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42D Heo | SENATE. MP. () | (Mis. Doc. 2d Session. DY UShao No. 61.
J f) 3 UW. §. Wational Museyin re Oo D
UNITED STATES COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
Ny Oaks Oat Hs
REPORT 4%
preee CONDITION OF THE SEA FISHERIES
SOUTH COAST OF NEW ENGLAND
WITH SUPPLEMENTARY PAPERS,
WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICK. 13873.
FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, February 6, 1872. Ordered to lie on the table and be printed.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, February 19, 1872. Resolved by the Senate, (the House of Representatives concurring,) That five thousand extra copies of the report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries be printed, one thousand five hundred for the use of the Senate, three thousand for the use of the House of Representatives, and five hundred for the use of the Commissioner.
Attest : GEO. C. GORHAM, Secretary.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, March 5, 1872. Resolved, That the House concur in the foregoing resolution of the Senate to print extra copies of the “Report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.”
Attest : EDW. McPHERSON, Clerk
UNITED STATES COMMISSION, FISH AND FISHERIES, Washington, January 31, 1872. Srr: In pursuance of a joint resolution of Congress, I have the honor to present herewith a report of operations and inquiries prosecuted dur- ing the year 1871 in reference to the decrease of the food-fishes on the Sea-coast and in the lakes of the United States. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, SPENCER F. BAIRD,
Commissioner. Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,
President of the Senate.
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CONT ENTS
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER.
PRELIMINARIES TO THE OFFICIAL INQUIRY ON THE PART OF THE UNITED
LTRS ote SC0GDS pgs Gee HSB aCe CDE Or oe ane Rie Sine 2 Sie eae See me “3 General considerations as to value of fisheries to a nation...-.....-.... Alleged decrease of fisheries on the south side of New England........-. Official inquiries into the subject—
ye Massa Chuseuts stasjon cc's ccc aetect menses ee ha coe ae tees
He MOE AB LAMO) S289 ott (a) Sols ae cigartciten aa as Soha Stet oe Se
Pay OMMOCACN oi ccict2 oe - eign aiainia Sasso mee tes hoon dame an Smee yeuleuU Mite da States! sc scartisjs qaidis se le aaa e mine mei mae aeye selsete Paesaoe OF bie Will diréeting. an INQUITY .. <5. <<< ane ee onencsseeces Selection of Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts, as a base for the sea-coast Peet eet he aot ole) asia satan 4 eile) Sete se orae amine, eli Soon se as Corneninrentiaction: onthe Wakes). 5222) eee eset ola Sa cei sewersace ones eects Aid rendered by the departments of the Government......-......-..--
CHARACTER AND PROGRESS OF THE INVESTIGATION ...... .--------.02 2200 ee rameourescanchvadopredice) Ac be: Jjfek Sess. ce. ks hele bide. Systematic arrangement of subjects for investigation ..................
in regard to the fishes:themselves <-. 22. 2 .ce0n gcc cones ee ween see ERE arcs tOvuNole FOU! 65:5 ck Senet se ea iaiay= se Soaps eas cen Sse’ Physical condition of the waters..--.-..---..---.. Bo eeiacee See eke Moralitvaselecved as center of research)... 2. 2... .<225-56- 5525 ss25 se eee Bape Mee ue St CHO MMU 2 2 2: calm a. o,f nin c'aeia/ se heen Sains nen mcg oneonee aA ees Rte NEOUIY ER 2 fora a eict = oie mi nrminin se nie etn ow 2 a ames in te Deu eHEON) Ui SP OCIINENG 4 - [51 ata ce sei ale soso ate ae ocoe ot save ae abe SERCO PN MIG Al MUISEWMN 6 ae joc a see wicca abs ass s sosed qdumee sock For distribution to other establishments, as colleges, academies, PAUISG WEIS OGE stem stn accla) 1 lotapalaletsl sia, A art elcto eta teray asia oleic aie Facilities given to officers of colleges and museums for making col- ADOSER, a etre Sea Od a a ere NPA Paowerapmic, pictured Of fishes, GC! 24.) 22 se sl kanes ances en sace eee Scientific visitors to Wood’s Hole during the season. ............-..--- Mjeeis seenred Of Special Wterest oo... 2 sos eAk sewer cc ccen ec cease Conference with State commissioners in Boston ..............2--.-----
Page.
VII VII VLE VIL VIII VIIl 1d.¢ XI XI
XII XIl XII
XII XIII XI XIII XIIL XI XIV
XV XIV
XV
XV
ACCOMPANYING PAPERS.
For a list of these, see the end of the volume
VI CONTENTS Page Corresponding researches of associates— By J. W. Milner, on the creat lakes. ..-. -.-- ---<m. .--c0e---e- -ttoe 5) OVER By Dr. H. C. Yarrow, on the Carolina coast..--- Fon opeBerocsa src s: "XVII Second visit to south coast of New England in 1872..............---.. XXXVI GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION... --.2.. .-.2 2-200 «220-000 --- cere XVII Recapitulation of objects of the inquiry --...-....-.-. Seep i522 - XVII Decrease of food-fishes ............--..----- ee er XVIII Substantiated by testimony .....-.....-...----- Se ys. XVIII Estabhghed by theinyestigation :.20.02cUlt. 2.2 ML .k. fee XVIII Supply of fish in the sea not inexhaustible -.-.........---..-....-- XIX Injurious effect of the Gecrease : 252. oie en. tee ethos oe XX, Causes of the decrease, alleged or actual ..........--...--2..----- 8 xX 1. Disappearance of the fool of fishes so o22. 2-2 se XXI 2. Change in locality of the fishes themselves .........---......--- XXI 3. Disease and atmospheric agencies ...=...---.. 02-2. -.-22e esses XXII A Ravagesof predacious fishes......--- - 2-25... <2 = weenie soon eee c XXII Drang AC SNCeS soon essen ce oan as ae eens See XXII PONUTTONIOL WaAbeRoo. oe ot saee acs Sale seen aes e ea eee Bee = XXIII Overtishinig nse. eee eee et sed eee s see One aes eee XXIV By ixediapparatas ceo sesso aces ee eee ues XXIV Location of such apparatus in Massachusetts and - : Rhode Island. 22-35. 522 322k 2. ies ee Dee eee KXV By mets and lines! 5g.0225 2 aoe ls nde eee XXXI 6. Combination of human and other agencies, especially blue-tish -- Extent of agency of blue-fish.....-. -.......--.- --- 2s. Lheir diminution not desirable... 2. 22-2 022. 52. Jeace Soe eee XXXII Their abundance dependent on that of other fish...-.....--.-. XXXII MMASURES SUGGESTED FOR RELIEF... 2.25555 2-5. secocs 5-500 onc=cee eee Pe 6.6.56: Regulation of use of fixed nets .-.. i ee eee. ©.0.0 i) Action by the States. .-.. 22222 -22.2.322. 42. 0de-. == => == Bill proposed for the purpose. --........-.- 0-0. s--6.--+55- =. 53 Arguments in its favor..-.. me Vols olajatn aie = eet ee ee ee eer XXXIV \ Absolute prohibition by the United States the alternative of want of action by the States -...........--...-.+---.----+----+-+-------. KRY Anticipation of improvement. 22.2... 2.2.22 2. 2. eles 2k al wines ee RESULT OF INQUIRING IN'ABT2. «20. eo eedeil seteden sie dee c+ eee eee XXXVI GENERAL SUMMARY OF RESULYS. 5552225. os3e 5. ceo oses cade eee XXXYVIII COMG TUSION? 345265065 CUs SSe043 nSbera ss sScomcs Steams noees ssa acc oss a2. XL
I.—REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER.
PRELIMINARIES OF THE INQUIRY.
The importance to the United States of the fisheries on its coasts can scarcely be exaggerated, whether we consider the amount of wholesome _ food which they yield, the pecuniary value of their products, the num-
ber of men and boys for whom they furnish profitable occupation, the stimulus to ship and boat building which they supply, and, not the least of all, their service as a school for seamen, from which the mer- chant-marine, as well as the Navy of the country, derive their most - important recruits. .
A few years ago, in view of the enormous abundance of fish originally existing in the sea, the suggestion of a possible failure would have been . considered idle; and the fisheries themselves have been managed with- out reference to the possibility of a future exhaustion. The country has, however, been growing very rapidly ; the construction of railroads and the use of ice for packing have furnished facilities for sending fish in good condition all over the country, and the demand for them has increased in proportion. The object of those engaged in the fisheries has been to obtain the largest supply in the shortest possible time, and this has involved more or less of waste, and, in some cases, reckless destruction of the fish. -
The discovery, too, that fish can be made to supply a valuable oil by boiling and pressing, and that the residue, as well as the uncooked fish, furnish a valuable manure, to be applied either directly or after special preparation, has constituted an additional source of consumption on a very large scale.
As might have reasonably been inferred, the supply, which formerly greatly exceeded the demand, now, to a certain extent at least and in certain localities, has failed; and.the impression has become prevalent that the fish themselves are diminishing, and that in time some kinds, at least, will be almost or quite exterminated. This assertion is made with reference to several species that formerly constituted an important part of the food supply; and the blame has been alternately laid upon one or another of the causes to which this result is ascribed, the fact of the decrease being generally considered as established.
The first official notice taken of this state of affairs, with the view of adopting measures for reliéf, was on the part of the States of Massachu- setts and Rhode Island, both being especially interested in the ques tion, as the greatest depreciation was alleged to have occurred on their southern border. The cause assigned by those who complained most
VIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
of the result was the multiplication of “traps” and “pounds,” which captured fish of all kinds in great numbers, and, as was supposed, in greater quantity than the natural fecundity of the fish could make good year by year, especially in view of the fact that these catches were made during the spawning season, thereby destroying many of the tertile fish and preventing others from depositing their eggs.
Petitions were presented to the legislatures of both these States in the winter of 1869~70, asking that a law be passed prohibiting the use of fixed apparatus for capturing fish; and the whole subject came before special committees of the legislatures, and was discussed in all its bearings. The Massachusetts committee, of which Captain Nathan- iel Atwood, of Provincetown, was chairman, after considering the evi- _ dence adduced, decided that there was no reasonable ground for the complaint, and that any action on the part of the State was inexpedi- ent. (See page 117 of the present report.)
On the other hand, the Rhode Island committee, after giving a much greater amount of personal attention to the matter, came to the con- clusion that the prayer of the petitioners was well founded, and they reported in favor of a very stringent law, prohibiting the further use of “traps” or “* pounds,” excepting within a limited district. (Page 104.) So far from agreeing with the Massachusetts committee on this subject, they gave it as one result of their inquiry that the difference in abun- dance of food-fishes between the present time and that ten years ago involved an increase in expense of at least $100 per annum to one thou- sand persons, resident on or near the sea-coast; or, in other words, that one thousand families were taxed to the amount of $100 a year for the purehase of food which previously was readily taken by one or other of its members, at odd moments of time throughout the season. So totally different were the conclusions arrived at by the two, com- mittees.*
The report against the prayer of the petitioners, made by the com- mittee of the Massachusetts State senate, settled the question for the time, and no further action was taken. The report of the Rhode Island committee, however, was presented to the legislature, but nothing defi- nite was done. In this State it became a political question rather than an economical one, and shared with the regular issues in determining the result of elections. Rhode Island being strongly republican, the republican ticket was usually elected without any question; but the
* This remarkable contradiction in the results of the two commissions showed the ne- cessity of a special scientific investigation on this subject, to be prosecuted in the way of direct experiment upon the fish themselves, their feeding and breeding grounds. It will be observed that the conclusions depended generally upon the evidence of fisher- men alone. The same was the case with the British commission, of which Professor Huxley was a member, and which in the course of its researches visited eighty-six places on the coast of England, and had before them large numbers of persons engaged | in the fisheries, some of them using nets and trawls, and others lines. These gentlemen reported that there was no proof adduced to show that the supply of fish in the Brit- ish seas had decreased, and therefore they opposed any restrictions.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. Ix
nominee of that party for lieutenant-governor, being looked upon as opposed to the abolition of the trapping of fish, was defeated by the popular vote, although subsequently elected by the legislature. The prevailing sentiment throughout the greater part of the State appeared to be in favor of the prohibition of traps, a measure which was confi- dently anticipated by all parties, although the propriety of such a course was contested by many persons whose judgment was entitled to consid- eration. Among these was Mr. Samuel Powel, a member of the State senate, who insisted that the question was too little understood to war- rant such action, and that it should first be made the subject of inquiry on the part of scientific men before a proper decision could be reached.
In the accompanying foot-note I present a communication from Dr. Hudson, received as this report is going through the press, in regard to the action on the same subject taken by the State of Connecticut.* This has more particular reference to shad and salmon, but has a part in the general inquiry.
*STATE OF CONNECTICUT, DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, ; Hartford, Connecticut, January 2, 1873.
Dear Sir: You ask for a short history of the efforts made to secure a law prohibit- iug pounds used for the taking of shad, or prospectively of salmon. In 1866 the Commis- sioners of fisheries of the New England States met at Boston to discuss measures for restoring salmon and increasing the number of shad in the different rivers of the States. The Connecticut River of our State was the only stream under special discus- sion, as four of the States, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were all equally interested. An agreement was finally made that the commissioners of Vermont and New Hampshire were to furnish all the salmon-fry necessary to- restock the river, Massachusetts was to furnish fishways for all dams on the river in the State,and the Connecticut commissioners were to procure a law abolishing pounds at the mouth of the river. In accordance with this agreement, our commissioners suc- ceeded in having a law passed in 1853, approved July 31, 1868, section 2 of which is as follows: “That from and after the year 1871 it shall be unlawful for any person to erect, construct, or continue in the waters along the northerly shore of Long Island Sound, in this State, any weir or pound for the taking of fish.” You will notice that no penalty is provided in case of non-observance of the law. To remedy this defect a Jaw (which I inclose) was passed in 1871, approved July 24, 1871, making a penalty of $400, but giving a majority of the commissioners authority to grant permits. As Massachusetts had built no fishways, and New Hampshire and Vermont did not pre- tend to live up to their promise in consequence, permits were granted under certain restrictions, and in 1872 the legislature passed a new law by which pounds may be allowed to fish except from sunrise on Saturday until sunrise on Monday, with a few hours’ allowance for tides. All restrictions on fykes have been repealed.
Yours, very truly, WM. M. HUDSON. Prof. 8. F. BarrD, Washington, D. C.
AN ACT in addition to an act for encouraging and regulating fisheries.
Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives, in general assembly convened : SecTion. 1. That upon a written request of the fish commissioners, or amajority of them the selectmen of any town in the State sball appoint two or more such persons as shall be approved by such fish commissioners to be fish wardens, whose duty it shall be to assist the fish commissioners in detecting and prosecuting offenses against the fishery laws of the State, and who shall be paid a suitable compensation from the treasurer of
xX REPORT’ OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
In view of such considerations as were adduced by Mr. Powel, and of
the contrariety of opinion on the part of State committees, it was deemed
desirable that the whole matter should be investigated by some scien- tific officer of the general Government presumed to be competent to the inquiry and entirely uninfluenced by local considerations. Indeed, as the alleged diminution of the fisheries was in tidal and navigable waters of the United States, and over which the Federal Government exercises jurisdiction in other matters, it was maintained by many that the State governments had no control, and that any enactments on the subject must be made by Congress; especially as, if left to the States, it would be impossible to secure that harmony and concurrence of action neces- sary for a successful result.
It will be observed that in all these cases the question turned upon the evidence of men who were interested in one way or another, and whose daily bread might depend largely upon the conclusions arrived . at. Many of them had made large investments of money in nets and boats, while others who had no such interests acted upon the natural antipathy that seems to exist between those using the net and those fishing with the line. It was also shown, by some of the testimony, that in many instances persons were biased in their evidence by intimidation, either papipesed or understood, on the part of the owners of nets. Ad-
the town Tis and. in addition thereto shall have one-half the penalty that may be recoy- ered and paid into the treasury for any offense detected by them.
Src. 2. Chapter 27 of the session laws of TEES, approved June 21, 1869, is hereby appealed,
Sec. 3. After the year 1871, any person who shall set, use, or continue, or shall assist in setting, or using any pound, weir, set-net, or other fixed or permanent contrivance for catching fish in any of the waters within the jurisdiction of the State without the written permission of the majority of the fish commissioners, shall forfeit and pay the sum of $400 to the treasury of the State. :
Src. 4. All the provisions of the third and fourth sections of the act entitled “ An act in addition to an act for encouraging and regulating fisheries,” passed May session, 1867, and approved July 26, 1867, are hereby extended and shall fully apply to this act; and all parts of acts heretofore passed which are inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
Src. 5. In addition to the penalties provided in section three, any justice of the peace for the county in which such pound, weir, set-net, or other fixed or permanent contri- vance has been so set up, used, or continned, or where any persons shall violate any of the laws of this State by fishing at such times as are prohibited by law, is hereby au- thorized and directed, upon the written request of any fish commissioner or fish warden, to issue his warrant commanding the sheriff, constable, or any other proper person or persons in such warrant named, to cause the same to be seized forthwith, together with all the parts thereof, and all nets, seines, boats, oars, sails, tackle, ropes, and other articles employed therewith, or used in violation of the laws of this State as aforesaid, and to be removed and sold at public auction to the highest bidder, and, after paying out of the proceeds of such sale all the expenses of such seizure, removal, and sale, to deposit what remains in the treasury of the State. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any pounds set for the purpose of catching white fish between the eastern boundary of the town of Clinton and Pond Point, in the town of Milford.
Src. 6. All acts or pares of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.
Approved July 24, 1871.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XI
mitting, however, that the use of nets of certain kinds has done a great part, or even the whole, of the mischief complained of, it was a matter worthy of serious inquiry whether so positive a measure as absolute prohibition was expedient or necessary, and whether by limiting the time during which the use of nets is allowed, the interests of both parties may not be reconciled, by giving to the fish the opportunity of spawning undisturbed, and also by regulating the size of the mesh, so as to catch only the oldest and largest fish. All this, however, was only to be ascertained by a careful study of the habits of the fish, so as to de- termine the nature of their food, the growth of their spawn, and other sireumstances bearing upon the solution of the problem in question.
The following bill for this purpose was therefore introduced into the) House of Representatives by the Hon. H. L. Dawes, and became a law on | the 9th of February, 1871:
[RESOLUTION OF GENERAL NATURE—NO. 8. ]
JOINT RESOLUTION for the protection and preservation of the food-fishes of the coast of the United States.
Whereas it is asserted that the most valuable foad-fishes of the coast and the lakes of the United States are rapidly diminishing in number, to the public injury, and so as materially to affect the interests of trade and commerce: Therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President be, and he hereby is, authorized and required to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among the civil officers or employés of the Government, one person of proved scientific and practical acquaintance with the fishes of the coast, to be commissioner of fish and fisheries, to serve without additional salary.
Suc. 2. And be it further resolved, That it shall be the duty of said commissioner to prosecute investigations and inquiries on the subject, with the view of ascertaining whether any and what diminution in the number of the food-fishes of the coast and the lakes of the United States has taken place; and, if so, to what causes the same is due ; and also whether any and what protective, prohibitory, or precautionary meas- ures should be adopted in the premises; and to report upon the same to Congress.
Sec. 3. ind be it further resolved, That the heads of the Executive Departments be, and they are hereby, directed to cause to be rendered all necessary and practicable aid to the said commissioner in the prosecution of the investigations and inquiries afore- said.
Suc. 4. And beit further resolved, That it shall be lawful for said commissioner to take, or cause to be taken, at all times, in the waters of the sea-coast of the United States, where the tide ebbs and flows, and also in the waters of the lakes, such fish or specimens thereof as may in his judgment, from time to time, be needful or proper for the conduct of his duties as aforesaid, any law, custom, or usage of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Approved February 9, 1871. b
AS passed, the resolution provided for the extension of the inquiry to the lakes, at the instance of some of the western members, who desired that the subject of the diminution in the supply of white-fish and other Species in the western waters should be investigated.
To carry out the provisions of the law, an appropriation was made by Congress to meet the necessary expenses of the investigation, and the
XII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
position of commissioner (without salary) having been tendered by the President, Lacceptedit, with the determination of giving to theinguiryas much consideration as the time at my disposal would permit; and, receiv- ing the necessary leave of absence from Professor Henry, the seeretary of the Smithsonian Institution, | proceeded to Vineyard Sound early in June, 1871, as it was in that region that the alleged decrease was most clearly manifested, and established my headquarters at Wood’s Hole, a village on the coast about eighteen miles from New Bedford, and directly opposite Holmes’s Hole, (now Vineyard Haven.) From this center I could readily reach all such points on the adjacent coast, as were most likely to furnish important facts bearing on the question. About the same time Mr. J. W. Milner, of Waukegan, Illinois, a gen- tleman of scientific training and ability, proceeded to Lake Michigan and spent the entire summer and autumn in prosecuting his labors in refer- ence to the fisheries of the lakes, the results of which will be presented hereafter.
