FEs. 
17, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

NASSAU HARBOR—THE SCENE OF MR, 
angler. The dearth of striped bass in Eastern 
waters, mentioned by Dr. Bean, is also caused by 
lobster pots, water pollution and netting—these 
evils cannot be remedied so easily as a weight 
limit. What you say I know is true. ‘Our fish 
markets expose for sale tens of thousands of 
young bass, many of them scarcely more than six 
inches long.” If these were left but for a year 
they would produce double or treble the income, 
if allowed to grow. 
There can be no excuse raised that young fish 
are better eating, they are not so good or firm 
eating as larger fish. The real facts are: Grab 
all and the devil take the rest. Had not the lob- 
ster and the brook trout a size limit both would 
have been extinct, and it seems to me that striped 
bass will soon be a thing of the past, at least on 
this coast, unless some restriction is put upon the 
greed and rapacity of those who catch, buy and 
sell immature fish, 
I am sure, among your many readers, there are 
some bass fishermen who would join together to 
this end, and stop at once wanton destruction of 
so noble game, so toothsome a dish. 
Louis RHEAD. 
ees af | F fir 
a ioe 

Return of Fish. 
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 
“WHAT is believed to be the best evidence of 
the efficiency of artificial propagation of salmon 
that has ever been secured was recently obtained 
by Fish Commissioner Kershaw relative to the 
operation of hatcheries on the Columbia River,” 
said Deputy Fish Commissioner Perry Baker yes- 
terday. ‘Mr. Kershaw received tails and fins of 
100 salmon from a single trap owner on the Co- 
rencey River that were plainly marked hatchery 
sh. 
“When the hatcheries were placed in operation 
on the Columbia River a system of marking was 
adopted for the purpose of ascertaining if any of 
the salmon turned out of the river returned to 
their native spawning ground, and in what length 
of ‘time. 
“The marked fins and tails received by Mr. 
Kershaw were found to be salmon that were 
turned out of the Kalama and Chinook hatcheries 
four years ago. The spawn of these fish were 
taken in 1900 and the young salmon turned out 
in 1901. The fish were marked in a manner that 
leaves no doubt of this fact. The small bones 
in the fins were cut down and a hole punched 
NEWBERRY’S FISHING, 
in the tail. The cutting of the bones in the fin 
is just the same as a man losing a part of his 
finger—it never grows out again. 
“The Columbia River was practically depleted 
when the artificial propagation of salmon was 
commenced on that stream, and the past several 
years has demonstrated that it has been restocked 
by some means. 
“While only a part of the fish were marked 
when released from the hatcheries, the fact that 
one trap owner on the river found at least 100 
of these salmon during the past season is conclu- 
sive evidence that artificial propagation is the 
only solution of the problem to prevent the de- 
pletion of the salmon fisheries. 
“Mr. Kershaw asked a number of the Colum- 
bia River cannerymen and trap operators to 
watch for the marked salmon, but during the 
rush of the season it was apparently overlooked, 
as only one response has been received. 
“The experiments with the sockeye salmon 
that are being conducted at the Bellingham sta- 
tion will be continued all winter, and a large 
number of sockeye salmon placed in the Nook- 
sack and Skagit rivers.” 
