or deplete the fishery resources. 
There are undoubtedly certain restrictions, 
largely in the interests of line fishing, that 
may properly be temporarily waived, but the 
states should make sure that such action 
will not lead to serious abuses and should 
throw proper safeguards around the exer¬ 
cise of the fishing privileges.” 
Dr. C. H. Townsend, an authority on 
fishes and director of the great New York 
Aquarium, writes the BULLETIN : 
“I cannot approve of suggestions that un¬ 
restricted fishing be permitted as a war 
measure. There are certain coarse fishes 
in our fresh waters, such as carp, buffalo, 
and suckers, which might safely be taken 
under proper supervision. The supply of 
game fishes is nowhere large enough to 
amount to much as a food supply. In fact, 
they are in many states, almost on the 
verge of extinction. This is due not only 
to persistent angling, but to unwise legis¬ 
lation and to extensive pollution of the 
waters. 
“I cannot see any harm in greater use of 
sea fishes during the periods of the war, 
hut such fish catching should he restricted 
to appliances used along the outside coast. 
If permitted in estuaries and bays which are 
the entrances to rivers, a great deal of dam¬ 
age could be done to anadromous fishes. 
“G'Ur supply of shad, striped bass and 
sturgeon on the Atlantic Coast, and of 
salmon on the Pacific Coast is limited. 
Unrestrucited fishing operations might re¬ 
sult in permanent harm to such species. 
River herrings (alewives) are more abun¬ 
dant on this coast than other anadromous 
fishes, but they are easily captured and it 
would not be a difficult matter to destroy 
many of the ‘runs’ of our smaller New 
England streams.” 
We are informed on apparently good au¬ 
thority that trout in New Jersey are seri¬ 
ously menaced through the passage by the 
last legislature of a law permitting netting 
of trout streams for carp and suckers. 
This measure was a poor and flimsy subter¬ 
fuge to turn loose the fish hogs. At the 
hearings held on it, it was abundantly 
shown that carp and trout did not exist 
in the same streams and could not and that 
suckers are necessary in trout streams as 
food for the trout. Despite this fact, a 
majority of .the legislature voted for this 
assault on the state's permanent stock of 
fish food, and, although fully warned, the 
governor approved the measure. 
Having been so successful in their assault 
on one of the best species of fish in New 
Jersey’s inland waters, these worthy gen¬ 
tlemen have now apparently turned their at¬ 
tention to the salt water species. 
If anyone suggested, on the plea of help¬ 
ing the food supply, that all the cattle and 
sheep in New Jersey should be slaughtered 
in 1918, he would probably be sent to an 
insane asylum. The proposal with regard 
to New Jersey’s fish is exactly the same. 
GAME IMPORTANT FOOD FACTOR 
OR two decades devoted men and 
women singly and through organized 
effort have made possible the accumulation 
of a breeding stock of game from which 
the annual toll that is taken plays no in¬ 
considerable part in the nation’s food sup¬ 
ply. In Vermont, for instance, the market 
value of deer killed annually is in excess 
of $50,000; in Pennsylvania this value for 
all game killed yearly exceeds $900,000. 
Every pound of this game releases an 
equivalent amount of beef, mutton, poultry 
and other flesh from consumption. 
Shall we kill the goose that lays the 
golden eggs, so long as the eggs suffice for 
our meals? 
The man who would propose wiping out 
our breeding stock of cattle because food 
is scarce, would be considered mentally 
diseased, yet the proposal being made with 
regard to our game breeding stock is pre¬ 
cisely the same. Beef cattle consume grain 
in enormous quantity, yet game subsists 
principally on vegetable products that are 
useless or positively harmful to man. 
WHAT IS YOUR DUTY? 
W HAT is your duty in this crisis, Mr. 
Sportsman, Mr. Bird Lover, Mr. Far¬ 
mer? 
See or write your representatives in both 
state and federal legislatures and tell them 
you want all birds and all mammals pro¬ 
tected just as they have been in the past. 
Do this at once, and have your local con¬ 
servation club, society or whatever you may 
call it adopt a resolution whose burden 
shall be, “no impairment of the wild life 
protective laws.” 
Every one interested in wild life is in¬ 
vited to the conference on March 4 and 5. 
Every state sportsmen’s association and 
Audubon society should send at least one 