The provision of the law directing the executive officers of the Government to render all the aid in their power to the required investi- gations was found to be of great value. By the direction of the Secre- tary of the Treasury, and through the courtesy of Mr. J. A. P. Allen, collector of customs at New Bedford, I was enabled to obtain the use of the small yacht Mazeppa, belonging to the New Bedford custom-house, as well as the services of the captain of the vessel, John B. Smith, esq., then janitor of the custom-house. A substitute in the way of a boat and captain was, however, furnished to the custom-house from the appro- priation for the inquiry. The Treasury Department also instructed the collector of customs at Newport to detail the revenue-cutter Moccasin, belonging to that station, and in command of Captain J. G. Baker, for use in my investigation whenever her services were not required in any other direction. The Light-House Board granted the occupation of some vacant buildings and of the wharf connected with their buoy-station at Wood’s Hole; and the Secretary of the Navy placed at my command for the sum- mer a small steam-launch, belonging to the navy-yard at Boston, and gave me the use of a large number of condemned powder-tanks, which served an excellent purpose in the preservation of specimens. I am also indebted to Professor Henry for permission to use the extensive collection of apparatus belonging to the Smithsonian Institution in the way of nets, dredges, tanks, &c., and thus saving the considerable out-
ay which would otherwise have been necessary.
Due use was made, in the course of the summer, of all the facilities in question, and I beg leave here to express my acknowledgments to the Treasury and Navy Departments; as also, among many others, to Captain Macy, of the Newport custom-house ; to Captain J. G. Baker and officers of the Moccasin; Mr. J. A. P. Allen, collector of customs, New Bedford ; to Captain John B. Smith, of the Mazeppa; to Captain Edwards, of the light-house buoy establishment at Wood’s Hole; as also to various other gentlemen whose names appear in the report.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XIII
CHARACTER AND PROGRESS OF THE INVESTIGATION.
The plan adopted for the inquiry was determined upon after careful deliberation. The great contrariety of opinion developed in the State investigations as to what should have been the best-known facts in the life-history of the fishes and their associates in the sea, made it necessary to study the natural history of these species as thoroughly as possible, so as to have amore complete knowledge of the facts, and con- sequently better means of arriving at satisfactory conclusions. Works already published upon American fishes proved to contain compara- tively little of value as to the biography of the coast species; and the evidence of fishermen and others, whose judgment ought to be reliable, was found to be entirely contradictory and unserviceable. A systematic plan of inquiry was therefore drawn up, with the assistance of Professor Gill, embracing the points in the history of the fishes information rela- tive to which was desirable, and a series of questions was devised, (see _ page 1,) answers to which, if satisfactory and complete, would leave lit- tle room for future inquiry. These were printed for the purpose of giv- ing them a wide circulation, and include queries in reference to the local names of each kind of fish, its geographical distribution, its abun- dance at different periods of the year and in different seasons, its size, its migrations and movements, its relationship to its fellows or to other species, its food, and its peculiarities of reproduction; also questions relative to artificial culture, to protection, diseases, parasites, mode of capture, and economical value and application—eighty-eight qaestions in all, covering the entire ground.
, As the history of the fishes themselves would not be complete with- out a thorough knowledge of their associates in the sea, especially such as prey upon them or in turn constitute their food, it was con- sidered necessary to prosecute searching inquiries on these points, especially as one supposed cause of the diminution of the fishes was the alleged decrease or displacement of the objects upon which they subsist.
Furthermore, it was thought likely that peculiarities in the temper- ature of the water at different depths, its chemical constitution, the per-
, centage of carbonic-acid gas and of ordinary air, its currents, &c., might all bear an important part in the general sum of infiuences upon the fisheries; and the inquiry, therefore, ultimately resolved itself into an investigation of the chemical and physical character of the water, and of the natural history of its inhabitants, whether animal or vegetable. It was considered expedient to omit nothing, however trivial or obscure, that might tend to throw light upon the subject of inquiry, especially as without such exhaustive investigation it would be impossible to de- termine what were the agencies which exercised the predominant influ- ences upon the economy of the fisheries.
As already stated, the preliminary arrangements having been made, and the necessary leave of absence granted by Professor Henry, I left
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Washington and established myself at Wood’s Hole, where shortly after my arrival [ was joined by Mr. 8. J. Smith and by Professor A. E. Ver- rill, of Yale College, who had kindly undertaken to conduct the inqui- ries into the invertebrate fauna of the waters. With the facilities in the way of steamers and boats already referred to, I repeatedly visited in person the entire coast from Hyannis, Massachusetts, to Newport, Rhode Island, as well as the whole of Buzzard’s Bay, Nantucket, Mar- tha’s Vineyard, &c., and in addition to making collections and investi- gations, I secured the testimony of a large number of persons who were interested in the inquiry ; among whom were nearly all the leading fish- ermen, both line-men and trappers, as well as those who had been dealers in fish and engaged in supplying the markets of New York and Boston for many years. Many of these persons eagerly embraced the opportunity totell their story of alleged wrongs, to urge various methods for their redress, or else to claim the possession a certain inherent rights which it were r rank injustice to deprive them of. A verbatim report of this testimony was made by Mr. Henry E. Rockwell, an accomplished phonographer, and has been printed in part, beginning on page 7.
I also made the acquaintance of several gentlemen of literary ability and research, who had previously given much attention to the various questions connected with the fisheries, and who had in a measure be- come champions of the opposing sides, and obtained from them elabo- rate arguments on the subject. That of Mr. J. M. K. Southwick, of Newport, in behalf of the traps and pounds, will be found on page 76, and of Mr. George H. Palmer, of New Bedford, and Mr. J. Talbot Pit- man, of Providence, as opposed to their continuance and in the interest of the line-fishermen, on pages 88 and 196.
Many important facts were thus elicited by means of the inquiries and testimony referred to, suggesting hints for personal examination to be subsequently prosecuted. Nearly all the fish pounds and traps along the coast, some thirty in number, were visited, and their location and character determined. These have been designated on a map of Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island, which accompanies the present report.
The large number of pounds in the vicinity of Wood’s Hole rendered it an easy matter to obtain material for investigation; and the oppor- | tunity was embraced for determining more satisfactorily, from the con- tents of the stomachs of the different kinds of fish captured, the precise nature of their food. For the facilities in the way of specimens fur- nished by the proprietors of these pounds, always readily given, I beg to render my acknowledgments ; especially to Captain Isaiah Spindel, at Wood’s Hole; to Captain Rogen & Brothers, at Quissett; to Cap-
tain Peter Davis, at Ram’s Head; to Captain Jason Luce & Co., at Menemsha Bight; to Captain Phinney, at Waquoit, and to others.
In addition to the material secured by thus sedulously visiting the pounds and other localities for the objects mentioned, seines and nets of different kinds were set or drawn almost every aie for the pur-
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XV
pose of ascertaining facts connected with the spawning of the fish, the rate of growth of the yourrg, the localities preferred by them, &c. Professor Verrill and his parties wese engaged also throughout the summer in .making collections along the shores at low tide, as also in the constant use of the dredge and the towing-net.
One important question connected with this investigation, in addition to determining the character of the food available for the fishes, was to ascertain its comparative abundance, a great diminution or failure of such food having been alleged as one cause of the decrease of the fisheries. Care was therefore taken to mark out the position and ex- tent of different beds of mussels, worms, star-fishes, &c., at the sea-bot- tom, and by straining the water at various depths and at the surface, to ascertain the amount of animal life therein. Temperature observations were also repeatedly taken and recorded, especially from the revenue- cutter Moccasin, under command of Captain Baker.
Having ample facilities at hand for making zoological collections, the opportunity was embraced to secure large series, not only for the na- tional museum at Washington, but also for other establishments; and a sufficient quantity was gathered to supply sets (as soon as they can be fully elaborated) to the various colleges and other public institutions throughout the country. Large numbers of fishes, especially of the more showy kinds, such as sharks, skates, rays, &c., in which the waters abound, were secured for a similar purpose, and a partial distribution to colleges and societies has already been made of the duplicates of this portion of the collections. The occasion was also embraced by several gentlemen to make special collections for establishments with which they were connected. Among them we may mention more particularly Professor Jenks, in behalf of Brown University; Professor Hyatt, for the Boston Society of Natural History; Professors Smith and Verrill, for Yale College; Professor Todd, for Tabor College, Lowa; Doctor Far- low, for the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, &e. Facilities for such en- terprises were always gladly furnished.
With a view of exhibiting the character of the fishes of the region explored, and determining their rate of growth, an experienced photog- rapher accompanied the party, who, in the course of the summer, made over two hundred large negatives of the species in their different stages of development, at successive intervals throughout the season. These constitute a series of illustrations of fishes entirely unequaled ; forming an admirable basis for a systematic work upon the food-fishes of the United States, should authority be obtained to prepare and publish it.
Among gentlemen interested in science who visited Wood’s Hole dur- ing the summer for a greater or less period of time, either with special reference to co-operation in the work of the commission, or on account of the interest experienced in such investigations, may be mentioned Professor L. Agassiz, of Cambridge; Professor J. W. P. Jenks, of Brown University; Professors Verrill, Smith, D. C. Eaton, William D. Whitney,
‘
XVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
William H. Brewer, and Mr. Thatcher, of Yale College; Professor Hy- att and Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, of Boston; Dr. W. G. Farlow, of Cam- bridge; Professor Theodore Gill and Dr. Edward Palmer, of Washing- ton; Colonel Theodore Lyman, Massachusetts commissioner of fish- eries; Mr. Gwyn Jeffries, of England; Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford; Professor Todd, of Mount Tabor, Iowa; Professor O. C. Thompson, of the Technical Institute, Worcester, and several others.
As already mentioned, my own stay on the coast of Wood’s Hole ex- tended until the early part of October; and, on my departure, I com- missioned Mr, Vinal N. Edwards, of that place, to continue the investi- gation as far as possible, by collecting facts in regard to the more im- portant species, and especially iis to the time of their leaving the shores. This he performed with great fidelity, besides securing valuable speci- mens of rare fishes and transmitting them to Washington.
An interesting result of the labors at Wood’s Hole, during the sum- mer of 1871, consisted in the great variety of fishes obtained through the pounds and otherwise, many of them of kinds previously unknown on the New England coast. The total number actually secured and photographed amounted to one hundred and six species, of which twenty or more are not included in the great work of Dr. Storer on the fishes of Massachusetts. Nine species are mentioned by various others as foundin the waters of Vineyard Sound, but which were not secured; making one hundred and fifteen in all now known to belong to that fauna.
Among the more interesting novelties observed in the way of fishes was a species of tunny, a kind of smail horse-mackerel, (the Orcynus thunnina,) a species weighing about twenty pounds, and which, although well known in the Mediterranean and in the warmer part of the At- lantic, had never been recorded ag taken on the American coast. This fish proved to be quite common, not less than five hundred having been taken in the fish-pounds at Menemsha Bight alone. Two species of the sword-fish family, never noted before in the United States, were also captured. A complete list of the fishes taken, appended to this report, will elucidate more clearly the richness of the locality.
The variety of other marine animals secured was also unexpectedly large. Most of these will be referred to in the appendix, in the form of a paper by Professor Verrill. A list of the alga, furnished by Dr. W. G. Farlow, of Cambridge, will also be found therein.
After completing my field labors for the season of 1871, I had a con- ference in Boston with Mr. Theodore Lyman, fish commissioner of Massachusetts, and Mr. Alfred Read, commissioner of Rhode Island, to- gether with Mr. Samuel Powel, of Newport, when the results of the season were discussed, and the draught of a fishery bill presented, which was proposed for adoption by the States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The deliberations and discussions of this meeting will be found on page 125.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XVII
Simultaneously with the inquiries prosecuted during the summer of 1871, by myself and companions, a careful study was made of the food- fishes found off the coast of North Carolina, by Dr. H. C. Yarrow, acting assistant surgeon United States Army, stationed at Fort Macon. The value of the services of this gentleman in the collection of facts and statistics of the fisheries, and in adding to our knowledge of the natural history of the species, as well as in making collections of specimens, can searcely be overestimated. The conclusions arrived at by this gentle- man and his notes upon the specimens will be found embodied in the report.
During the summer and autumn of 1871, Mr. J. W. Milner, deputy commissioner for the great lakes, made the complete circuit of Lake Michigan, visiting every pound and gill-net station, and collecting a most ‘important body of information and material. This will be made the subject of a special report, as soon as the data collected in 1872 can be properly arranged. — .
GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION.
Having thus given an account of the circumstances which led to this inquiry, of the method of research adopted, and of the steps taken to carry out the programme, I now proceed to discuss, in a general way, the results obtained by the investigation, premising, however, that this is but the fruit of two seasons, and requires to be revised by a care- ful comparison of results for several successive years. Enough, how- ever, has been determined to furnish a general indication in regard to havits of the fishes, and of the methods most likely to accomplish the object of their restoration to their original condition.
As already stated, the objects of the investigation, as authorized by Congress, were, first, to determine the facts as to the alleged decrease of the food-fishes; secondly, if such a decrease be capable of substantia- tion to ascertain the causes of the same; and, thirdly, to suggest methods for the restoration of the supply. A fourth object incidental to the rest was to work out the problems connected with the physical character of the seas adjacent to the fishing localities, and the natural history of the inhabitants of the water, whether vertebrate or invertebrate, and the associated vegetable life; as also to make copious and exhaustive collections of specimens, for the purpose of enriching the national museum at Washington, and of furnishing duplicates for distribution in series to such suitable collegiate and other cabinets as might be recommended for the purpose.
This research into the general natural history of the waters was con- sidered legitimate, as, without a thorough knowledge of the subject, it would be impossible to determine, with precision, the causes afiecting the abundance of animal life in the sea and the methods for regulating it; and the record of these facts, accompanied by proper illustrative figures, it was believed would be a very acceptable contribution to the
S. Mis. 61 II
XVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
cause of popular education, and supply a want which has long been felt in this country. ; .
As the direct operations of the commission required the use of exten- sive and complicated apparatus, the additional cost of securing speci- mens enough for the principal cabinets was found to be trifling, and the opportunity for enriching them with material usually so diffieult of acquisition it was thought should by no means be lost.
Nearly all enlightened nations have devoted much time to the investi- gation of precisely such subjects, the German government, in particular, having now in progress, under the direction of the National Fishery Association, an exhaustive examination of all its shores and the adjacent waters, believing that, by a thorough investigation, @ priori in this direction, the various problems in reference to the culture and protection of fish, oysters, lobsters, crabs, and the like, could be more readily settled.
I. DECREASE OF THE FISH.—Bearing in mind that the present report has more particular reference to the south side of New England, and especially to that portion of it extending from Point Judith on the west to Monomoy Point on the east, including Narragansett Bay, Vineyard Sound, Buzzard’s Bay, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, I have no hesitation in stating that the fact of an alarming decrease of the shore- fisheries has been thoroughly established by my own investigations, as well as by evidence of those whose testimony was taken upon the sub- ject.
Comparatively a few years ago this region was perhaps the scene of the most important summer fishery on our coast, the number of southern or deep-sea species resorting to its shoal bays and inlets to de- posit their eggs being almost incredible. The testimony of the earliest writers, as well as that given by witnesses examined, and set forth in the appendix to the present report, as to the abundance of the fish, is believed to be by no means exaggerated; and even within the memory of persons now living, the mass of animal life was exceedingly great. The most important of the fish referred to were the scup, the tautog or black-fish, the striped-bass, and the sea-bass, in addition to which there were species of less importance, although equally edible, such as the sheep’s-head, the king-fish, the weak-fish, We.
The appearance of these fish was very regular, and their arrival upon the shore could be calculated upon with almost the same precision as the return of migratory birds; varying only, year by year, with special conditions of temperature and oceanic currents. Other species, more capricious in their appearance, and belonging essentially to the division of outside fishes, were the mackerel, the blue-fish, the Spanish mackerel, the bonito, &e. The alewife, or gaspereaux, and theshad were also included ; as likewise the salmon, at an earlier period, although this fish was exterminated at a comparatively early period. (See page 149 et seq.)
"REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XIX
In view of the facts adduced in reference to the shore-fishes, there can be no hesitation in accepting the statement that there has been an enor- mous diminution in their number, although this had already occurred to a considerable degree with some species by the beginning of the present century. The evidence of the fishermen, however, and of others familiar with the subject, as published in the present report, goes to prove that the decrease has continued in an alarmingly rapid ratio dur- ing the last fifteen or twenty years, or even less; and I can state of my own personal observation that localities in Vineyard Sound where nine years ago an abundance of scup, tautog, sea-bass, &c., especially the former, could be caught, do not now yield one-tenth part of the weight of fish, in the same time and at the same season. <As the decrease is most strongly marked in the case of the scup, | refer for the details to the chapter on that fish, (page 228.)
We may also refer to the testimony of the Rhode Island committee, on page 104, in reference to the increase of the cost of living on the coast of that State, in consequence of the diminution of the fisheries. “One very intelligent man thought it made $100 difference in the cost of living to those persons living on theshore and in the small towns on the bay, and, from his own experience, he hadno doubt that there are one thousand persons living near the shore to whom it made this differ- ence, amounting to a loss to them of $100,000 each year, that of the high price of fish in Providence market not being taken into account.” (Page 105.)
The condition of things referred to is, perhaps, not felt uniformly over the entire coast, but in certain regions the complaint in regard to it is universal; and it will be our object to make inquiry hereafter as to the real causes of the evil.
~Many persons are in the habit of considering that the fish supply of the sea is practically inexhaustible; and, therefore, that a scarcity of any particular location is to be referred rather to the movements of the fish, in changing their feeding-grounds capriciously, or else in following the migration, from place to place, of the food upon which they live. This may be true to a certain extent, as we shall hereafter show, but it is difficult to point out any locality where, near the shores in the New England States, at least, under the most favorable view of the case, the fish are quite as plentiful as they were some years ago; and still more so where, by their overlapping the original colonists of the sea-bottom, they tend to render the abundance appreciably greater than usual. And, furthermore, if the scarcity of the fish be due to their going off into the deep waters of the ocean, it is, of course, of very little moment to the fisherman that they are as abundant in the sea as ever, if they do not come upon such grounds as will permit their being taken by his lines or nets.
It is by no means to be inferred from our remarks as to the scarcity of fish that fewer are actually caught now than formerly at any time;
KX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. *
the contrary, perhaps, being the case, since by means of the improved methods of capture, in the way of pounds and nets, an immense supply is taken out at certain seasons of the year so as frequently to glut the markets. The scarcity referred to is better shown by the great difficulty experienced by line-fishermen in securing a proper supply throughout the year on grounds where they were formerly able to catch all they needed for their own use and for sale.*
The evil effects of the state of things here indicated, are felt in many ways. Primarily on the part of many fishermen, resident on the coast, who bave been-in the habit of making a living by the proceeds of their occupation, not only supplying themselves with food, fresh and salt, for the year, but also making a comfortable living by sales’of their sur- plus. At the present time this resource is cut off to a great degree from this class of people in many places on the Massachusetts coast, where, as on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and elsewhere, the deprivation from the loss of profits by fishing is being most seriously felt. The re- sult, of course, of the inability to make a living in this manner is to drive the line-fishermen to other occupations, and especially to- induce them to leave the State for other fields of industry. In consequence the population is reduced, and the community feels this drain of some of its best material in many ways. Furthermore, property depreciates in value, farms and houses are abandoned, the average of taxation is increased, and many other evils, readily suggesting themselves, are developed.
Again, an important stimulus to the building. of ships and boats is- lost in the decreasing demand for vessels of various grades; and, what is more important to the country at large, the training of skilled sea- men with which to supply our national and our merchant marine gener- ally is stopped, or more or less interfered with. It is well known that the line-fisheries, in their different manifestations, have always been looked upon as of the utmost importance in a politico-economical point of view, for which reason bounties were paid by the General Gov- ernment; and, although these have been lately withheld, it may yet be necessary to restore them in order to regain our lost ground.
