Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-11-30
CHARLES SIMMS.
Gill Nets -! Gill Nets /!

Gill Nets F! Gill Nets !
10 the Citizsns Of Washington, Freds-
rick, and Montgomery counties.
A S the General Assembly of Ma
n ry!and will sit in the course of
few weeks. l take the liberty of call.
ing the attention of the people Of the
upper counties to the subject Of Gill
Nets that all those who may agree
with me in opinion, may unite in pc
titions to the Legislature to pass such
laws as may efftctually prevent the
use of them hereafter i'm the Potomac.
Since the introduction of these Nets
into our waters, the people of the up
percounties have experienced tic most
pernicious effects of this practice. 1t
is fact well known, that many per.
SONS at the last season, after leaving
their homes. with their teams, at the
most busy season of the year, and ira
Yelling, perhaps. from so to Zoe miles
10 reach the nearest landings, and af-
ter being detained there considera.
bic time, exposed to the inclcmencies
of the weather, and often without any
shelter but what was afforded to them
by the coverings Of their Wagons,
while their crops too were suffering
greatly at home, were obliged at last
to return without any fish. Some pro-
cured their Hcrrings. but not one in
ten could get the Shad they wanted
for their families. These Gill Nets,
it is said, are iishcd almost exclusive
" by persons from the Eastward-a
covetous people they must be :--they
would take the bread from our mouths
if they could do it-and they certainly
will the fish if left to themselves. 1t
is stated they had 500 vessels engaged
in tbs business during the last season;
such a humber of Nets will form such
an obstruction in the river as to keep
back the Shad altogether, and by
breaking the schools Of HcrrinSs will
render even the catching of them UNI
certain. And what adds TO our griey-
ance, the fish that arc caught in this
manner are not disposed of to orr CT
tizens, but are cured on board the
vessels that take them, and carried as
an article of traffic TO some other pOr-
tons of the Union, OF, perhaps, to TO-
reign parts.
The people Of the upper counties
are peculiarly situated; living remote
from airy of the Rivers, with which
nature has so bountifulIy watered our
state, they have only an opportunity
alTordedcd to them once year Of pro.
curing fish of any kind for their fami.
lies and it rests with the Legislature
to determine whether they shall be de-
priyed of this right, attended As it is
too, with great sacrifice, expense and
trouble; and it must be known too to
the members that may compose that
body, that fish, from long use and Gus
tom. have become indisponsably neCes.
sary to our families.
If any doubt should exist as to tho
facts herein stated, l have only to Oh
serve that they will be entirely re-
moved by referring to amy one from
either Of the upper counties, who at
tended at tic landings either of tho
two last seasons, particularly the last.
Having said much more than ] IN.
tended, | have only to call upon all
those who feel an interest in this bu-
siness, to lose no time in getting sig
natures TO such a petition as | have
rccommcndcd,-and also to sec and
converse upon the subject with such
persons as they may think proper to
send as delegates to the next General
Assembly ; and | have also to request
the favor OF the editors of the Fredc-
ricktOwn papers, to give these re-
marks a place in their respective pa
pcrs, that the subject may be fully
brought before the people Of the upper
counties.
ONE OF THE PEOPLE.