II. CAUSES OF THE DECREASE.—As the testimony and considerations already adduced may justly be considered as establishing the fact of the vast decrease in the extent and value of the summer shore-fisheries on the south side of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the question recurs
*In the article on scup in the body of the report (p. 228) will be found a detailed ac- count of the occurrence of the young fish, to an enormous extent, in the spring of 1871, and thespeculationsas to their origin. These reappeared in 1872, though in much less numbers, as two-year-old fish, and by autumn weighed from one-third to half a pound, and will doubtless be met with again in 1273 as marketable fish. There is, however, no evidence to show that a renewed supply of young fish, or at least in anything like the same numbers, was present in 1872; which tends to render the problem of their appearence still more difficult of solution.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XX
as to the causes which have led to this result. These, as commonly given, are principally the following:
1. The decrease or disappearance of the food upon which the fish sub- sat, necessitating their departure to other localities.
2. A change of location, either entirely capricious or induced by the necessity of looking for at elsewhere, as just referred to.
3. Epidemic diseases, or peculiar atmospheric agencies, such as heat, cold, &e.
4. Destruction by other fishes.
o. The agency of man; this being manifested either in the pollution of the water by the discharge into it of the refuse of manufactories, &e., or by excessive overfishing, or the use of improper apparatus. aa
These we will now proceed to discuss briefly in their order, beginning with, first, disappearance of the food.
To this Saber special attention was given in the course of site inves- tigations of 1871 and 1872, as the suggestion was quite plausible, and by many was believed to be of great weight. The dredging operations under Professors Verrill and Smith, were admirably calculated to test this question, as the sea-bottom was raked in every direction by the dredges; and the towing and drifting nets revealed the extent and comparative abandance of animal life in the surface-water or throughout its depths. '
Fortunately for the proper solution of this question, an extensive series of dredging operations had been conducted by myself in the waters in the vicinity of Wood’s Hole, as long ago as 1863, when the
‘diminution in the abundance of the fishes had not male itself so palpa- ble. Asa general result, it may be said that, so far from there being any scarcity of invertebrate life in the waters during the summer of 1871, as compared with earlier years, its actual amount was such .as to strike with astonishment every one in our party engaged in the in- quiry. The dredge was never brought up from seraping the bottom without being filled with worms, star-fishes, sea-urchins, shells, &e. The location of numereus mussel-beds, of acres in extent, was estab- lished; the towing-net would become almost filled, in a short time, with embryos of crabs, worms, ascidians, &c., and, on several occasions, in dredging off the coast, to a distance of twenty or thirty miles, the water was found to be so thick with animal life that a bucket of water drawn up would contain hundreds of specimens, the sea indeed appearing like a thick mush of organisms. If any difference were appreciable between the seasons of 1863 and that of 1871,it was in favor of the latter, possibly, indeed, because of the much less number of fishes ecalcu- lated to reduce the mass. The validity, therefore, of the assumption of a diminution of food may be denied in the most positive terms.
The second alleged cause, that of change of abode on the part ofthe fishes, has also received proper consideration; but the inost careful inquiry failed to reveal any locality or localities along the coast where |
XXII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
these fishes were to be found in an increased abundance, such as would result from the overlapping of the normal supply of any part of the coast by thatfroma differentregion. The fish were certainly not displaced in an easterly direction;-and to the west of Narragansett Bay their numbers, though perhaps not diminished to the same extent as east of it, were deceit less than formerly.
Thirdly, disease or atmospheric agencies.—The question of epidemie diseases among fishes is sometimes suggested by finding large numbers coming ashore, at times with and at others without any assignable cause. Occasionally this may be referred to voleanic exhalations, which charge the water with sulphuretted hydrogen gas or other noxious sub- stances, and thus produce death. Where no positive cause can be indi- cated, the occurrence of some form of disease is frequently assigned as the reason. Itisstated, forinstance, that in the last century the blte-fish about Nantucket, then in great abundance and of enormous size, so large indeed that thirty of them would fill a flour-barrel, were attacked by a disease which destroyed them in large numbers; and that the Indians of the island were nearly exterminated at the same time, either by sharing in a common attack, or by eating the diseased fish. In the course of time the blue-fish again returned to the Nantucket waters, although of much smaller size than formerly represented; but the In- dians never recovered their ground, their number being now extremely limited.
The agency of cold is also given as producing occasionally great mortality, especially among the tautog. A very cold spell, occur- ring at low tide some years ago, is said to have killed the tautog in such numbers that hundreds of tons were thrown ashore at Block Island and along the southern shores of Rhode Island and Massachu- setts. This fact appears to be well attested, and, in all probability, may have had a decided influence, and similar facts, though on a much smaller scale, have been adduced in reference to the young scup in the late autumn, but this cannot have material influence on the number of old scup, as may be the case with the striped bass and tautog, both of which are known to be winter residents of these shores. Similar facts have been observed even as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, where the occurrence of a “‘norther” not unfrequently produces more or less mortality by chilling the water.
The fourth cause of decrease, as alleged, namely, the ravages of predaceous fishes, I am quite satisfied is one worthy of serious con- sideration, the principal offender in this respect being the blue-fish. No one who has spent a season on the coast, where this fish abounds, can fail to have been struck with its enormous voracity, aud the amount of destructiveness which it causes among other kinds of fish. Wherever it appears in large numbers it is sure to produce a marked effect upon the supply of other fishes, either by driving them away from their accustomed haunts or by destroying them in large quantities in any
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXIII
given locality. Ample evidence to this effect will be found in the tes- timony presented in the present report, as well as in the article on the blue-fish, (page 235.) As there stated, it is a pelagie or wandering fish, going in immense schools, and characterized by a voracity and blood- thirstiness which, perhaps, has no parallel in the animal kingdom.
The fish seems to live only to destroy, and is constantly employed in pursuing and chopping up whatever it can master. As some one has said, it is an animated chopping-machine. Sometimes among a school of herring or menhaden thousands of blue-fish will be seen, biting off the tail of one and then another, destroying ten times as many fish as they really need for food, and leaving in their track the surface of the water covered with the blood and fragments of the mangled fish.
The blue-fish range in size, when two years of age and over, from five to twelve pounds. I ascertained by a careful inquiry into the number shipped by the dealers along the shore that about a million and a quarter could be estimated as the number captured along through Vineyard Sound and on the coast from Monomoy Point through Long Island Sound and sent to market in 1871. Any one who has seen these fish will judge that not one in a hundred is taken. If, now, we admit the presence of 100,000,000 blue-fish in these waters referred to, we may form some estimate of the number of fish destroyed by them. To esti- mate twenty per day as the number destroyed, if not devoured, by each blue-fish, is by no means extravagant, when we bear in mind the result of my own examinations and the testimony of others.
We all know that fish-spawn and fish in different stages of growth constitute the principal source of food to other fishes in the sea, and that the great proportion of fishes devoured are of tender age. The blue-fish, however, will often attack species but little less than itself, and the 100,000,600 referred to probably destroy fishes of two or three ounces and upward; that is to say, those that have passed the ordinary perils of early life, and have a fair chance to reach maturity. There- fore, if 12,000,000,000 are eaten, the number destroyed off the New Eng- land coast ip a season of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty days can be easily estimated.
No other sea-coast than that of the Atlantic border of the United States can show, as far as our informatign extends, so destructive a scourge as the blue-fish, occurring in such numbers, of so large a size, and of so massive a frame; able to cope with and mutilate, if not devour, any other fish of less size. Indeed, I am quite inclined to assign to the blue-fish the very first position among the injurious influences that have affected the supply of fishes on the coast. Yet, with all this de- struction by the blue-fish, it is probable that there would not have been so great a decrease of fish as at present but for the concurrent action of man, as we shall endeavor to show farther on.
Under the fifth head, that of human agencies, we may consider first the question of the pollution of the water by poisonous agencies.
XXIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
These may consist, as already stated, of chemical substances, which exert a directly poisonous influence, or of mechanical objects, such as sawdust, which, it is said, gets into the gills of fishes, and ultimately causes their death, or, falling to the bottom, with edgings, bark, &e., covers up the gravel and destroys the natural spawning-beds, and thus prevents the development of the eggs.
These causes, however, apply essentially to rivers, and their injuri- ous action in such cases has frequently been substantiated, and has in- voked, in many instances, legislative interference. They exercise very little influence, however, in regard to the fishes of the sea. The testi- mony before the Rhode Island legislature would tend to show that, in the immediate vicinity of factories on the Narragansett Bay and its. tributaries, many of the smaller varieties of fish were as abundant as ever, and that, even in the vicinity of gas-works, the discharge from which, as containing creosote and other substances, might be expected to produce a very injurious effect, the only result was the imparting of an unpleasant, tar-like taste to oysters and other mollusks that oe- curred in the neighborhood. It is by no means impossible that some fish might be driven away from the vicinity of the discharge of such an establishment; but that any marked effect could be produced on a large scale is not to be admitted. .
Whatever the condition of things may be in Narragansett Bay, we know that none of the agencies alluded to exist, to any considerable extent, along other portions of the New England coast, where the facet of a similar scarcity of fish has been equally established.
We come, therefore, to the question of improper or excessive fishing. The capture of the sea-fishes by man is usually proseeuted either by the hook and line or by means of nets or weirs. Nets for the capture of fish may be divided into those which are movable and those which are fixed. Among the movable we may mention the seine, which incloses the fish. in bodies, and either hauls them to the shore or gathers them in the open water, and the gill-net, in which the heads of the swimming fish pass partly through the meshes of the net, by which, in their effort to withdraw, they are held securely. These gill-nets may be either fixed © or floating; if the latter, they are called “ drifting nets.”
‘The apparatus for capture by fixed nets have various names and modes of operation, as “ traps,” “pounds,” “ weirs,” “fykes,” &e. The trap is an apparatus peculiar to the Narragansett Bay, and consists of an oblong inclosure of netting on three sides and at the bottom, anchored securely by the side of achannel. Into this the fish enter, and the hot-. tom of: the net being lifted to the surface at the open end, the fish are penned in and driven into a lateral inclosure, where they are kept until needed. <A net of this character requires constant attention, as the fish, after making the circuit of the trap, can readily pass out, unless pre- vented. On page 10, in Mr. Southwick’s testimony, will be found a
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXV
figure and diagram illustrating the construction of these two forms of apparatus, as also in the special article on modes of capturing fish.
The pounds and weirs are adapted not only for taking, but many of tlfem for retaining, the fish untilit is convenient to remove them, need- ing no watching to prevent their escape. These are of various con- struction, depending upon the depth of the water, the tide, the nature of the shore, the kind of fish to be taken, &c. The most common form on the south side of New England consists of a fence of netting, ex- tending from’the shore, and nearly perpendicular to it, for a distance of 50 or 100 fathoms or more, as the circumstances may require. The outer end of this straight fence or wall is carried into a heart-shaped fence of netting, the apex of which is connected with a cireular “ bowl” of net-work, the bottom of which lies upon the ground, at a depth of 20 to 30 feet. The fish, in their movement along the coast, first strike against the fence of netting and are directed outward, following the fence or “leader” along until they reach the end, which, of course, brings them within the “heart.” Here they wander around for a time, their only easy avenue for escape being through the apex into the “bowl,” and in which when entered they continually circle about with- out ever finding the outlet. It is a peculiarity of fishes in their move- ments, especially when in schools, that they do not turn a sharp corner, but move around in curves; and the nets in question are so arranged that the curves they are likely to take never bring them toward an avenue of escape, but rather tend to conduct them farther within.
The “weirs” differ from the “ pounds” principally in being constructed, in whole or in part, of brush or of narrow boards, with or without net- ting; and they are sometimes so arranged that at low tide a sand-bar cuts off the escape of the fish, leaving them in a basin inside, allowing them to be taken at any time before a certain stage of rise of the next tide. The variety of these modes of capture is very great, and I have given in the appendix a description of the forms best known, accom- panied by the figures necessary for their illustration, and to these would refer for further information.*
*On the map accompanying this report I have marked the traps and pounds in operation in 1871, on the south side of New England, east of Point Judith, as far as I was able to ascertain their existence. Information concerning those in Rhode Island was furnished by J. M. K. Southwick. Notices of those farther east were, for the most part, supplied by Captain Edwards, supplemented by my own observations. To Captain Prince Crowell I am indebted for a list of the weirs in Cape Cod Bay, repre- sented on a separate map. I also give a separate sketch of Seaconnet Point, showing the peculiarities of arrangement of the traps in that region.
According to Mr. Southwick, there were in Narragansett Bay, in 1871, twenty pound or heart nets, of which the map represents eight on Conanicut Island, and eight on Rhode Island. There were sixteen traps—seven on Rhode Island and nine at Seaconnet Point. Seven of the latter indeed are double, each counting as two, making twenty-three, or a total of forty-three. But few of these were fished after the middle of June.
In Buzzard’s Bay and on the Elizabeth Islands the pounds were as follows: One at
XXVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
The propriety of authorizing the erection of weirs and pounds occu- pied the attention of the Canadian authorities a number of years ago, and, in consequence of the results of special inquiries, and the general impression on the part of the fishermen and others interested, the use of weirs and traps was forbidden in certain portions of the Dominion, as in the vicinity of Miramichi, and they were placed under close restric- tion in other localities. The amount of offal usually thrown into the water in the vicinity of the herring-weirs was supposed to have an inju- rious effect in driving away schools of herring; and a marked decrease in the shad-fishery of the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence was ascribed to the action of the weirs in entrapping the young fish and sausing them to perish in immense numbers. In the appendix to the present report I give the testimony of various English writers in regard to the necessity of protecting the fisheries by restricting the time of capture and the nature of the apparatus. Among these Bertram is very outspoken in his views, taking direct grounds against the report of the British commission, consisting of Professor Huxley and his «sso- ciates.
As I have already remarked, the ordinary brush-weir arrangements, as used on the coast of Great Britain, are not caleulated to produce very serious effects, owing to the fact that it is only species coming into comparatively shallow water that are captured in them; and there is abundant opportunity for the fish to escape from their toils, unless attended to immediately. I am, however, inclined to think that with the introduction of the improved American methods of traps and pounds
Clark’s Cove ; three on Sconticut Neck; one at West Island, near New Bedford; one at Mattapoisett; one at West Falmouth; two at Quissett Harbor; two on Long Neck, near the guano-works of Wood’s Hole; ong at Hadley Harbor, two at Ram’s Head, one at Robinson Hole, Naushon; five in Menemsha Bight; two at Tisbury, five at Lombard’s Cove, two in Holmes’s Hole, one west of West Chop, Martha’s Vineyard; one at Fal- mouth; one at Waquoit, and one at Coltuit, on Vineyard Sound; or a total of thirty- five recorded, besides others probably omitted. Of these the greater number were kept down only to about the middle of June. Among those known to have been worked till late in the season were at least two near New Bedford; two at Quissett; one at Wood’s Hole; two on Naushon; four on Martha’s Vinevard, and one at West Falmouth; twelve or more.
I am informed that the number of pounds and traps in Narragansett Bay, in opera-“ tion in 1872, was about the same as in 1871, but that there was a considerable increase to the eastward. Then there were four more at Menemsha Bight; one at Lombard’s Cove; one at Paintville, Martha’s Vineyard; two or more at Kettle Cove, Naushon, and one on the north side of Narhawena, an addition of at least nine to the thirty-five ~ previously enumerated. More would doubtless have been erected if suitable locations could have been found.
According to the chart furnished by Captain Crowell there were fifteen weirs in Cape Cod Bay in 1871, extending from Barnstable to Wellfleet.
It is very probable that [ have not learned the situation of all the traps and pounds in Massachusetts waters, as Mr. Bassett, of New: Bedford, in his testimony in 1872, stated that there were seven between New Bedford and Mishaum Point, of which I have only enumerated four.
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXVILI
into Great Britain, a very different verdict would be given as the result of thirty years’ trial. While the seines ensnare enormous quantities of certain kinds of fish, under especially favorable circumstances, the pounds and traps take them in still larger numbers, because they act without the direct agency of their owners, who can remain on shore during stormy weather, as- sured that the very disturbance of the sea will conduce to the greater ex- tent of the catch. Thousands of barrels of fishes are frequently taken at a time, and lam myself cognizant of the capture of no less than 20,000 blue-fish, representing a weight of at least 100,000 pounds, in one weir, in the course of a single night. In the appendix will be found an account of captures effected at various weirs and pounds. With this general explanation of the character of these potent engines, we may perhaps realize their bearing upon the question of the fisheries. As set in the waters of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, they are usu- ally put down in the early spring and keptat work for six weeks, or even longer; not unfrequently throughout the whole summer, but are taken up before the autumnal storms occur, in order to prevent their destruc- tion. The expense of a net-pound is very considerable, amounting to two and even three thousand dollars, while four men at least are re- quired throughout the season to attend to one. They are usually in operation by the Ist of May, sometimes being set a little earlier and sometimes later, and they take generally more or less in the order speci- fied the following more important kinds of fish: Alewives, (Pomolobus pseudo-harengus, Gill.) Horned dog-fish, (Squalus americanus, Gill.) Tautog, (Tautoga onitis, Gthr.) Mackerel, (Scomber vernalis, Mitch.) Menhaden, (Brevoortia menhaden, Gill.) Scup, (Stenotomus argyrops, Gill.) Sea bass, (Centropristes furvus, Gill.) Blue-fish, (Pomatomus saltatrix, Gill.)
‘ Squeteague, (Cynoscion regalis, Gill.)
By the middle of June the supplies of some of these fish decrease to such an extent that the traps and pounds are generally taken up for the season. Some of the pounds, however, are kept down throughout the summer, especially with the object of securing menhaden, blue-fish, Spanish mackerel, and squeteague, other fish being captured oceasion- ally, but in inconsiderable amount. ;
It is noteworthy in this connection that, with the exception of dog- fish, nackerel, alewives, and menhaden, the edible fish taken in the first part of the season consist of those species which constitute the great body of the summer-catch with the line, and which are known to find their spawning-ground along the south coast of New England. It is these fish to which the inquiries of the Rhode Island and Massachusetts legislatures have been particularly directed, and which, with the exeep-
XVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
tion of blue-fish, make up the most important part of the summer fish- eries. They are still taken in great numbers by the pounds and traps, although fewer than formerly, and consist in great proportion of adult males and females, ripe with milt and with spawn. We ean, therefore, easily understand how a most injurious influence may be exercised upon the fisheries by the capture of so large numbers under the circumstances referred to. .
In all discussions and considerations in regard to the sea-fisheries one important principle should be carefully borne in mind, and that is that every fish that spawns on or near the shores has a definite relationship to a particular area of sea-bottom; or, in other words, that, as far we can judge from experiment and observation, every fish returns as nearly as possible to its own birthplace to exercise the function of reproduction, and continues to do so, year by year, during the whole period of its exist- ence. This principle underlies, as is well known, all effort looking toward restoring to our rivers their supply of salmon, shad, and alewives; since it is well known that it is not sufficient to merely remove restrictions that had for years prevented the upward run of these tish, but a colony of young fish must beestablished in the head-waters of these streams, which, running down to the sea at the proper time, and returning again waen fully matured, shall fill the waters to the desired extent.
It is an established fact that salmon, alewives, and shad, both young and old, have been caught on certain spawning-beds, and after being properly marked and allowed to escape, have been found to re-appear in successive years in the same locality. The principle is rather more difficult to establish in regard to the purely marine fishes; but experi- ments have been made by competent men on our coast and elsewhere, which prove the existence of the same general principle in relation to them. Thus, [ was informed by an intelligent fisherman living at Rock- port, Massachusetts, that he had himself, on several occasions, marked young and old halibut, and during several seasons they had been retaken on about the same grounds.
A second law, equally positive, with a great variety of fish, is that they pass from their spawning-grounds to the sea by the shortest route . that will take them out into the deeper waters, where they spend the win- ter; and that coming and going to and from a given locality, they follow a determinate and definite line of migration.
Having in mind these two propositions, we shall then better appre- ciate what takes place when fish are disturbed or caught up during the breeding-season. Should nets be set along their line of travel before they have spawned, so that when they strike the coast they are imme- diately arrested, first at one point and then at another, running a con- tinued gauntlet of dangers in their course to their final destination ; and should an appreciable proportion of them be caught before the eggs have been laid and fertilized, it is very easy to see why the stock should rapidly diminish. It is not a sufficient argument in reply to this to
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXIX
\
point to the enormous rumber of eggs laid by a single fish in each sea- son, amounting in some instances to perhaps from five thousand to hun- dreds of thousands, or even millions, since this immense fecundity is an absolute necessity to preserve the balance of life under the water. The ezes and the young fish furnish the appointed food to an immense variety of animals, many species of fish as well as crustaceans and other animals depending entirely upon them for their support. Among the particular enemies of the eggs and the young fry may be enumerated the smail minnows or cyprinodonts, the atherinas, silver-sides or friars, the cunners or chogset, the young of many larger fish, the different kinds of minute crustaceans, including also the lobsters, &c. These are not in- terfered with to any material extent by any form of net, as they are too small to furnish profitable employment in their capture, and they pass readily through the meshes of any nets that would be set for other purposes. Although, therefore, the amount of spawn and of young fish may be materially less than a previous average, the predacious animals just referred to will probably still destroy as many as ever, since they have every opportunity for picking up their prey at all times; and what- ever the scarcity at first, they are likely to get all they require. For this reason, we cannot count upon the increase of the fish that escape the perils of their journey to furnish a sufficient supply, since if half the young brood is lost by means of the capture of the parents through human agencies, before and during the spawning season, a very large percentage of the remainder is prevented from attaining maturity by other enemies.
As most fish require from three to five years of growth before they are capable of reproduction, and in many cases remain in the open sea until this period is reached, it will follow that for several years after the estab- lishment of an exhausting fishery the supply may appear to be but little interfered with, since there are several successive crops of fish to come on at the annual intervals, and not until the entire round has been com- pleted do these injurious agencies begin to present the evidence of their severity. It is easy, therefore, to understand why, after five or ten years’ fishing, the supply of fish in a given bay, or along a certain stretch of the coast, will be reduced to avery considerable degree, and although it may be perfectly true that the sea is practically inexhaustible of its fish, yet if the fish of a particular region are cleaned out, there is no hope that others will come in from surrounding localities to take their places, since those already related to a given undisturbed area continue in that relationship, and have no inducement to change their ground. It should therefore be understood that the exhaustion of a local fishery is not like dipping water out of a bucket, where the vacancy is immedi- ately filled from the surrounding body; but it is more like taking lard out of a keg, where there is a space left that does not become occupied by anything else.
These considerations also furnish a sufficient answer to the objection
XXX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
against the necessity for any protection of the fisheries from disturbance during the spawning-season ; namely, for instance, that should Massachu- setts pass laws for their protection, it would be of no avail so long as Rhode Island and Connecticut failed to do the same. The practical re- sult of protection on the one hand and of license on the other, probably would be, that after a few years’ interval fish would be as abundant as ever on the Massachusetts coast, and would be almost exhausted on those of the adjacent States, and an important market would be furnished to the Massachusetts fishermen outside of the limits of their own State.
Another fallacy, which vitiates much otherwise sound argument on the question of protection, is in confounding regular shore-fish, that come in from the deep seas to the coast to spawn, with the outside fish that come and go with more or less irregularity, and usually feed and swim near the surface. In the one category we may enumerate the porgies or scup, tautog or black-fish, and the sea-bass; while the other includes such fish as the sea herring, blue-fish, mackerel, Spanish mack- erel, and some others. The occurrence of the latter group is, to a large extent, determined by the presence of the former. Should the first mentioned be decreased materially in number, it becomes necessary for their pursuers to seek other waters for their proper supply of food. The case of the cod, that feeds largely upon ground-fish, as well as upon the more surface-loving herring, is another instance in which the scarcity or abundance of one fish is influenced by that of others.
It was formerly supposed that certain fish, as the herring, the shad, and the alewives, with others of like habits, prosecuted an extensive * migration along the shores of the ocean, covering, sometimes, thousands of miles in the sweep of their travels ; and much eloquent writing has been expended by such authorsas Pennant and others in defining the starting- point and terminus, as well as the intermediate stages of the voyage. The shad, too, which, as is well known, occupiesall the rivers of the Atlan- tic coast from Florida to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, was thought to begin its course in the West Indies, and in an immense body, which, going northward, sent a detachment to occupy each fresh-water stream as it was reached, the last remnant of the band finally passing up the Saint Lawrence, and there closing the course. We now, however, have much reason to think that in the case of the herring, the shad, the alewife, and the salmon, the journey is simply from-the mouths of the rivers by the nearest deep gully or trough to the outer sea, and that the appear- ance of the fish in the mouths of the rivers along the coast, at succes- sive intervals, from early spring in the South to near midsummer in the North, is simply due to their taking up their line of march, at successive epochs, from the open sea to the river they had left during a previous season, induced by the stimulus of a definite temperature, which, of course, would be successively attained at later and later dates, as the distance northward increased.
The principle may safely be considered as established that line-fish-
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXI
ing, no matter how extensively prosecuted, will never materially affect the supply of the fish in the sea. Asa general rule, fish, when engaged in the function of reproduction, will not take the hook, whatever be their abundance; but, as soon as the critical season has passed, they feed very voraciously, and then can be readily caught by skilled fisher- men. It therefore would be no evil should every fully grown fish of three to five years old and upward be lifted from the sea after the close of the spawning season, in the course of a season, since the following year we may look for a new generation coming into exercise the function of re- production ; and ample provision will thus exist for a renewed supply from year to year. As already explained, the case is entirely different when these fish are caught before they spawn, all the evils that we have depicted following in the train of such thoughtless destruction, precisely equivalent to killing of all the mature hens in ajfarm-yard before they have laid their eggs, and then expecting to have the stock continued in- definitely. As well might the farmer expect to keep up his supply of wheat, year by year, while he consumed all his grain, reserving none for seed, and without the possibility of obtaining it from any other source. Objections have been made to the use of what is called the trawl-
, line, trot-line, bultow, &c., in capturing fish of the cod family. This
consis ts of a strong cord of 18 or 24 thread, sometimes of several hundred fathoms in length, to which are attached at intervals of about six feet short lines of nearly three feet in length, having hooks at the end. These, to the number of four or five hundred or more upon a single line, are baited and sunk to the bottom by anchors, and at regu- lar distance, the ends of the main line being buoyed so as to show their locality. At intervals throughout the day these lines are examined, being taken up and earried across a boat, the fish captured re- moved and the empty hooks rebaited, and the whole again replaced. Immense numbers of fish are taken by this method, especially on the coast of England and on the banks of Newfoundland, as likewise along various parts of the New England coast.
Although this practice has excited the animadversions of some on account of its supposed destructive nature, it seems hardly possible that it can be really injurious, since it does not take the spawning fish, and merely represents the result of an increased number of hand- lines.
Our remarks have been hitherto directed toward the practice of the destruction of the parent fish before the function of spawning has been properly accomplished. It is equally reprehensible to interfere in any way with or destroy the spawn after they have been laid, or the young fry after they are hatched. This result is said to follow the use of the trawl-net, which, dragged carefully and sedulously, day by day, over that portion of the sea-bottom which constitutes the great nursery of fish, bruises the eggs and harrows up the sea-weed or grass to which the eggs have been attached, or among which the young fish are play-
* ~ KXXIJ. REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. ®
ing, and gathers it inside of the net, involving the destruction of all
life that may be inclosed. This evii has not manifested itselfin America,
owing to the almost entire absence of trawl-net fishing, as it has in
Europe, where it is considered as doing much more mischief than all
other modes of fishing put together. Should this engine of destruction
come into general use on our coast and add its agency to those already | referred to in connection with the pounds and weirs, the diminution of
the supply may continue to go on in a vastly greater ratio than ever.
We have now considered at considerable length the influences sepa- rately exerted by the blue-fish and by human agencies upon the number of food-fishes on our coast; and we next proceed, as a sixth division of the subject, to discuss the result of their combined action, especially in view of the great destruction of the spawning fish.
While, perhaps, in view of the wonderful fecundity of fishes, the blue- fish alone, or the traps alone, might not produce any serious consequences upon the general supply, their combination in any loeality cannot fail to have a very decided effect; as what the one spares the other destroys in large part; and in the enormous consumption in addition of the eggs and young fish by the minor inhabitants of the water, we can easily imagine how speedily an approximation toward extermination may be effected.
My explorations, as already referred to, have shown the existence in the waters, in addition to the larger kinds and their young, of immense numbers of small species of fish, such as the friar or atherina, the vari- ousspecies of cyprinodonts, &c., occurring in great numbers, and feeding almost exclusively upon the spawn and young of fish. These, it has been shown, are not affected by any modes of fishing, and in fact, if anything, are moreabundantthan ever, in consequence of the diminution of larger fish by whichthey are devoured in turn. Some are resident in particular places along the shore, while others move along the coast in large bodies. Being always on the grounds and congregating upon the spawning-beds, they are engaged in acontinual work of destruction, and when theordinary ratios have not been disturbed they simply tend to prevent an overpro- duction of the different species of fish; but if other causes of diminu- tion co-operate when they have devoured their share, and the different crustaceans, star-fishes, &c., have been kept supplied, the percentage of eggs left for development and of young fish for attaining maturity becomes less year by year until practical extermination may follow.
As far as the blue-fish is concerned, however, if it were even possible to drive it off by any human agency, the fishermen of the south coast of New England would strenuously object, since, after its appearance on the coast, in May or June, it is the most important food-fish to be taken; and, as will be observed by the testimony presented, it was as much the diminution of the blue-fish as of any other species that ex- cited the apprehension and alarm of the fishermen. It is, however, in all probability, the increasing scarcity of the shore-fishes that has in-
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXIII
volved the reduction in addition of the blue-fish, since these require food in large amount and of easy access, and they would naturally leave for more favorable localities.
During the season of 1871, while blue-fish and Spanish mackerel were comparatively rare in Vineyard Sound and the adjacent waters, they abounded to an enormous extent in localities farther to the west, the coast of Long Island Sound and the coast of New Jersey being supplied with them to an unprecedented degree. It is nota little suggestive that while traps arescarcely known in the waters referred to, there has been no complaint in regard to the scarcity of the shore-fishes, nor but little of that of such species as the menhaden, blue-fish, &e.
MEASURES SUGGESTED FOR RELIEF.
In view of all these circumstances, therefore, the conclusion appears warranted that if measures can be taken to prevent the present great destruction of spawning-fish, the supply will again increase before long, and with the increasing abundance of the shore-fishes, the blue-fish will also increase in number. At the same time, Iam not prepared to advocate the abolition of traps and pounds, as without them it would probably be extremely difficult to furnish fish in sufficient quan- tity to meet the present and increasing demand of the country. Nor is it probably desirable to suppress them during the whole of the spawning-season, as it iS in consequence of the profits made during that time that the fishermen are enabled to meet their expenses, and very few would put down and maintain their traps for the summer-fish- ing alone. The traps and pounds also perform an important service in the capture of bait, especially of herring, alewives, and menhaden, for the spring mackerel-fisheries, without which it is alleged that this latter industry could not be successfully prosecuted. In this connection, how- ever, it should be stated that the practice of carrying seines or gill-nets, and of catching herring and menhaden for themselves on the mackerel grounds, is rapidly increasing with the mackerel fishermen, who, conse- quently, do not depend to the same degree as formerly upon the pounds.
There is, however, no reason why there should not be occasional in- termission during the six weeks when most of these fish deposit their eggs, of sufficient length of time to allow a certain percentage to pass through to their breeding-ground ; and, after consultation with various persons interested, I have come to the conclusion that if the capture of fish in traps and pounds be absolutely prohibited, under suitable penal- ties, from 6 o’clock on Friday night until 6 o’clock on Monday morning, even during a season of six weeks only, (thus requiring a close time of three nights and two days, to enable the fish puss and perform their natural function of reproduction,) the interest of all parties would be subserved. Indeed, it would seem to be decidedly to the advantage of the owners of the pounds to enter heartily into such an arrangement, as it is well known that in the height-of the season the supply of fish
S. Mis. 61 III
XXXIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
thrown into the market is so great as very materially to reduce the price paid the fishermen. This, however, does not affect the consumer in the least, as the fish are ail sold to middle-men, who keep up the re- tail price. Large numbers of fish, however, at this season become spoiled, and are either thrown overboard or converted into manure.
By intermitting the catch as suggested, there is a greater certainty that the entire supply will be put to its legitimate use as food; and it is probable that, while less money may be made by the middle-men referred to, the owners of the pounds and traps would receive quite as large an amount of money for less labor and for three-fourths the same weight of fish. This arrangement would also furnish an opportunity for persons connected with the fisheries to repair their apparatus, or attend to other duties. I have, indeed, been assured by many persons engaged in this business that they are fully aware that it would be for their in- terest, in every way, to have the close time specified, and that they will gladly welcome a law to that effect, if it be made universal in its application.
In view of all these considerations, I have draughted a bill, which has been presented to the consideration of the commissioners of several States, and to several eminent lawyers, well versed in the local laws of their respective States, and corrected to their satisfaction. A copy of this bill, as finally modified, is given on page 132. I sincerely trust that this, or a somewhat similar bill, may become a law in the States of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, as I am sat- isfied it would be for their benefit. Although there may be no serious question as to the right of the General Government to make enactments in regard to the common waters of the United States, it is possible that any attempt on its part, at the present time, to pass this law would meet with considerable opposition; and it would be extremely difficult for the United States to enforce any special requirement or penalty connected with a close season.
The plan of licensing the pounds, so as to give the State more efficient control, is considered one of great importance, and will, I believe, be acceptable to the owners of these establishments, as it would give them a security against interference from other parties that they do not at present possess.
The penalty attached to fishing without a license, and the ability of a State the more readily to punish an offender by depriving him of his permission to fish, will render parties careful how they offend; and by giving to the informer, in consequence of whose complaint the license is withdrawn, the first choice of taking the station forfeited, an intense vigilance will be induced on the part of those who may desire to secure a favorite location, and thus supersede the necessity of an expensive surveillance on the part of the State.
In the event, however, of the refusal of the States mentioned to establish the very limited close time suggested, I would recommend the
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXV
passage by the United States of a law absolutely prohibiting, until further notice, the erection of fixed apparatus for taking fish, after a period of one or two years, on the south side of New England and on the shores of Long Island, which constitute the spawning-grounds of the shore-fishes referred to. Although this would be a serious blow to the pound and trap interest, yet the grace allowed would permit the owners to use up their material in the way of nets, and render the en- forcement of the law less onerous. The restoration of the fish to their original abundance would be thus accomplished in a much less time than by any merely palliative measures; and there is no reason to an- ticipate that there would be, in the mean time, any material decrease in the supply, or any rise in the price of fish to the consumer. There would still be open to the fishermen the use of seines, gill nets, &c., which would capture fish in large quantity without overstocking the market ; and the inducement to the use of the hock and line would furnish em- ployment to large numbers of persons now needing it, while the markets would be more regularly and equally supplied. The wholesale cost of fish would probably be somewhat increased, but the competition being distributed among a large number of persons would prevent an exces- sive charge by the retail dealers; and the only difference would be that a few men would not make large fortunes in a short time, as they are now in the way of doing.
The erection of fixed apparatus requires a considerable amount of time, generally several days, and, once set, its presence along the coast could readily be determined by an occasional patrol by vessels of the Revenue Department, any violation of the law to be met by confiscation of all apparatus, including nets, piles, boats, &c. It would therefore be comparatively easy to prevent, at little or no expense to the Government, the infringement of the law of absolute prohibition, while it would be impossible to exercise a sufficient oversight as to the violation of the regulation in regard to close time, this requiring a multiplication of officers to be had only from among the regular authorities of the States themselves.
As already explained, the suggestions and reasonings here are re- stricted exclusively to the capture of fish by means of fixed apparatus in the waters on the south side of New England. Whether it is ex- pedient to enact regulations in reference to taking menhaden and other fish in the waters of Long Island Sound, and elsewhere, by means of nets, or of herring, &c., on the eastern coast of New England, I hope to make the subject of a subsequent inquiry and report.
A potent objection to the abolition of pounds is the service they render during the spring in procuring bait (alewives, herring, mahaden, &c.) for mackerel-fishing, I am assured, however, that this can be done to a sufficient extent by seines or gill-nets, especially since the dis- covery that the true herring can be taken in the coast of Maine and in the Bay of Fundy inthe spring, apparently to an unlimited extent. Tf,
' SXXVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
however, the States will pass the regulation requiring a close time of two days and three nights, and for six weeks only, from the 20th of April to the 15th of June, as proposed in the bill, severer measures will, I trust, be unnecessary, and we shali probably find a gradually inereas: ing supply of valuable food.
RESULT OF INQUIRIES IN 1872.
In consequence of an unavoidable delay in the publication of the present report, I have been enabled to include in it the results of inquiries respecting the fisheries on the south coast of New England during the season of 1872, having revisited many of the localities of the investiga- tions of 1871, and sending an assistant to others.
I found what I had expected, that with the exception of the scup, fishes of all kinds in Vineyard Sound and Buzzard’s Bay were as much searcer in 1872, compared with 1871, as they had been in that year com- pared with the preceding one. (See pages 183-194 et seq.) The testi- mony everywhere, with scarcely an exception, both from line-men and trappers, was that the whole business of fishing was pretty nearly at an end, and that it would scarcely pay parties to attemDps to continue the work on a large scale in 18753.
The pounds of Messrs. Jason Luce & Co., aut Menemsha, took a larger number of fish, as shown by their statement of catch indy furnished to me, (p. 175,) but only by increased exertion, and this during a very short period. The other pounds, according to testimony taken by Mr- Edwards, scarcely met their expenses in any single case.
At Nantucket most of the fishermen estimated the decrease at from
one-half to three fourths, compared with last year.
Very few blue-fish were taken on the north side of the island with the line, the supply being furnished by means of gill-nets alone. According to some the supply was rather greater on the south side; but the differ- ence between the two seasons was the greater, as the period for fishing was longer this year than the last, and was less obstructed by stormy weather.
Several of the fishermen at Nantucket (all, however, personally inter- ested in gill-nets) contested the statements of others as to the decrease of fish, while many, both pound and line fishermen, stoutly maintained the fact.
At didgartown and Hyannis the testimony was absolutely unanimous as to the fact of a woful diminution and the doubtful future of the entire fishery interest. At various places on Martha’s Vineyard, as already remarked, the evidence was in the same direction from both net and line men: >
Captain Hinckley, of Wood’s Hole, testified that fish were never so scarce at his pound as this season, with the exception of menhaden, ale- wives, and dog-fish. These he found it difficult to dispose of on account of their numbers, and was obliged to turn many out of his nets unsold.
\
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXVII
He considered the number of blue-fish scarcely one-fourth as great as usual, and these were of small size. Squeteague, also, were much scarcer.
At Newport the testimony was conflicting. Some persons, princi- pally, however, fish dealers and trappers, maintained that fish were as plenty as last season, or even more so; this being based, however, upon the number of small scup and an unusual run of Spanish mackerel. Such assertions were, on the other hand, strongly denied by numerous line-men; and some of these testified that fish were never so scarce; and others admitted that they were no more plenty than last year, with the exception of the catch in the traps, which was quite eyual to the usual average. .
There was, however, no exception to the impression that blue-fish were much scarcer this year than last; this substantiating the opinion that they have been gradually diminishing for many years past. (See the article on blue-fish.)
Tautog and sea-bass were also scarcer. The scup were perhaps less numerous than last season, but made more show, as the small fish so plentifal in 1871 had attained a larger size, and were in a certain degree marketable. These, according to the testimony of some, were as plenty as ever they had been before; but this was certainly not the case in Vineyard Sound and Buzzard’s Bay.
It is also noteworthy that whatever may have been the causes which produced so large a crop of young fishin 1871, they were not persistent, since comparatively few were taken in 1872 of the same dimensions as last year.
Upon the whole, the decrease in the fish appeared to be more marked in Vineyard Sound and Buzzard’s Bay than about Newport; and this fact may be of much significance, when we remember that the pounds have multiplied much more rapidly in this locality than about Newport, where, indeed, as Iam informed, the number was about the same in 1872 as in 1871. In 1871 the number was thirty-five. There were four new ones at Menemsha Bight, one at Lombard’s Cove, and one at Paintville, on the north side of Martha’s Vineyard; two or more in Kettle Cove, and one on the north side of Nashawena; making at least nine in all, in addi- tion to the number there in previous seasons. The general result, as already stated, was that scarcely one made sufficient profit to pay for the outlay and Jabor.
The New York markets, as might be expected, were fully supplied with fish during the season of 1872, no appreciable difference being re- alized by the wholesale dealers. If anything, however, striped bass and blue-fish were scarcer, while the small scup, from the waters south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, were shipped in large numbers, al- though scarcely of a size to render them marketable, their average weight being little more than from a quarter to half a pound.
In view, therefore, of all these facts I have no hesitation in saying that all the arguments presented in the earlier part of this report, in
XXXVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
favor of regulating the fisheries on the south side of New England by law, are enforced by the experience of the season of 1872, and that it is too, evident that, unless some protective measures be adopted, the fish- eries in these waters will be practically destroyed in a very short time.
This result will, of course, bring its own relief in time, since the ces- sation of trapping will permit the fish to recover their ground; but several years will be required for this, and doubtless as soon as there is any Show of increase the traps will be again brought into use.
For several days during the present season Spanish mackerel were extremely abundant, so much so, in fact, that for a time they were sold in Newport at fifteen cents per pound. At Wood’s hole pound five hundred and ninety-three were taken in one day, (August 23,) being a larger number than the entire catch of 1871. The total catch at this pound amounted to nine hundred and sixty-four.
Tautog, as already stated, were scarcer, and fewer striped bass were captured. A few salmon were taken at Seaconnet and at Menemsha. A marked increase in the abundance of shad and alewives was noticed, the shad especially being so plentiful about Newport that, according to Governor Stevens, they could not be sold in New York. When ecap- tured they appeared to be moving eastward. <Alewives, too, were in unusually large numbers, this being the natural result of the opera- tions of the fish-commissioners of New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts in protecting the alewives and opening the rivers for their entrance, while the abundance of shad was doubtless due to the enormous number hatched out under the direction of the Connecticut and New York commissioners and allowed to escape into the water. This certainly is a speedy realization of all the anticipations for the increase of shad, since fish, usually selling at a dollar a pair, be- came so abundant as not to be worth taking to market. This abun- dance, while rather unsatisfactory to the fishermen and dealers, is of great moment to the consumer.
Of mackerel none were taken off the south coast of New England, as in 1871. Messrs. Jason Luce & Corsecured a larger number of squeteague than in any previous year, and the testimony in regard to them else- where varied considerably, some maintaining that they were more abundant, others that they were scarcer.
GENERAL SUMMARY OF RESULTS.
The general conclusions at which I have arrived as the result of my investigations of the waters on the south side of New England during 1871 and 1872 may be briefly summed up as follows:
I. The alleged decrease in the number of food-fishes in these waters within the past few years has been fully substantiated.
II. The shore-fishes have been decreasing during the past twenty years, gradually at first, but much more abruptly from about the year 1865, the reduction by the year 1871 being so great as entirely to prevent any
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXIX
successful summer-fishing with the hook and line, and leaving to the traps and pounds the burden of supplying the markets. This state- ment applies also, but perhaps to a certain extent, to the blue-fish. The decrease in their numbers first manifested itself about ten years ago, and is going on quite rapidly until now.
II. This period of decrease represents the time during which the traps and pounds have been well established, their operations increasing year by year, and their catch, especially in the early spring. being always very great.
IV. In 1871 and 1872 the decrease in the number of fish has been so great as to reduce very largely the profit formerly derived by the traps.
. The appearance, in 1871, of an unusually large number of young fish Rave in 1870 is a Shhnoienon only to be explained by the prob- able escape of a larger number of breeding-fish than usual during the previous season, an abrupt decrease in the ravages of blue-fish and other species, or else by a spontaneous movement northward of newly- hatched fish that ordinarily would have remained on a more southern coast. While these fish will probably, for several years, constitute a marked feature in the fisheries, there is no evidence of the existence of a second crop of young fish corresponding to the one in question.
VI. The decrease of the fish may be considered as due to the com- bined action of the fish-pounds or weirs and the blue-fish, the former destroying a very large percentage of the spawning fish efiirs they have deposited their eggs, and the latter devouring immense numbers of young fish after they have passed the ordinary perils of immaturity.
VII. There are no measures at our command for destroying the blue-fish, nor Would it be desirable to do this, in view of their value as an article of food. The alternative is to regulate the action of the pounds so as to prevent the destruction of fish during the spawning-season.
VIII. The quickest remedy would be the absolute abolition of the traps and pounds. This, however, would be a harsh measure, and their proper regulation will probably answer the purpose of restoring the supply, although a greater number of years will be required. Such ree- ulation may consist either in prohibiting the use of traps or pounds during the entire season of the spawning of the fish, or for a certain number of days in each week during that season.
IX. As the principal profit of the pounds is derived from the eatch of fish during the spawning season, it will probably be sufficient to try the experiment of prohibition of the use of nets from Friday night until
_Monday morning of each week of the spawning-season, and after that no restriction need be imposed.
X. It is desirable that the regulation for a close time during each week be passed by the several States; and if this cannot be effected, then the General Government should enact absolute prohibition, or at least during the spawning-season, as it possesses no officers who could
XL REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
exercise the supervision required to enforce the partial closure, or be- _ fore whom complaints could be entered and the penalty exacted.
XI. Any marked increase in the number of the shore-fishes, resulting from their protection during the spawning-season, will probably tend to restore the blue-fish to their original numbers.
XII. As there is reason to believe that scup, and toa less degree other shore-fishes, as well as blue-fish, have several times disappeared at inter- vals toa greater or less extent, within the historic period of New England, we cannot be certain that the use of traps and pounds within the last ten years bas actually produced the scarcity complained of. The fact, how- ever, that these engines do destroy the spawning fish in so great numbers renders it very probable that they exercise a decided influence. No vested interest or right will suffer by the experiment of regulating the period of their use, as we have attempted to show that a better price will be obtained from a smaller number of fish, by preventing the glutting of the market, and the consequent waste of so perishable an article as fresh fish. :
XIII. A feeling of bitterness entertained by the line-fishermen an the general public against traps and pounds, and those who own and profit by them, will in a measure be allayed if the experiment of regu- lation and restriction be tried, at least for a few years.
CONCLUSION.
In preparing the present report, my object has been to consider the subject of the New England shore-fisheries in a strictly dispassionate manner, not taking side with any of the different parties on the ques- tion as a special advocate, and attempting to draw such general conclu- sions only as the facts seemed to warrant. With the view, however, of enabling any one interested to review the ground for himself, I have given in detail the testimony (principally phonographic) collected dur- ing the inquiry in which I have been engaged, and added the special arguments of representative men on the opposing sides, prepared and furnished at my request, or else reprinted from official sources. To these I refer for the more local details and considerations of the subject, and especially in regard to the movements of scup in the Rhode Island waters. ,
As the entire questions at issue are most nearly related to the scup and the blue fish, I have given on pages 228 and 235 respectively as com- plete an account of their habits and peculiarities as the material at my command will allow.
For a detailed account of the principal methods in use for capturing fish in the United States by lines, nets, or otherwise, I refer to the article in the appendix. Thesubject is by no means exhausted, and I hope to refer to it again, and to include some importaut forms of such appa- ratus used in other countries and especially applicable to our own, to-
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF'FISH AND FISHERIES. XLI
_ egether with some account of improved methods of curing fish for the market as yet unknown in the United States.
In addition to a list of the fishes found at Wood’s Hole, amounting to the large number of 116 species, I give a complete list of all the fishes known to occur on the eastern coast of North America, as prepared and furnished by Professor Theodore Gill. I am collecting materials for full descriptions and biographies of these species, to be published here- after, with appropriate figures, should such a work be called for.
The account of the natural history of the south shore of New England is rendered much more complete by the memoir of Professors Verrill and Smith on the marine invertebrates, with its excellent illustrations, all executed in relief by the method of Jewett & Co., of Buffalo. The list of the alge, by Dr. Farlow, will also furnish an important indica- tion in reference to the distribution of this group of plants.
An accompanying map of the south shore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island is intended to show more particularly the distribution of animal life—the fish-food—along the coast by indication of the results of sound- ings, dredgings, and temperature observations, made by Professor Ver- rilland myself during the season of 1871. On this same map is recorded likewise the position of all the traps and pounds in use in 1871, as far as I could ascertain their situation. There is also a separate diagram of the traps at Seaconnet, where are taken, as is said, nearly nine-tenths of all the fish caught by fixed apparatus in Rhode Island. I have also given a diagram of the weirs on Cape Cod Bay, as furnished by Captain Crowell.
SPENCER F. BAIRD, Commissioner, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, December 2, 1872. S. Mis. 61 IV
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Page I. REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER.* vii Pieler OMCOMLENGS = as\o—- ea = sela oe <leisisicio oe ie Hopes ood st Dok SCO DEDEDE SEOOSs xhii II. GENERAL PLAN OF INQUIRIES PROSECUTED..-.-- DS sapedocosehen Oson Ssen sees 1 Memoranda of inquiry relative to the food-fishes of the United States..-.... ul Questions relative to the food-fishes of the United States -...............--. 3 III. TesTtrIMONY IN REGARD TO THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES, TAKEN Pat LS) Goeges Comte Ge aR eC a ane es pete taco Beene gee ease. ee ape ste ane Newport, Rhode Island .......-.--- Sceobes seo rsress ccesod scoe isos cesccce- ia Naushon Island, Massachusetts......-----..---- aeons secrete csuisees ss eae soe inasque island, Massachusetts, =-< 5...--556 25. seecceeens5 oe peace mea aeons.) oe! Moenenisharbiohb, Martha/siVimeyard, ncaa misses me lsseice lam «lace see - 39 Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard.......----...--. = 8550 cone cdo ccd aseA se Bane 37 Nantucket, Massachusetts ..-...-..-...------- ide ntsuicmeltancphs Genes eboe 41 Hyannis, Massachusetts ...-. si osienctapisees Soeee cheese 5 ete sfsGleiade SER Sins Bee 27 MioodssHole.,Massachtsetis! s2s... <2 fcss 36 see ce sebes csi wes sadese set cectaeek 53 Head of Buzzard’s Bay.---.- aioe cisissfie ee p Secs ee ceiec ie soem Seeeiotls # Seneite same 70 AB ARRObEN ALLO WA oatces - cia ein yotstaalou ee carats Sere nate thee Mat seewed Sees Shes 72
IV. SPECIAL ARGUMENTS IN REGARD TO REGULATING THE SEA-FISHERIES BY LAW. 73 Samuel Powel,of Newport. Delivered in the Rhode Island legislature. (Urg-
ing the necessity of a scientific inquiry into the subject) -.-....--- ee oso eE Os J. M. K. Southwick, of Newport. (Against protective legislation)..--....-. 76 Geo. H. Palmer, of New Bedford. (In favor of protective legislation). ..... -. 88
VY. RePoRTS oF STATE COMMISSIONS IN REGARD TO REGULATING THE SEA-FISH-
TMS: TAY TAN sas 8e copa COC S pO BESOES SOD COC aC Rac sere rree Sodbss5 saessS 104 Report of committee of Rhode Island legislature, made at Newport, June 15,
Tyo tA Ue ae eae See Sees Bee ase ees eed Spies eyes feet te ah mea ane eee 104
Legislative enactment recommended .......-- ee as ae as a ae i 110
Extract from report for 1871 of Theodore Lyman, Massachusetts commissioner
of inland fisheries, on the possible exhaustion of sea-fisheries -.......-.... 112 Remarks of Mr. Atwood, of the Cape district, before the Massachusetts senate,
in relation to the petition to prohibit net and seine fisheries....-....-.- oa Liles
VI. REPORT OF CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER WITH COM- MISSIONERS OF RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS, HELD OCTOBER 5, 1871-..-. 125
VII. DRAUGHT OF LAW PROPOSED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF, AND ENACTMENT BY, THE LEGISLATURES OF MASSACHUSETTS, RHODE ISLAND, AND CONNECTICUT. 132 A bill to regulate the use of stationary apparatus in the capture of fish....-. 132
VIII. MisceLLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS ON THE SUBJECT
OF THE SEA-FISHERIES
ib@bnaes! coed nates = See Pe eee ai ae pret cere a rene Ln all ol ne 135 Copy of memorial of citizens of Hyannis, addressed to Congress, praying that laws may be passed prohibiting the use of fixed apparatus for capturing
* For detailed table of contents of the report of the commissioner see p. v.
XLIV CONTENTS.
IX. EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES ON THE SUBJECT OF REGULATING THE FISHERIES BY
TRANG Soa a ASE RSE EEO OnO BoOSs 3 5555 SaSO 0 SSqOeN SoU HOSCQUBAEDSaSodseccocccce On the fisheries of the Gulf of Naples, by Achille Costa -.-...-....----.---- On the possibility of exhausting the sea-fisheries, by James G. Bertram --..-. Bxbtract trom. the Mondonehield ¢f == 5-6 -oj\o< ome eee ato = oo oe eee Extract from the report of the commissioners syenonial to inquire into the
sea-fisheries of the United Kingdom, presented to both houses of Parliament by commandrot Hera esty 2.1 2scese ea amnetee cate = seine = elnietteeeeee
X. NOTICES IN REGARD TO THE ABUNDANCE OF FISH ON THE NEw ENGLAND COAST TEN FORMER DIVEISS oso atine ews a aicleite Sel cie rele ele eiciate tate eater ne ee tere oce eee ee
XI. STATISTICS OF FISH AND FISHERIES ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF NEW ENGLAND-~-
Table t. Amount of fish taken at Menemsha Bight, Martha’s Vineyard-...--. able Il. General return of the Waquoit weir for 1871..--.....-. o eee
Table III. Return of dog-fish and blue-fish at Waquoit weir for seven years... Table IV. Consolidated returns of alewives, shad, menhaden, bass, blue-fish,
and dog-fish, at Waquoit weir, for seven years ..-... ...-..-.--00 e225 - ene Table V. Days of first appearance of alewives, scup, blue-fish, and menhaden, ab Wiaquoit weir, for thirteen-yearsjjos-. sees lm 52 sel ae he re eee Table VI. Account of blue-fish caught with a line by Josiah C. Pease about Edgartown, Massachusetts, 1865-1871) 3-2 oo oon cece oe oe eee eee Table VII. Account of fish landed at Baxter’s Wharf, Hyannis, in 1870 and POV oo cocci doodle catScis Ae cele ae eleeeeicee eee lennon - oe eee Table VIII. Account of ianatin Taylor, Hyannis, for 1870 and 1871. ..---..... Table IX. Account of Timothy Crocker, Hyannis, 1867-1871. -....----...--- C fable X. Account of J.G. Loring, Hyannis; 1867-0871) 222-2... eee eee - Table XI. Shipment of fish by railroad from Hyannis, monthly to New York, kolo tof fl AM eer EAs Rrra erage mmc eine as) ela ea yc 2 - Table XII. Statement of fish caught at Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts, in 1372-. Table XIII. Catch of fish at West Falmouth Pound.......-...----..-- skegose Table XIV. Date of first appearance of fish at the pounds and weirs on the south side of New England j.-- 2-6 42652. once tacos se eee eee eee
XII. SUPPLEMENTARY TESTIMONY AND INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE CONDI- TION OF THE FISHERIES ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF NEW ENGLAND IN 1872........ Notes'taken by the Commissioner... <<< o-.-cs «<5 ceeieoe seme oe Newport, Rhode Island..-.....-. riensieeerers SPECS ena cacchones< Wood's Hole, Massachusetts... ...2cs-<6 o-c.s4e.-ss00 2 2ceee ee eee
New VOLK) 2552 2-4ee cence eee a ited Saelce dines coe 256 ,s5 eo See eete Report of Vinal N. Edwards... - 2. ce--6--2 se oe a-leaee=c ee Ree eee eee Nantucket... - --sclbsce sacinas nsec ce. dawiose ceases sce. 6c oe hee eee Bdgartown 22. 2th is .e toes Getta scraas pidacet = a eee Elyannis) 22 ste 2 eee cle isjniniels! aincwichaoMopieitt ci sles cle te ath eee Martha's Vineyards... o.2)ccie sei aipseineoteeleieisie lessee s/= oe 6 ee Soe Benson CONGit sce ceo cae els sadcisiet emcee «melas «sie sis bee e eee
XIII. PLEADINGS BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES OF THE RHODE
ISLAND LEGISLATURE, AT ITS JANUARY SESSION OF 1872...... -. 22.5 eeaeeeeieeee Argument of J. Talbot Pitman in favor of a law prohibiting the use of traps and pounds injhhode Tsland 22.222 0 (ecco ees ee in sn le el Se
Abstract of an address by Captain Nathaniel E. Atwood in opposition to leg- IslahonPeceeeeee ates es ae RUSSO Spo AR INEHO OES ORS sc Caco sod cose
Page.
181
182 183 183 183 186 187 187 183 190 191 191 192 193
196
196
223
CONTENTS. XLV Page. XIV. NATURAL HISTORY OF SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT FOOD-FISHES OF THE SOUTH SHORE OF NEW ENGLAND .....-- 3 S505 BSG SoUU BEDS ES555S5 55 Bisisconseshe ooo I. The scup .-.--- Seen So - 5 Ses so eee Ee PEE ete somone Poe Il. The blue-fish.-..-- ieee SC eis Sees Ps ee Rees cncicee <tclels conte EB eeiem « 235 XV. DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS USED IN CAPTURING FISH ON THE SEA-COAST AND LAKES OF THE UNITED STATES........---.------ Sossao bso Sood cSSac SE00De S50 ae Modes of capture ..--- 3 odiodoo seston sesecoesogay 20uer 5 paeoco cedex sGcceee eee 253 Projectiles; explosives, aNd POISON. .--—-- ..ccwe aevcec sceces -- sone so oee - 203 Tinesie= =~ 3.6a5e5 FQSEOS SE OSODSS SSB0 0O0G00 DoS SON SoSSO0 nao DOGS aSeOOnS Ba, eat! eines eeisin io nisepsisie a ele societies seis ena ielnjmicigineeminicise ce csicc<e ction 255 Traps, weirs, pounds, and fykes.-...-.--- 6 BRd DIS COSHaD Nobo SOURSHOoE sese) 7 oOo Location of traps, weirs, and pounds in the United States.....---. Anos: Le
XVI. LIST OF PATENTS GRANTED BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE END OF 1872 FOR INVENTIONS RELATIVE TO THE CAPTURE, UTILIZATION, OR CULTIVATION OF FISH
MAT EVUAREN KH CANINAT G2 cts fjcc.ccsicine -cciisiscinitaceiee ale ASScmS siteesco mes cig eee 5S Hep OOKRE Sse to SS k ea Sac Sccavseccon sees Siscat ee Cael actos eamiate sere emaeee 275 Pelines orappless braps; Cs. 2-.)--s6 ssceos secs e aieceeeescces atocsinn ease - (276 EEMMIR OCIS ee oe Senta eines Sic ae eigpe c sins nee cre a era eieie ess eerste sc erenmeceee orators ate 276 AMeOUS eee ase Sc SRO C Er Ss Samael ecsdamekcseiee sab se cobeeae eomeeecele 276 See OAUS TOUTS AICS WAVES cans som sieee er cee coe es csecencaineeen cess cose 277 BELO VEC LUGS Re = Hem 2 Stet mere atelnis cael cie eretats. L Sa dosalciaa i eticte urs oa eee eter Bee: Pee NGtSrandspOUmGs se see ets eee eae e ie ereamnee esis oo aime eases Mooaay ais S Ovsterculture and @athering. 222 -/.2 25. 1-5-5 ---2.< Raleial oe sels eisicinios 278 9. Preservation and utilization of fish....... eka relats Scene ceases seer a ete HUIS HCHO es so. sos ccs Says twreise cee eee hiciareiaelatemelewic eimel Macnee as. MPS LAeH iS oTAn bed prior tOWB3O. 229) toon sons Jon oceans Soe Sec ceelsn eae eae 279
XVII. List OF THE SEA-WEEDS OR MARINE ALG OF THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW
INGMAND VB Ye VW. HARLOW, IM. ID).. occ s)oces cece eck es SR Rs SACS ee eee 5 pss
XVIII. REPORT UPON THE INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND AND THE ADJACENT WATERS, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE PILYSICAL CHARACTERS OF THE REGION, By A. E. VERRILL. (For a more detailed index of this article see
TEES FOL) sdlodonSac Soe ets es Oe en ee Se le ieee tate Sy Se en aD A.—Habits and distribution of the invertebrate animals............-.....-- 295 HERG CHETAN OMMAT Site c are, se alee ser oe 6 ote oro a Net isos Sake ees See cise 295 II. Fauna of the bays and sounds.-.--....-- Se ees o ewan cae eieoas 300 Pee lehieno CheyeShOLeS cea. cise sheers Sacer eae ee 303 BIS tOLS POCLES tame setn a oneer scenic es Se ces oe Seema = obi! 2. The sandy shores .._-- eee cree a ae hs IA ae coe citer Stee 334 IWISTHOLeS DECILES her aoc Sree oe cee ae amie se ee ee eee 364 Pembl ean Od vaAR Ores ascinac ace tee Se oat ie eaten Soe esa 366 MISMOMSDECIOS saa oe cei e ros soma Ssiciaee hes Nee ae bate see ou
4. The piles and timbers of wharves and bridges, bottoms of vessels, buoys, and other submerged wood-work ..........-.-...----- 378 ASO SPCCLOSh es o-c2 << Moe sana ne ee eee ereisieice atone 392 5. The rocky bottoms...........-- BSCS CEOOR SO ESn Rees So reHosoreer 394 IbIStHOLSPECIESes. = eee ea enle = oe a eee eee eas Sr weasels 409 6. The gravelly-shelly bottoms..--. Scie See sie eis s)aie)scincl weiss -- 412 WhistiotSpeciese socceyass es -aa- 2 sot mares Bo eeie itera} lens 421 Zep bersandysbOtppmMs= 2.225 4-5 -- 9 cca see eee eee ceei saeco. sees 425 Wan OMB POClOdthe sas ene cane des on mes ok wie - 428 Sm lnevmnlddyabottomsiseat sss ae snsaecs ese Ea eekens teitet ais ashe 430 List of species...--....-.- ESOS GOUe DOT SHS: DeLee MDae a Lo
9. The free-swimming and surface animals...--. Asdandese ace esse 6S
XLVI CONTENTS.
XVIII. REPORT UPON THE INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS, &C.—Continned. a List of Speclesuece sre cece cece eine Saseineei= ois) se ee 451 10. Animals, parasitie,on fishes, &¢___...-.-.-........2 2.4 - 455 TiStiOL SPeCies aaa Jost oe cece Cots a tce ewes =e 459 Ill. Fauna of the estuaries, harbors, ponds, and marshes..-.........---- 460 1. The sandy shores and bottoms of brackish waters...-.....--.-- 462 List of species...--... Ras cose se eee eee s+ ee ee eee 464 2. The muddy shores and bottoms of brackish waters....--.-..-.. 46° IStOE SPOClGs'=. - so... oooct 6 eee sacese teem occ ne ee eee Eee - 470 3: Dhe;oyster-beds in- brackish water 22.2. o-0.-2---- -25-2seeeeees 472 PaIst.Of SPCClESs 2525 s2c526 552 see soe cee 65s oe5 sats cae 476 4. The:eel-erass in brackish waters’. .-< =. 2.2-\--5---s:--ese meee 478 IListiof species. 2... 6.222 oe bcc sccistie sb asose oo eee 480 5. The piles of wharves, bridges, floating timber, rocks, &c., in brackish. waters, =... <(-.0--% 1a se eeisaicineees -o9- Sa es 481 Mist of Species. 22's os. snister cusses. cates toate eee 482 IV. Fauna of the ocean shores and outer colder waters.-..---.---.---.- 484 1. Lhe rocky shores off the open coast..----.=-----5-s2seee ed see 485 Gist: of Species .......2...256 i220 cee see ese cee 6 oes eee ee eee 486 . The sandy shores off the open coast.----.. ..-.-. -------=s== apace, ule. hist OfGpecies .. a1. 22 ses ssisie ease ees =e o sae eee 490 3. Lhe rocky bottoms off the open coast_-__ .-.--- ------=ss=eeeeee 491 List of SpeCles'..... = 5 ch. sci seas one sce «eee 498 4. The sandy and graveliy bottoms off the open coast....---..-- - 500 List of species. -----. omeisioie ies Sis Saisie eniesicielc alee 504 5. The muddy bottoms off the open coast...---..-----..----- cess 506 : List Of SPCCIES. 50% <1 oe ence oe nae = anise see ee 511 B.—Lists of species found in the stomach of fishes—food of fishes... -- rein Sone « »514
C.—The metamorphoses of the lobster and other crustacea, by 8. I. Smith.... 522 D.—Catalogue of the marine invertebrate animals of the southern coast of New England and adjacent waters, by A. E. Verrill, 8. I. Smith, and Oscar
nO lee eee eae oe cate oe is eee weciciee we tose sete Cee eee 537 Articulatiat. 5.2 case cermecicise ccs Gems, veeaeees Gen Eee eee 539 TMSCCb «<2. 5.2 2 neste er cin a ora omratctcetal oles Sele oleate te ae 539 Arachnidad ic. 2 4ch6 ce otis Se dat Soe a nee oe Eee 544 PYCNOLONITEA 25,53 sass -tohc sts we) oo o'n els) sie 3) eee 544 Crustacea, socaqe dsc5.cn oe doce Lolicad dele scence et ae eee 545 Ammnelida ic: icc teccae cheese c cue cc joes ces eee eee 5 80 Scolecidiaiz... cc0.s cnc; ecissctpecmwlecys soeces cece dees se eee 627 Turbellaria .c.c.-cicapsmeersciwccc Dacicyssis's Oeeisiee eee eee 627 Molluseai: 22 c:ccicicmcioie.¥ eioie el sin ain ee se mis sole elo si sie ee 634 Cephalopoda... - 5. 22 se emcss orn sice See anton eee eer 634 Gastropoda .... .-.. Seiewbeeales cece Potetee dees 636 Lamellhibranchiata ase: oc ieceee- eerie oes - bie eee 669 Tunicata: sce cies deed saad Satd weve dat eee se eee 698 BEYOZ08.2 5. Soc o- sa cecsisee nome seconde ass - 2s sees eee 707 RAOIAbe . c.oc ecicmie soci speew cabins seieheo ace seine selene 715 Hchenodermata. sso. ss. 4e0 ceccces ceccao ese 22e eee Eee ao LD Acalephaesaoa-cto-m- nonce es oe Sees EPP esos 50- 722 Polypi. or Anthoz0a).5- - 5.4c0) race once ae = 20 ee 737 BRObOZO A. «2% apo cininicieeensewe Swe Wome slew ere eee ole 6 tee Ce re SynVerns 6 An Sasa bone SeSneU ESA ean GosemeegsoLeso > 5 dosditée 740 POGENAS asics siocicic: sae cin olen owiclel saison Se Sbie cele ae eee 745 INA emia ae Nk eae ote o nee ie etna ot Steen 749
Table of contents 22. .6 5.202. ws ghee sco. clos thee) oe ae E.—Alphabetical index to report of A. E. Verrill-....--..---..---+-----0+--= 400
CONTENTS. XLVII ‘i Page.
XIX. CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF THE EAST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA; by PNICOMOEG: Gill: serrate selehiniere ce Marerecnecio aie s wom sc, ood wimclseorsiaa eee Gans! sia eis 779
XX. LIsT OF FISHES COLLECTED AT Woop’s HOLE IN 1871, BETWEEN JUNE-20 ANDRO CTOBERIAS Dy oak bald J402 a5. of ache cioeis, sadlsiaeiain ce, Sa ce eee Daj s.a 6 823
XXI. TABLE OF TEMPERATURES TAKEN IN WOOD’S HOLE HARBOR, FROM JANUARY
iealovo ROP HOMMBMER: 3 MO(o. 5-2 a- = <aslairs 5 oat se ec aolsin coed i- oe as ne Soe 828 Rene GIST O RM NEGO STRATIONS ac coo) fam acicc eee cas one snobs ncreicc te el Se eree 833 DOME SPAMP HAR H TOAL, TNDIOX «5.22266 s525 06. Saachencloooe sao cescoes aces seenegee 835
So Miss 611i
: . 1) ae WONG I
vis fal WA ¥ ify a A) Ae bea hy f ’ “ay al t i Wik vp Ri nin ” hic ‘ ° . oe @aee hd > a , 3 MERICRE RE Pie iat f { ny 1 \ * : a » t nial . : er bea . A Pa f e , ‘ . : ' voi = ~~ ® f py Ae 1 * 7 gh faa ’ Ww a 4 m ; = , ’
H.—GENERAL PLAN OF INQUIRIES PROSECUTED.
For the purpose of securing greater precision in the inquiries pros- ecuted in reference to the natural history of the fishes and the influences exerted upon their multiplication, a general plan was drawn up, with the assistance of Professor Gill, which was followed, as:'far as practicable, in the investigations. For ore eater facility the same features were thrown into the form of questions, | answers to which were entered by their cor- responding numbers, as shown in the testimony. This systematie ar- rangement of the subject and the corresponding questions are as fol- lows, it being understood that some particular kind of fish is usually under discussion :
MEMORANDA OF INQUIRY RELATIVE TO THE FOOD-FISHES OF THE UNITED STATES.
A. Name of the fish in question in different localities. Bb. Geographical distribution. At present time, Change of location with season of year. In former times. Supposed cause of any permanent change. -C. Abundance. At present time; in different seasons and localities. In former times; in different seasons and localities. Supposed cause of variation in abundance. Probable change in the future. D. Size. Maximum length, girth, and weight. Average length, eirth, and weight. Rate of erowth. Length and weight at age of one, two, three, &c., years. Difference of sexes in this respect. EK. Migrations and movements. , “Arrival and departure. Period of stay. Certainty of arrival. Route of movement coming and going. Number and times of runs or schools in one season, and differ- ences, if any, in the runs. Difference in time of arrival of the sexes and ages. Feeding of fish after arrival. Summer abode. Winter abode. If anadromous; when they enter the fresh water and when they leave it. If anadromous; what the movements up and down fresh waters of adults or of young. Rate of progression of schools in fresh or salt water. S. Mis. 61 1
\
Z REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
Relation of movements to tides. Depth of water preferred by schools or single fish. Temperature and general condition of water preferred. Favorite localities in any region; whether bottom be sandy, rocky, muddy, grassy, &e. F. Relationships. To its own species; whether gregarious, solitary, grouped by age or sex at any season, predaceous, &e. To other animals; whether preyed upon by them, feeding upon them, &c. : Special enemies, friends, or companions. G. Food. Nature. Mode of taking it. Time of taking it. Quantity consumed. H. Reproduction. Interference with spawning by lines, nets, &e. Age of male and of female, respectively, when capable of repro- duction. Change in physical condition, (color, shape, fatness, &c.) Date of spawning and its duration, as relating to the individual as well as to the species. Preferred localities for spawning, as to place, temperature, &e. Special habits during spawning season. Special habits before or after spawning. Ratio of mortality in old fish from spawning. Number of suecessive years of capacity for spawning. Nesting places.
Are nesting-places prepared? If so, whether of grass, stones, sand, &¢., or cleared areas, and whether made by one sex only, or both.
If ridges or furrows are formed, how made?
The eggs.
Mode of fecundation.
Where laid.
Where and how attached, if at all.
Whether covered up, and how, or whether exposed in water.
Number laid by one fish at one time, and the number during lifetime.
Size and color.
Special enemies.
Guarding of eggs by either sex.
The embryo and young fish.
Time necessary for development.
Ratio of fish hatched to number of eggs laid.
Proportion of young fish attaining maturity. .
Movement after birth; whether remaining on spawning- eround, and how long, or whether changing from fresh to salt, or salt to fresh water, &e., and when.
General appearance and successive changes.
Rate of growth.
Special food.
Enemies and diseases of eggs and young.
Relation of parent fish of either sex to young; whether pro- tective, predatory, We.
GENERAL PLAN OF INQUIRIES PROSECUTED. os
I. Diseases. K. Parasites. L. Artificial fish-culture. M. Protection by law. N. Capture. ‘Methods. By lines. By nets. Floating or movable, (seines, gill-nets, &c.) Fixed, (traps, pounds, weirs, dams, &c.) Other methods of capture. Bait. Influence of modes of capture on abundance. Season of capture. By lines. By nets. Otherwise. Time of tide when taken. Statistics of capture. By lines. By nets. Otherwise. Value of fish taken. Disposition of fish taken. O. Economical value and uses. For food, (fresh, salted, smoked, dried, We.) For oil. For manure. For other purposes. Price, in its variations with place, season, and year. Export and trade, in their variations with place, season, and year. P. Remarks relative to foreign or domestic allies.
QUESTIONS RELATIVE TO THE FOOD-FISHES OF THE UNITED STATES.
A. NAME.
1. What is the name by which this fish is known in your neighbor- hood? If possible, make an outline sketch for better identification.
B. DISTRIBUTION.
2, Is it found throughout the year, or only during a certain time ; and for what time ? 3. If resident, is it more abundant at certain times of the year; and at what times ? C. ABUNDANCE.
4. How abundant is it, compared with other fish ? 5. Has the abundance of the fish diminished or increased within the last ten years, or is it about the same ?
4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
6. If diminished or increased, what is the supposed cause ? 7. What is the amount or extent of the change in abundance ?
De Sis:
58. What is the greatest size to which it attains, (both length and weight,) and what the average ?
9. State the rate of growth per annum, if known; and the size at one, two, three, or more years.
10. Do the sexes differ in respect to shape, size, rate of growth, &e.?
EK. MIGRATIONS AND MOVEMENTS.
11. By what route do these fish come into the shore; and what the subsequent movements ?
12. By what route do they leave the coast?
13. Where do they spend the winter season ?
14. When are the fish first seen or known to come near the shore, and when does the main body arrive; are the first the largest; are there Ca schools or runs than one coming in, and at what intervals ? 2 . 15. When do the fish leave shore, and is this done by degrees or in a
body ?
16. Is the appearance of the fish on the coast regular and certain, or do they ever fail for one or more seasons at a time, and then return in greater or less abundance ; if so, to what cause is this assigned?
17. How do the runs differ from each other in number and size ?
18. Which sex comes in first; and how far advanced is the spawn in the female on first arriving?
19. Will either sex, or both, take the hook on first arriving ; and if so, is there any period of the stay of the fish when they refuse it ?
20. If they refuse the hook at first, how soon do they begin to take it after arriving?
21, Do the schools of fish swim high or low; and is their sues known otherwise than by their capture; that is, do they make a ripple on the water; do they attract birds, We. ?
22, What is the relation of their movements to the ebb and flow of the tide ?
23. Does spawn ever run out of these fish taken with a hook ?
Oy. Answer same question in regard to fish taken in nets or Pomme is the spawn ever seen in any quantity floating about inside of nets? >
25. Are these fish anadromous; that is, do they run up from the sea into fresh water for any, and for what, purpose 2
26. If anadromous, when are they first seen off the coast; when do they enter the mouths of the rivers, and what is the rate of progression up stream ?
27. If anadromous, what the length of their stay in fresh water, and when do they return to the sea, or do they becomevrexhausted by breeding and die ?
28. Do the different sexes or ages vary in this respect ?
29. Do these fish come on to “the breeding-grounds before they are mature; or de you find the one or two year old fish with the oldest?
30. What are the favorite localities of these fish ; say whether in still water or currents, shallow or deep water, on the sand, in grass, about rocks, &e.?
31. What depth of water is preferred by these fish ?
32. What the favorite temperature and general character of water ?
GENERAL PLAN OF INQUIRIES PROSECUTED. 3)
EF. RELATIONSHIPS.
33. Do these fish go in schools after they have done spawning, or throughout the year, or are they scattered and solitary ? 34. Have they any special friends or enemies ? 35. To what extent do they prey on other fish; and on what species ? 36. To what extent do they suffer from the attacks of other fish, or other animals ? G. Foon.
37. What is the nature of their food ?
08. Are there any special peculiarities in the manner of feeding of these fish ?
39. What amount of food do they consume ?
H. REPRODUCTION.
40. Is there any marked change in the shape or color of either sex during the breeding-season, or any peculiar development of, or on, any portion of the body, as the mouth, fins, scales, We. ?
41. Are there any special or unusual habits during the spawning- season ?
42. Is spawning interfered with by lines or nets, or otherwise ?
43. At what age does the male begin to breed, and at what age the female ?
44, For how many years can these fish spawn ?
45, Does the act of spawning exert an injurious effect ?
46. Where do these fish spawn, and when ?
47. Can you give any account of the process, whether males and females go in pairs, or one female and two males; whether the sexes are mixed indiscriminately, We. ?
48. Is the water ever whitened or colored by the milt of the male ?
49, What temperature of water is most favorable for hatching ?
50. At what depth of water are the eggs laid, if on or near the bottom ?
51. What is the size and color of the spawn ?
52. What is the estimated number for each fish; and how ascer- tained ?
53. Answer the question for one season, and for the lifetime.
54. Do the eggs, when spawned, sink to the bottom, and become attached to stones, grass, &c.; or do they float in the water until hatched ?
5d. Do the fish heap up or construct any kind of nest, whether of sand, gravel, grass, or otherwise; and if so, is the mouth, the snout, or the tail used for the purpose, or what; and if so, how is the materia! transported ; or do they make any excavation in the sand or gravel ?
56. Do they watch over their nest, if made either singly or in pairs?
57. When are the eggs hatched, and in what period of time after being laid?
58. What percentage of eggs laid is usually hatched ?
59. What percentage of young attains to maturity ?
60. What is the rate of growth ?
61. Do the parents, either or both, watch over the young after they are hatched ?
62. Do they carry them in the mouth or otherwise ?
63. What enemies interfere with or destroy the spawn or the young fish ; do the parent fish devour them ?
6 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
64. Are the young of this fish found in abundance, and in what localities ? 65. On what do they appear to feed ?
I. ARTIFICIAL CULTURE.
66. Have any steps been taken to increase the abundance of this fish
by artificial breeding ? K. PROTECTION.
67. Are these fish protected by law or otherwise ?
L. DISEASES.
68. Has any epidemic or other disease ever been noticed among them, such as to cause their sickness or death in greater or less number ? 69. When have these epidemics taken place, and to what causes have they been assigned ? M. PARASITES. .
70. Are crabs, worms, lampreys, or other living animals found attached to the outside or on the gills of these fish ? ‘
N. CAPTURE.
71. How is this fish caught; if with a hook, what are the different kinds of bait used, and which are preferred ?
72. If in nets, in what kind ?
73. At what season and for what period is it taken in nets, and when with the line?
74. What would be the average daily catch of one person with the hook, and what the total for fhe season ?
75. Answer the same question for one seine or pound of specified length.
76. Is the time of catching with nets or pounds different from that with lines ?
77. Is it caught more on one time of tide than on another ?
O. ECONOMICAL VALUE AND APPLICATION.
78. What disposition is made of the fish caught, whether used on the spot or sent elsewhere; and if the latter, where ?
79. What is its excellence as food, fresh or salted ?
80. How long does it retain its excellence as a fresh fish ?
81. To what extent is it eaten?
82. Is it salted down, and to what extent ?
83. Is it used, and to what extent, as manure, for oil, or for other pur- poses, and what?
384. What were the highest and lowest prices of the fish, per pound, during the past season, wholesale and retail, and what the average; and how do these compare W ith former prices ?
85. Are these fish exported ; and, if so, to what extent ?
86. Where is the principal market for these fish ?
87. NAME AND ADDRESS OF OBSERVER.
88. DATE OF STATEMENT.
IIL—TESTIMONY IN REGARD TO THE PRESENT CON- DITION OF THE FISHERIES, TAKEN IN 1871.
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND August 1, 1871. The following reports were all made by a phonographic reporter, Mr- H. E. Rockwell, of Washington, and are intended to present the words of the witnesses, without alteration :
HEnRY O. TIFFT:
There are very few fish indeed now, to what there used to be. They are growing scarcer every year; they are much scarcer this year than last, I think. I hear people who fish say that they cannot do any- thing to what they could once. One of them told me he had been out and fished a week, and did not catch a black-fish. The traps catch them up in the spring of the year. The tautog are a species that go up the Providence River to spawn; it is salt water all the way up. We used to catch scup and tautog, as many as we wanted, away up Providence River; but they don’t catch scup now. I don’t think they could go any- where. in Narragansett Bay and eatch scup with a hook and line. I don’t think they catch them much in the pounds.
Mr. Macy. If you were to take a vote of the people, I think it would be ten to one against the use of pounds. All the people say to me that the pounds are ‘the cause of the diminution of the fish.
Mr. TrrFr. Most of the traps are in the river; none outside. They are in the East and West Bays, and all the way up on both shores nearly half-way up to Providence. There is a trap-seine at Point Judith now; there is a pound everywhere that they can drive stakes. There are three times as many pounds this year as last; it is a money-making business, and all want to go into it. They say the legislature has no power to stop them, and will keep on fishing if they are prosecuted. The fish strike at Point Judith before they do in West Bay. It seems as if they were coming from the south. Traps were put down first at Saughkonet. In the spring of the year you will see little spring-bass in the market, about six inches long, taken in these nets. The majority of them are small when they first come.
Mr. Macy. Sixteen or eighteen years ago there were five vessels went out from here, fishing for mackerel, but they sunk money in it and dropped the business.
Mr. Trrrr. There are some pounds on the south end of Providence Island, on both sides of the Canonicut, and through the east and west passages, up as faras Tiverton. Scup are out of the question. All kinds of fish are killed out, and the breeding broken up. I think, what wg pound men call small seup, that they say they catch so plenty this yea are skip-jacks.* They look almost pr ecisely alike when small. The ie jack is a small species; never grows large; the only difference from the sceup is, that the skip-jack has finer scales than the seup. The skip-jack grow about four or five inches long. They are caught about the wharves here; but no seup has a chance to spawn in our waters.
* This is a mistake; the fish in question are small scup.—S. F. B.
8 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
Mr. Macy. The squeteague are four times as plenty now as I have “ever seen them before, and keep increasing. In 1830 we caught the first blue-fish in Nantucket; but in 1831 my uncle caught a barrel which he
salted. They became plenty afterward, and continued so up to the year of the plague that killed off all the Indians but two children. They all disappeared that year.
Mr. J. J. CURRY, dealer in fish :
The Spanish mackerel are caught in this vicinity. They are more scarce this year than usual. The blue-fish run about as last year, but larger. I have kept a fish-market here six years. I do not think the blue-fish searcer than they were six years ago. There was a time, six years ago, when in August, for three days, we could not get any. Ido not know that there are any more traps used now than there were six years ago. We get all our fish for market here in this neighborhood, except halibut, round mackerel, and salmon; these come from Boston. Six years ago the price of Spanish mackerel was forty cents a pound; now they are worth a dollar a pound. Salmon are selling for fifty cents a pound. I buy my fish from the pound-men, paying about fifty-five cents a pound for Spanish mackerel. Last year we had four times as many Spanish mackerel as formerly. They were first caught here four years ago. We get eight cents a pound for blue-fish; never sell them for less than that. Flat-fish we can hardly give away in this market. We get eight cents a pound for weak-fish, (squeteague.) We do not sell many round mackerel; we cannot get more than ten or twelve cents a pound for them fresh, and, when salted, they sell for eighteen cents Seup bring five cents apiece on an average; not more than six or eight cents a pound. We get no scup scarcely.
SAMUEL ALBRO, dealer in fish:
We get forty cents a pound for sheep’s-head; they are taken in the West Bay. We get five cents a pound for flat- fish, (founders ;) take anything we can get for them; they are not much used here. We get half'a dollar a pound for salmon. There is one kind of flat- fish, that we
call pucker-mouth, that is better than the other kind. For lobsters we get five cents a pound. Ithink blue-fish are more plenty than last year. Tautog arescarce. George Crabb* makes five dollars a day catching tautog with a hook and line the. yearround. He will averagea hundred pounds a day. In the spring our market would not be as well supplied with fish if it were not for the pounds, because they can catch them in pounds before. they will bite the hook. Down at Gooseberry Island they took in one pound as many as 10,000 barrels of small scup, so small that they did not want them; the net was so full that they could not haul it, and had to catch hold of the bottom of it and tip them out. They were spawned south. They never saw such a lot of young scup here before. It was from the 14th to the 18th of May that they caught so many young seup. The big ones came along about from the 1st to the 10th of May.
FRANCIS BRINLEY, esq., chairman of the Commission on fisheries of Rhode Island:
We had many meetings of the Commission in different parts of the State to make inquiries, and found the people generally ready to answer them, though some hesitated. As a general thing, the pound or trap men here W ould not attend the meetings, although invited through the notices in the newspapers. Mr. Stevens did not appear before the Com-
* See George Crabb’s testimony, p. 30, to the contrary.
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 5)
mission, nor did he respond to the interrogatories sent him. There has been a new development of this question since our last report was made. | It is likely that the subject will come up next winter; it is largely a political question here. There was a bill prepared last spring in the senate, about which there is a good deal of feeling, as it varies from the bill which I prepared, in applying to the whole State of Rhode Island. Originally I took the ground that we would try the experiment of run- ning the line in a particular manner. That was opposed because it was unequal, and it was said, ‘ This is a partial line.” Now they say to the pound-men, ‘“ You have had time to get out of this business and pull up your traps; and having been forewarned, we will now run the line the whole length of the waters of the State.” It is possible there may be some resistance on account of want of jurisdiction, as gentlemen ot the profession are generally willing to embark in such matters. In Connecticut they have passed a law prohibiting the catching of shad in pounds after this year.
Mr. LyMAN. in Connecticut they set their pounds to the west of Connecticut River; they do not catch enough east of it to make the business pay.
Mr. Macy. I know that a few years ago you could go out back of the fort and catch as many scup as you wanted; but I would like to see any one catch ascup there now. They said the people in Connecticut and Massachusetts are catching in nets, and why should we be eut off here? We catch shad very rarely here. Excepting very early in the season we get them from the East. About fifty-five or fifty-six years ago they caught shad plenty around Nantucket.
Mr. LyMAN. That was a sporadic run, about which there was some- thing very curious.
Mr. BRINLEY. In the Providence Press, within two or three days, there has been a very strong article, in which the writer speaks of the great number of young scup which have been caught, even within the waters near the city, except where the water was charged with impuri- ties, these young fish having got the advantage of the net fishermen by coming in two weeks earlier this year than usual.
Professor BAIRD. Does he mean to imply that these same young scup come in year by year?
Mr. BRINLEY. No; that they escaped the nets this year, in conse- quence of coming in two weeks earlier than usual. Young scup have been killed in Providence Bay by the impurity of the water.
General C. C. Van ZANDT. I was chairman of a committee of the legislature on the subject of the shell-fish, and I found that the impuri- ties had a great influence. We found oysters with a perceptible odor of coal-tar, that were taken five or six miles down the bay. This was some years since.
Mr. SAMUEL POWEL. The people who are interested in this question do not understand it at all as a whole. I think many facts are needed before we can act correctly in regard to it. To attempt to stop the trapping would not be useful in the end, as the traps gather great quan- tities of fish in a short time—more than the lines could do in a long time. The matter here is now fought off till next January. I am wedded to no theory; but there is a curious fact that the fish come this year, bringing their little ones with them.
OL
’
10 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, August 2, 1871.
J. M. K. SouTHWICK:
I am not now a practical fisherman, although I have fished many years with traps and nets of different kinds. The question is one which excites considerable feeling. We have two styles of nets; what is called the trap, and the heart-seine or pound.
[These were illustrated by drawings in this manner :|
_ Teader —
— Tender _
There is,w@ bottom to the trap-net, and it must be watched all the time. Fish, when not excited, will remain in it some time, especially scup; but menhaden are apt to ‘eet out unless they are closely watched.
The first trap is set at Fr: wklin Holiow, to catch the fish as they run south, on the eastern shore of the West Passage. It has a leader of something like a hundred fathoms. Traps have been tried on the west shore, but no fish are caught there in the spring.
There is a heart-seine in Mackerel Cove, which has a leader of about seventy-five fathoms. There are two set near Fort Adams. I set one five years at Pine-Tree Beach, having a leader of forty-five fathoms. The leader is generally set perpendicular to the shore. There is a heart- seine at Coddington’s Cove. The rest are usually traps. I catch fish usually by the 10th of May. This year the fish came earlier, and prob- ably could have been caught by the 1st of May. The fish were ten days later at Coddington’s Cove than at Pine-Tree Cove. When the fish first come in the spring, we catch a few at first, and then a hundred or two, and then pretty soon several hundred barrels. The first run is generally larger than the later. The first run of scup that comes in, is generally of large e scup, all large, weighing from two to three pounds. Then, per- haps a week after war d, the smaller scup, two-thirds the size of the others come in; and tw 6 weeks later they come that weigh from half to three-quarters of a pound. The last run are smaller, and many not worth saving, and many pass through the meshes of the net.
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. Ad
There is a phenomenon that has happened this year not commonly observed by fishermen before. The Saughkonet and all the other fish- ermen—I come in contact with all—report to me that they saw the small scup in vast quantities about the time they were taking up their nets; they described them as being from half an inch long up to three inches. That was about the Ist of June. Still later they were reported to be further up the bays; and in July Mr. Arnold, of West Greenwich, told me that the river up there seemed to be full of them.
From the middle to the last of May the heart-seines are put down at different points along higher up the bays; some of them may have been put in about the Ist of May, but they do not begin fishing much until a little later. I have a heart-seine now at Dutch Island Harbor, in the West Bay.»
Flat-fish are caught about here in the winter.
Captain Calhoun stated to me that he saw the first scup caught here, which was placed on exhibition at the United States Hotel. There is a tradition that they first occurred here about 1793, and the sheep’s-head disappeared here about that time. ‘There have been more sheep’s-head caught here this seasgn than I have ever known. I have seen a dozen in the market at once.
Scup have been much more abundant this year than at any time during the last five or six years; still, not so plenty as at some former periods.
The blue-fish have not shown themselves very plenty yet this year; they have been rather scarce. There have not been so many as last year, up to the present time. 2
I think the squeteague have been as plenty as ever before; they have been very plenty indeed.
About the time that the blue-fish come, the scup disappear.
There is no doubt but that the great majority of the fish are destroyed while in their spawn or small fry.
In May the spawn of the scup is found in different degrees of devel- opment; while some are quite ready to spawn, others have it developed but little. Some have no spawn in them. I saw six cleaned in the month of May, of which only one had spawn; there might have been the same number taken, and every one had spawn in it.
We catch in our traps and pounds the seup in largest quantity; next come the sea-bass; then, squeteague; then, blue-fish; and then the flat-fish, called the brail, the pucker-mouth, and the flounder; then, tautog.
The great bulk of the fish caught in the pounds goes to New York.
I have known scup sold as low as fifty cents a barrel, five or six years ago. They sometimes sell fish for just what they can get, because they cannot be kept long’ enough to get them to market. Sea-bass bring about the same price as scup generally—about five centsa pound. Sque- teague bring four cents; blue-fish, five cents; flat-fish, from two to three cents—many have been soldfor two cents each. Very few fish are salted here, except the herring.
Menhaden are second to scup in number of pounds caught; they are used for oil and bait. One gang caught 1,500 barrels of menhaden last week. There are three or four oil-works on this island. This season is reported to be the best for many years formenhaden. For bait they are sold fora dollar a barrel, and sometimes a dollar and a half. When sold for manure, they bring about thirty centsa barrel. The purse-nets supply the oil-works generally with menhaden.
12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
JOHN D. SWAN:
I have been fishing about forty-eight years, with hook and line; have never used traps or seines of any kind—nothing more than a gill-net for herring for bait. Ihave fished about Brenton’s Reef, mostly for black- fish, (tautog.) I think tautog is about as plenty this year as last; but © not so plenty as five years ago. Eighteen or twenty years ago, in two hours I could get as many as I wanted. Then we got four or five cents a pound at retail; now we get eight cents. If we get fifty pounds a day now, and work hard, we do a pretty good business. I sell to families ; dealers give only about five cents a pound.
IT have not seen a scup this season in the water. We used to catch them when fishing for tautog. Ihave not seen the run of young scup that there is so much said about; I have not seen young settp this year in greater quantity than usual.
We did not formerly catch scup with the hook until ten days after they were seen. They used to run so thick that they would crowd one another up out of water. There was one place where they run over a point where the water was nine feet deep, and they were so thick as to be crowded out of water. I went there this spring in the month of May, and did not see a scup there.
Mr. Soutuwick. It was reported that scup have been seen there.
Mr. SwANn. Seup have been dwindling off ever since the traps ap- peared, and [ attribute the diminution to the traps.
Mr. SouTHWIcK. I think it is due to some increase of enemies, I think all fish, if left alone, would multiply at certain periods and become very numerous, until their particular enemies increased and destroyed their spawn. We know that all spawn has enemies. Ido not think there has been so much decrease as is asserted; I think it has been principally in the bays and not in the waters generally. They are scarce in the bay from over-fishing by the great number of fishermen around the shores. In fishing for bass, they will play with the bass they hook until he drives all the other fish away. I think that has an effect on the bass. The scup, I think, are affected by the impurities of the water in coming up the bay. The appearance of the blue-fish and the impurities of the waters from the manufactories keep out the seup.
Mr. Swan. I have not caught a blue-fish this year except when fish- ing for bass; they are not plenty enough to be worth fishing for.
Mr. SouTHWIcK. My observation shows that the blue-fish have been less than last year. They struck in very scattering.
Question. When were scup first seen this season ?
Mr. SoutHwick. Somewhere about the third of May, at Pine-Tree Cove. Frequently wedo not see them, though they are in the water. They swim slowly and almost always with the tide. I think they drift backward and forward with the tide; unless frightened, they never go against the tide.
Mr. OBED KinG. There is not three days difference between Watch Hill and Gay Head. This season they caught scup at Gay Head first.
Mr. Souruwick. I used to think it was safe not to put in my net at Pine-Tree Cove till I heard of the fish being caught down near the light- boat, off the mouth of the harbor. That was so well established as being safe to act upon, that I should not hesitate now to act upon it. For three years, I think, the 10th, 11th, and 12th of May were first days on which scup were caught. This year they seined them about the 3d of May. Sea-bass were more plenty at Saughkonet this year than last.
Mr. Swan. I have not found them so plenty.
Mr. Souruwick. I fished at Pine-Tree Cove five years, and for the
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. is:
first four years I did not exceed four or five hundred pounds a month. This year I got at some single hauls more than during the whole former season. Last year I got as many as twelve or fifteen hundred-weight. I do not know the cause of the diminution of the scup, but I think they *may have diminished from the same cause that many other fish have that were never caught in our traps, such as the bull’s-eye; the old fisher- men say they used to catch them in large quantities.
Mr. SWAN. They used to be here every season. They disappeared twenty-five years ago. There is not one to ten striped bass that there used to be. They catch the small ones by hundreds, in the traps, early in the season.
Mr. SourHwick. We take up the traps after May, and do not put them down again at all. The heart-seines are kept down through the season, because the heart-seines do not need watching, and you can go and eet the fish out at any time, the fish remaining inthem. The traps are best when the fish come in large bodies. We catch menhaden in the traps sometimes, but we have to “work very quick. The heart-seines are supposed to catch all the time.
Mr. Kine. Nine out of ten of the fish have spawn in them in the spring; they are slow and lie around, and will not run out of a square trap. Gill-nets are used around here too; they catch blue-fish in them outside, but they are much more scarce than formerly. They say scup are blind when they first come, but it isnot so; they move slow because they are full of spawn. Large bass are caught here in the winter, in deep water, with clam-bait, but they are slow in biting. In one winter they were thrown up in great numbers on Block Island, frozen to death. The pucker-mouth is caught in winter in shallow water; the other flat fish go into deeper water.
Mr. SWAN. | caught a Spanish mackerel about twenty yearsago. We should not get many now were it not for the traps.
Mr. SOUTHWICK. They are caught only in the heart-seines, because the Square traps are taken up before ‘they come in.
Mr. Swan. I can remember when the blue-fish first came in; they did not catch them when I wasa boy. It must have been forty ‘years ago when, at one time that I had? been fishing for tautog, I trolled for blue- fish, and got several that day. Twenty years ago we could catch scup in any quantity, but since the traps came in they dwindled off.
Mr. SOUTHWICK. Nobody disputes the fact that scup have of late years been less plenty than formerly. They showed themselves quite plenty last year. Near Bristol Ferry they caught them in plenty:
Mr. Kine. There were not so many barrels shipped to New York this year as last.
Mr. Sournwick. That is no criterion. The great bulk of the fish are sent directly to New York from the traps in vessels.
Mr. Kine. There have not been half so many vessels on the river as last season. I have not caught three scup in three years.
Mr. Souruwick. The pounds about Point Judith have taken more than in any year for three years; that is the general information. There is one trap, near the Spouting Rock at W atch Hill, which has been more Successful in getting scup this year than for a number of years.
WILLIAM DENNIS, Esq.:
Question. Have you paid any attention to the political economy of this fishing question ?
Answer. I am a Newporter, and am here every year for about two
14 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
months, and I fish all the while with a line. I have fished regularly since 1828, and know something about it. Compared with the fishing twenty years ago, under the same conditions, the number of tautog caught now would not be more than one-eighth as many. There are no secup now; I have not caught one this year. I have been fishing two weeks, and fishing where ssup ought to be very abundant; f have not caught one or seenone. I consider them nearer gone than the Indians. Twenty years ago I used to go outside for my fishing mostly, and my ear would hold from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds. In the ordinary condition of weather I would fill it and be home by nine o’clock in the morning; and when I left off fishing, having caught as many as I wanted, I could have caught as many more if I wished. I think that now, fishing the same time, under the same circumstances, on the same ground, if T saved all that I could, and exhausted my ability, and got twenty- five pounds of all kinds of fish, I should do well. I
| fished for nothing except tautog. I first began to appreciate a difference
within ten or twelve years—a very sensible difference. I never saw any difference until traps were set. I know that, after the traps had been in successful operation a short time, there was a clear diminution of the fish, the same that there always is in countries where birds are trapped. You cannot shoot up the game—neither woodcock nor pin- nated grouse; and you cannot exterminate the fish with the hook and line. Consequently there was no diminution until the traps were set
‘here. Of course the fish are diminishing all the while. I don’t believe
that to-morrow morning you can take a box of crabs, and go out and catch a hundred pounds a day for aweek. We don’t know what they take in traps. They say they never get any, although other people have seen them carried off by the cartload. They take everything from a shark
'down to a large chogset. The very moment you sink your trap to the
bottom, you are sure “to take shark as any other fish. Those who fish for striped ‘bass tell me they are very scarce. I have been here two weeks, and have caught a few fine tautog, but I have caught them all in the river; and of course that is no way to determine whether there are any fish, because if there were one or two hundred fish here at this time, they would be sea-fish that came into the river. I remember very well when the blue-fish came here.
Mr. Swan. The blue-fish were small when they first came here, not weighing over a pound and a half. The biggest I ever caught weighed fourteen pounds. J think I have seen one weighing eighteen pounds,
Mr. DENNIS. I have my own theory about squete: igue. Iwas fishing, Six or seven years ago, off Point Judith, when I hooked the first sque- teague I ever caught. here. I then took twelve large fish, weighing seven or eight pounds. I take it they require a peculiar kind of bait, which is becoming more abundant than it has been. There is only one fish here that maintains its numerical integrity ; that is the chogset.
Mr. Souruwick. Nothing but menhaden are used for manure. In the five years that I fished 7 never sold any to be put on land, except about two barrels of waste fish. I have sold, perhaps, in that time, seventy-five barrels of menhaden.
Mr. SwAN. We find the tautog two or three miles from land in winter, and the chogset stow away in deep water. Lobsters are pretty scarce now. Last year 1 averaged forty a day in my pots; this year not more than twenty-five or thirty. They sometimes burrow themselves up in the sand.
Captain SHERMAN fully indorsed the statement of Mr. Dennis. He had been fishing with him a great deal. There has been a general de-
.
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 15
preciation of the fish since the traps have been set. The bays are so blocked up with nets that the fish cannot come in. It will not admit of an argument. I can think of nothing else than the traps as the cause of the diminution.
Mr. SourHwick. If traps are the sole cause of the diminution of the seup, what could have been the cause of the diminution of the bull’s- eye, Sea-bass, blue-fish, and squeteague, all of which have disappeared almost wholly in this century, and again returned, with the exception.of the bull’s eye? I am told the sea-bass disappeared about thirty years ago, and then came on again.
Mr. Swan. I never knew them to disappear. About fifteen years ago, one 4th of July, I trolled for blue-fish while going out to my lobster- pots, and I got a striped bass that weighed thirty pounds. After I had hauled my pots, [caught two more, one weighing nineteen and the other twenty-one pounds. On the 8th of July I went agafn, and, after hauling my pots, I cut up a little lobster and fixed my bait, and when I threw my line it got snarled, and in trying to twitch out the snarl, I caught a fish; and that day I got eight that weighed in the aggregate two hun- dred and seventy-six pounds after they were cleaned. Ido not think the steamboats have any influence in diminishing the fish. A steamer coming within fifty yards of a fishing-place would not drive away the fish. In former times, a common impression among the fishermen was that if the heads and gills of the fish used for bait were thrown into the water, it would scare away the fish, but I always throw them overboard.
I have no idea how old scup are when they spawn. I think scup as large as a man’s hand will have spawn in them. We generally save the spawn of the large scup to eat. Scup move with the tide; other fish we do not see so much, as they keep near the bottom ; the scup are seen when they go over shallow places.
I don’t think I ever saw scup iv blue-fish; I have found little mack- erel and shiners something like a herring, and menhaden. Blue-fish throw out all that is in their stomach when caught.
Before traps were put in we could see the tautog in the water about the rock, and under the edges of the stones in a warm day. Some say you cannot catch tautog in a thunder-storm. That is “ all in your eye.” I caught more fish in one thunder-squall than I had caught all day in another place. When tautog are plenty, the best bait for them is the crab; but IL always fish with lobsters. They eat the muscles off the rocks. I have seen some of the rocks covered with muscles at one time, and then the star-fish would come and eat them all off.
I think there are more hand-line fishermen than there were fifty years ago. The business has rather increased during the last twenty years.
Bonito were never plenty about here. I never caught more than one in a day and not a great many in all.
I have never seen any fish that appeared sickly except the cod-fish ; that is sometimes what we call loagy. I think those have the consump- tion. Menhaden are very bad bait for lobsters. If there is any in their paunch when boiled, the oil comes right through the meat. Any strong fish affect lobsters in the same way. The bull’s-eye fish was poisonous if kept long. It was a kind of chub-mackerel.
Twenty-five years ago, I think, I caught 165 blue-fish in one day and three bass, trolling. That is the most I ever caught in one day.
16 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, August 2, 1871—A/fternoon. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PARDON W. STEVENS:
Ihave only one pound; I do not trap at all. We thought we could do better in buying fish. The trap is a Rhode Island institution entire- ly; they are set only about three weeks. Previous to last year they commenced trapping about the 20th of April, but this year not till the 1st of May. The trap is like an oblong box, with one end knocked out. But in a heart-seine we can hold the fish we catch. A brother of my partner got a bassin his pound that weighed fifty-two pounds. The leader of the trap must be long enough to get toa sufficient depth of water. Over on the Saughkonet side the leaders are two hundred fathoms. The leaders run from east to west, with the mouth of the trap to the north ; and where they set several traps, the leader of one runs a little by that of another. The fishers there measure off the water and draw for it. There is a sort of agreement among the trappers that the leaders shall be two hundred fathoms. There is one place where they allow them longer. On the southeast corner of the State they allow them to go out five hundred fathoms, so as to get square with the one at Saughkonet Point.
We set the mouth of the trap up stream because, as the tide runs north, the trap must be right across the tide; the open part to the northwest, and the leader on the south side. The mouth is in some instances leaded and goes to the bottom. I never worked a trap at Saughkonet; what I know about the fishing there I learn when I go there to buy fish. I never worked a trap except down in this bay.
I think the fish are bound eastward. I always took the ground that if the fish were bound to the river the traps would not hinder them. I ‘think the heart-seine is much more injurious than the trap, if either. There are many days when a man cannot attend to his trap. It requires almost as much attention to fish with a trap as in the hauling of a seine. Half a gang attend half a day and the other half the rest. It uspally requires six men to haul up the gate toa trap. Lattend one with one man.
I had a heart-seine at Sachuest Point, thinking that if the fish went up the river there I would try and get some. The leader runs from the shore sixty-five or seventy tathoms. We attended that diligently, and all the scup we got was two. We got perhaps half a dozen tautog, a few dozen codfish, and a few barrels of herring. We set to catch Spanish mackerel or anything that would run in in the summer. I was satistied that no fish went above, but they went across. I know the fish- ermen do not go more than two and a half miles north of Saughkonet Point; but we were two miles above them.
As a general rule, we have to set our traps on the east side of the channel for the first run of scup. Ido not know so much about the second run, because small scup stay here all summer. When you take up a school of these, they are almost a calico-color; the first run are almost white. I never saw any with regular bars on them. Some that are called the third run of scup are caught up at the head of the bay. IT cannot tell whether the large scup have ever been caught up at the heatl of the bay, because I never fished there. My idea is that the fish come in east of Block Island and strike first at Watch Hill and Point Judith. I don’t know how far into the Sound they go; but they catch them first at Watch Hill. I think the big scup do not go up the West River. I have seen them running across Brenton’s Reef on their way
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 17
eastward. Some say they are blind at first, but I never saw any that were so; I never saw any that did not move pretty fair. They move faster in warm weather than when it is cooler. Recently they have got the first scup at Watch Hill; but there used to bea trap west of Beaver Tail light, which picked them up first. Now they have rigged it as a pound.
There would not be more than a day’s difference between the times of catching at Fort Adams and Saughkonet. They caught scup in Vine- yard Sound this year two days before we did. On the 20th of April we caught thirteen barrels. We caught some on the 18th of April; that was sixteen days earlier than, last year. Some of the run got by and went down to the Vineyard Sound.
Scup are more scarce than they used to be.
There were two cold seasons a few years ago, and a great many tau- tog were frozen, and it was a number of seasons before we could get many to supply the market here. I have heard that they are more plenty this year. When they froze, they were thrown up on the Nan- tucket shore, and they were cut out of the ice and sent to New York. That was in 1856757.
That could not have affected the scup, because they do not stay around here. The chogset were affected in our harbor.
Question. What do you suppose has affected the abundance of the bass?
Answer. They are much scarcer than they were formerly. I do not know what has cleaned them out. I suppose that catching some in the spring of the year may affect them somewhat.
No fish are used for manure except menhaden. I was ready to give two dollars a barrel for scup, and they were not worth that for manure. That was the lowest price this year. The highest price was five dollars at the traps. We get in New York just what the commis- sion merchants are a mind to pay us. Sometimes we do pretty well, and sometimes not. The scup are packed in bulk in ice, and sent to New York or Philadelphia. A common sloop-smack from New London carries about 100 barrels.
Question. Supposing that it is decided to try any experiments with traps, in the way of legislation, is there any compromise that can be made between no traps at all or all that people choose to put down ; would it be expedient to attempt any limitation of the length of the leader, the size of mesh, and time of keeping them down ?
Answer. I judge that a limitation of time would be best.
Question. What would be best, so many weeks or so many days in a month ?
Answer. I should say, so many days. They run about a month, and then the fishing in traps is all over—from the 20th of April to the 20th of May.
Question. Suppose it should be said that no fish should be taken from noon on Saturday to noon on Monday; would that be acceptable ?
Answer. It ought to be; and it ought to be made acceptable. Now, although half the men go home Saturday noon, the rest will make up a gang and fish Sunday, and find a fellow with a smack, to whom they will sell their catch, and then divide what they get, and thus make the share of each greater than that of the rest of the gang.
Question. How could you treat a trap or pound so that they could not catch any fish ?
Answer. Have it hauled up. We haul our pound up witha long line, leaving the bottom up about two fathoms.
S. Mis. 61 2
18 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
Question. What would you suggest as the proper way of securing general obedience to such a law ?
Answer. Hold the captains of the gangs responsible; either conte their property or make a heavy penalty.
I have had a long controversy with Tallman about menhaden spawn- ing twice a year. Every fisherman says menhaden come along full of Spawn in the spring, and go back in fall full of spawn.
Question. Do you find small scup to any extent in the blue- fish that are taken in any way excepting in traps?
Answer. It is very seldom we catch them in any other way except with the gill-net. I have found blue-fish with young scup in them ; when taken in gill-nets, we almost always find scup in them. Blue- fish
caught with a drail often vomit up the foodin them. Sometimes three- fourths of the food would be young scup. I have shaken them out ot them within a week. Squeteague and blue-fish do that; they will eat anything that runs free. To-day I picked up one, and ‘just took and pr essed on the belly of the fish, and he was full of them. "The pound is full of these small fish, and they get the little fish in the pound. I have seen the little striped smelt in them, packed in them, and looking like a row of pencils. Sometimes they will come ashore with a lot of scup in them; and then again they will have nothing but hake and sea- robins. "They will bite these off close up to the fin; ; and then they will come ashore with mackerel. I have seen them with small flat-fish in them. I don’t know as I ever found a crab in a blue-fish. I have al- ways taken particular pains to know what the blue-fish feed on. Until this became so extensive a watering-place, I have shipped four thousand pounds of black-fish to New York ina year. I have shipped a thou- sand to fifteen hundred sugar-boxes—bought them and sold them. But then the competition became so great that I could not afford to buy them. What were wanted here were sold readily, and the balance were sent off. The retail dealers here buy fish wherever they can get them. Two buy to send to New York, in connection with what they sell here.
We caught from one thousand to fifteen hundred pounds last week. We found them accidentally out in Saughkonet River. They come up from the bottom every night. We catch blue-fish in gill-nets more than in the pounds. They destroy the nets very badly.
I do not know as blue-fish are more plenty than last year; there have been days when they cannot catch any. Weare catching now full as many as we did last year. We get the fish at night; we catch the fish below the middle of the net then; but when the fish are playing on the top, we get them near the top of thenet. We have our nets with a mesh two andone-half inches to four and one-half ; they are from fifty to ninety fathoms long. They are made by Mr. Stowe, of Boston.
My partner’s brother went down the other day and caught twenty- eight bass. If there comes a heavy sea, on the fall of the sea they can get large bass, plenty of them. My partner’s brother went down and
aught eight or nine hundred-weight, and Mr. Perry Cole and Mr. Dur- kee get a great many.
Question. Are eels scarcer than they used to be?
Answer. I think so. Whether the gas-works have affected them or not Ido not know. Six or seven years ago I was a member of the legisla- ture, and I went out one morning and found a man on the steps open- ing a basket of oysters, and I could smell the coal-tar in them very plainly. Fourteen or fifteen years ago I kept a fish-market on Long Wharf, and you could see the tarry substance rise on the water and spread out while going through the bridge. We have had a thousand
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 19
pounds of fish killed by it in one night. Seup will not go up Provi- dence River; it is nothing but a mud-hole. It is only in the pounds that we get the little scup. When fish were running here, we caught a great many young scup from two to five inches long. I never knew anything like it before; none of usever saw it before. If it had occurred it would have been observed. Menhaden have been more plenty this year than for many years before. I heard a regular fisherman say he never knew such July fishing as there has been this year in the West River. Menhaden are caught i in the pounds in the spring of the year. Forty to fifty barrels of menhaden would be a large yield. But the purse-nets take as many as they can hold, and sometimes they lose their nets; they cannot eather up the fish soon enough, and they would die and sink ; and they would have to cut open the seine.
We get mackerel here in this harbor; they are poor in the spring, and have spawn in them. In August they have no spawn in them. We do not catch any fish much when they are full of spawn, neither black-fish nor scup, nor the first run of mackerel. Here are ninety to one hundred
sail of mackerel-catchers lying off here, and they take the fattest mack- erel I have ever seen. Last year was the first time they have ever done it. Mackerel promise to be plenty this year. There is no sale for the spring-catch ; they are poor mackerel. .
Question. If we had three times as many scup as we now have, could we buy them for any less money ?
Answer. If the fish were not ‘exported from Rhode Island, they would not be worth a cent a pound.
Question. Why has the wholesale price been less this year than betore ?
Answer. It is because of the increase of pounds in Vineyard Sound, and they all send fish to New York. Squeteague run from three to ten pounds. Large ones began to come here tive or six years ago. They are much larger now than they used to be. They were here once before, and went off more than forty years ago, and they have not been plenty since until within a few years.
When the blue-fish first came back, the people would not eat them ; ‘ there was no sale for them; people said they would make a sore on those that eat them. The prejudice against them was so great that you could not sell one in market.
In 1854 I used to catch the bull’s-eye. They were here for a consider- able time after that, and had been off and on before that. They were not a regular fish.
There is only one pound at Saughkonet River. I have the only one there. There was one set up in Goddington’s Cove by a man by the name of Clarke. He got a great many Spanish mackerel, and that set us after them. The right to fish is as perfect as any right we have here in Rhode Island. The right to the fisheries and the right to the shore are all the same. All the people have a right to go on the shore, being only liable for any damage. There isa path clear “round from the bathing. houses to the boat-house here. The right is universally recog- nized in Rhode Island.
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, August 3, 1871. NATHANIEL SMITH: Iam seventy-three years old. I have fished forty-six years. There were scarcely any fish when I left the business, three years ago, on
F 20 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
account of my health. Fish used to be very plenty, so that any one could get as many as he wanted; they were plenty until the trapping was commenced. That was about 1828 or 1830. But I fished before they had any trapping or purse-seines. One man could catch seup enough forty years ago to load a boat in a short time. 1 have seen the water all full of them under my boat. Tvery one could catch as many sea-bass or tautog as he wanted. The blue-fish came around in 1834, [think. le aught the first blue-fish, which was about a foot long. Every year they became more and more plenty; but still they did not make any difference with the other fish. It never made any odds with the tautog nor bass-fishing, because I have caught the bassright among them, J had a bass once with a scup in his throat, ‘choked with it. Idon’t think blue-fish trouble scup atall. 1 never saw scup spawning ; but think they spawn up the river, close in shore. I never fished for scup much, but they were plenty, and there was no difficulty in catching them until they began trapping them up. It was just so with tautog. I got up the first petition against trapping tautog, and got seventy to one hundred signers, and Sam Brown got one hundred. “Tt was handed to our legis- lature, and laid on the table, and I suppose thrown under the table or turned out doors. The tautog began to grow scarce twenty years ago. They set traps up, over 8S: 1ughkonet shore. at the time I got. up the peti- tion. J think, if traps could be stopped, we should have fish plenty in the course of three or four years. The spawn is taken up with the fish going in to spawn in the spring of the year; there is no seed left in the water for fish to grow from. TV Cisande ‘and thousands of hundred- weight of tautog have been sent to New York, besides hundreds of boxes of scup. I have seen them take thousands of pounds of tautog off Gooseberry Island in a morning and send them to New York. But now they cannot get them around the shores.
The blue-fish were in these waters before, and very large. My father used to catch them about the year 1800, not far from that. I think, from what was said when I caught the first one, they must have been out of the water sixteen or eighteen years. About 1800 they were very plenty. They first made a net of rattan to trap them, and then they all went away in a body, and till the little ones came back they did not return again. I used to catch the little ones and bring them to market ; but nobody would buy them, and so I threw them away. The first man who brought blue-fish to our market was Mr. John Springer, and he first brought them when they came back the last time.
Scup were alway ‘s here; were here when my father was a boy.
When I first beg: iw to cateh blue-fish, they did not weigh more than a pound or two apiece; but when they were ‘here before +, my father said they weighed sixteen and eighteen pounds.
They first began to set traps on the eastern shore about 1827; they used to set them just the same as now; they would drive the fish into the pockets at the ends.
There are no school-bass here in the fall of the year. In old times, thirty or forty years ago, the bass were around in schoolsin September, and would run until cold weather. I have caught them as late as the 10th of December. I would get from one to two hundred a day. I used mackerel or menhaden for bait. I used dead bait, but of late years I fished with lobster bait. That would not answer only when there was a heavy sea and the water was thick; Lused to catch aboat- load in a day in that way. I got sixteen one morning, four of which weighed 206 pounds, and the rest would weigh from thirty to forty
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. v4
pounds apiece. Four or five years ago I could not catch any. Thesea- bass are very scarce now.
Mackerel used to be caught here all the year round, but they are scarce now.
The skip-jack is something like the bonito: the bonito has a darker and broader stripe than the skip-jack. The bonito is striped like an albicore.
I don’t know but one kind of sword-fish here. I know the bill-fish ; they are a long fish, with a bill something like that of a sword-fish. I have seen a bill- fish three feet long. They are not at all like the sword- fish. They have little fins like the mackerel. They followed some ship in here; they were here in the fall of the year and latter part of the summer, only one year. That Was forty years ago; I have seen none since. The docks were all full of them then, about eight or ten inches long and very black. They would bite anything you might put down, even a bit of pork.
The bull’s-eye fish were here from 1812 to 1830, perhaps; they were very plenty. The women would haul them in with seines—barrels of them ; once in a while two or three are caught in the fall of the year; they were nearly a foot long, very thick and fat. One year they poisoned every one who eat them; people thought they had been feeding on some copper-bank ; they were much fatter than common mackerel. I salted a barrel, and “carried them out to Havana. They were never sent from here to a market abroad. They were so fat they would rust too ie like the Boston Bay mackerel. Split them and they would fall apart, they were so fat.
Menhaden are decreasing too. In 1819 I saw a school of menhaden out at sea, when I was going to Portland, that was two miles wide and forty miles long. I sailed through them. We were out of sight of land. They appes wed to be all heading southwest. There were no fish near them. I have seen a school on this coast three miles long. I think they spawn in April or May.
They catch a few shad in the traps here now; they never used to do that. They get plenty of herring in the spring. Herring are bigger than alewives ; they come along together and spawn together; they spawn in April and May; they are used only for bait. People never pretend to smoke them. There are many different kinds of herring.
NEWPORT, August 3, 1871
W. E. WHALLEY, of Narragansett Pier:
Tam using a trap-seine. We work on the tide, and we don’t care on which side of the seine it is. We catch all kinds of fish that wear scales, and some that don’t—big fish and eels. Wecatch sturgeon, from seven pounds up to three or four hundred. I do not know how many heart-seines are being worked this season. The heart-seines take the fish both ways; the trap, only one way. They are of various sizes, according to the locality, the leaders being om seventy-five to two hundred fathoms. The trap-seine is caleulated to take fish working down an eddy; the heart-seine, where the tide works both ways. They are at Horse Neck, and all along where the tide sets both ways. Taking fish in traps depends on the eddies; the better the eddy the better the chance for fishing. When the tide sets up into the bayous, there is an eddy when it runs back, and the fish run in. We fish every hatf-hour,
22 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES.
and get from a few barrels to five hundred, and when the tide is over we wait; we fish only when the tide is running in; we do not expect to get as many on the ebb-tide as on the flood, except in some places. At Goosebe rry Island we fish on the ebb-tide. "At Sachuest Point we have
fished two. seasons, and I have fished at Point Judith on the flood-tide. There is a westward tendency there at the ebb-tide. On the strong ebb, these fish coming across the Sound strike through there. At Goose- berry Island I wanted a flood-tide, and that brings an eddy inside, making a bay for a mile or a mile and a half.
On Saughkonet River there is not much tide, only when it blows fresh to the north or south. There are two bridges there, and we always thought we did best at them on flood-tide. We never set any nets on the west side. When I went there in 1857, there were eleven traps; next year, fifteen; and the next, seventeen. The traps were first started in 1846, by Ben. Tallman. He invented the trap.
Question. What do you think about the general question of traps; do they affect the quantity of fish or not?
Answer. Yes, sir; I think,if they were stopped, the fish would be much more plenty.
I will give my reasons why I have answered “ yes.” I do not mean to say that traps should not be used onour coast. I donot mean to say they should be abolished, but I do mean to say that, in the way they are handled, and used, and allowed to be set anywhere, without regard to water, place, &c., they are an injury to the fisheries, and are what is killing off and curt tailing the luxuries that the Creator has furnished, and intended should be enjoyed. My ideas are derived from nine years’ experience in trapping and seining, and I have heard the other fisher- men say the same thing. [am a fisherman, and expect to fish as long as I do anything.
In the first place, our bays are large in proportion to the size of our State, and the school-fish have not a place where they ean go and stop wagging their tails long enough to lay their spawn, while the oysters are protected. Here is a trap and there is a purse-net, so that from the time they come in until they go out somebody is after them.
And, what is worse than ‘all, our own State’s people cannot get them at all. They will bring them in and sell them to carry away for a quarter of a cent a pound, in the month of May; ; and now to day you
cannot buy them for ten cents a pound. Why? Because they have en taken here for twenty years, before the spawning-time, and sent out of existence for nothing. -If you kill a bird before it lays its eggs where is your increase? And so, if you kill your sheep, where is your stock? Can we raise anything if we don't try to keep our breeding- stock good? Is it expected that we can have fish if we wiJl put them on the land for manure at a quarter of a cent a pound? And now you cannot buy them for ten cents a pound. Confute it if you can.
When I could go out here and catch from three to five hundred-weight of black-fish in a “day, I have been told not to deliver them, and w hen I brought them in, to cover them up with scup, and then carry them away and throw them in the river after dark, and not sell them in Newport. Why? So that the inhabitants would not know where they came from. I have sou it. They are selling fish from off Point Judith, and sending them to New York.
But they have thrown striped bass into the dung-heap, because they could not get: ten cents a pound; deacons of churches did that. Now you cannot get them at all. Iused to get enough Saturday afternoon to last my family a week; go now, and you don’t get a nibble. Give us
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 23
some protection, and, by-and-by, we may have a place that the fish ean go to and lay their spawn, and where the young fish can grow.
Black- fish (tautog) we cannot get. Yesterday we had five men fish- ing, and 27 pounds, 22 pounds, and 1h) pounds each was the best they could do. Te it was not for lobsters, our fishermen could not get enough for their breakfasts.
We take striped bass in nets, at the mouth of Saughkonet River, and at the back beaches. The fish run eastward in the spring, the same as the geese go north. But black-fish and bass can be caught here all the year. I fish inside of the point in winter, and outside in summer. We get bass through the ice, in winter; sometimes a barrel of them. They go into the mud in eighty feet of water. The bass and tautog are a native fish ; the blue-fish is a traveler, here to-day and gone to morrow. I don’t care anything about them.
Shad are a fish that will run up the rivers annually if not hindered. I have caught shad at Gooseberry Island, seven hundred a day, with a trap-seine. That is norig for catching shad; but if you go to work and prepare for it, you can catch shad plenty.
In regard to tautog, bass, and scup, we cannot make a living fishing for them, as we used to do. Many a man has been driven out of the business. I could show you a dozen good boats rotting down, all gone to destruction; and the fishermen have taken to something else, which they had