The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-05-31

VIII not supply the inhabitants OF each State with
shad and behring's as II used TO but this u not al all
surprising 10 those who are aequainled with the ma
ture OF fishing and believe that here is con
siderable number Of the Legislatures &c. OF Virginia
and Maryland that live IN the western counties OF
those States, aud, of course, cannot be as we'll
qualnted with the nature Of fishing as we who live
Immediately on the waters have il in conlcmpla-
ion 10 tell them something about the of fish
log. The business Of shad and herring into any OF
our fresh water rveIs Is pawn as they cannot do
90 in salt water and ii they do. the salt water imme-
dialely destroys thtr spawn. Now, their spawns are
deposited on rocks, gravel chunks, brush logs,
grass, or any other thing lying the bottom of the
river and II they remain IN the place portion they
are dropped IN II is believed that each shad herring
viii yield not less haa two thousand but If they be
moved oot Of their place, they dead much
stalk of corn would be II pulled up and laid upon s
NIL or an egg, in the act of becoming fowl, was il
to be rolled of its warm by the claw OF an owl
into bank Of snow. Now as there are laws in
the States Of Virginia and Marya to prohibit gill
fishing and we believe that the Legislatures have
made them innocently, not knowing the above ma
ture we will tell you of them hoping that you will
not forget the same. There are two kinds of seine
used IN these waters for that purpose. The one
is what we call a hauling seine, which bring
ashore every thing it surrounds, but the other Ia
called gill net, which only catches certain
size, suffering all the rest go through unmclested
and at perfect liberty. Your Legislature Of Virginia,
Panseu tue Ihost BfeNious law some Time during
the session before the last, prohibiting gill fishing in
the waters of the Potomac under the penalty OF not
less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars
Ihis petition, SEEM. was got up by the Potomac
fisherman principally signed by the inhabitants OF the
District of Columbia and toand PRESENTS by John
Powell, ofFairfax county, Virginia. This, We would
SUI pose, not to be genuine petition bu, wish
to tell the public something about the game that is
now playing, wish to tell you OF the nature of The
fishing of these seines, and their dimensions also -
There are from twenty To fifty hauling sCines the
Potomac river which from six to fifteen hundred
athoms long they are from Thirty to seventy feet
deep, with not less than one thousand fathoms OF
rope. These seines are hauled from shore 10 shore,
catching all sorts, both small and great, young and
old turning and entirely destroying all the spaw
deposited upon the bottom while the innocent gall net,
passing up and down the river with the tide, and
catching only certain size by the neck the
snare would catch a Iabbt are not allowed 10 fish.
Now We pray the honorable Legislatures, Senate al d
CONFERENCE.-The of Virginia and Maryland, TO repeal
all laws prohibiting gill fishing in each Of the above
named States and in particular the Potomac river.
But for the benefit Of the public, pray that law
be made prohibiting any hauling sino in the waters
of these Commonwealths Of more than five hundred
fathoms in length with fur hundred athoms Of rope
one hundred going out and three hundred coming in
these senes certainly the cause of the fish be-
coming scarce. And further, You will notice other
rivers, particularly Delaware, the North river, the
RappahaDnock James river, Pokomoke, Nantekoke
Fishing Bay, Choplank, PatuYeDt, with other rivers
where there of these large selnes used and
forasmuch as this is the condition., al the present time
OF The fishermen, We pray law be made prohibiting
any person persons from fishing any selne e,ther
hauling Gull seine, more than five hundred fnhoms
long; and should any person on the Potomac river,
in the waters Of these Common weaI,hs fish any
longer net, they shall be under fine Of less than
two thousand dollars, as the large fishermen do not
pay any respect To a small fine, law nor gospel, God
nor Devil We have not told you yet the size of the
6sh that these seines catch We will now do so =
The slze of the marsh mesh Of gill seine Is , ID
inches wide, and very seldom catch fish weighing
less than four pounds, while the marsh mesh OF The
hauling seines are IA inches and will catch fish
weighing half an ounce 1t is generally seen, on the
Potomac that those ho fish with these seines aul
up large quantities of all sizes. The mefchantabe
fish sold the Shore or sailed the small sized
sh carted the land for manure by hundreds OF
cart loads The spawns, of course, are destroyed by
hauling, and II these seines are suffered TO he hauled
on the Potomac river, IL IL wonder herings are SIS
per barrel. IL being Of best rivers for these
hsh, 1t cannot be doubted but that within few years,
II will be too late To make law TO this fleet. IL ~
The opinion of the best judges, that II Virginia and
Maryland will prohibit those long soines from fishing
and allow gill nets, (he most innocent net that can
be used,) 10 hsh ia their stead fish will be ho Nght in
the western counties of these States cheaper tn they
now be had on the wharf in Alexandra, ID. G.
But there is not much attention paid by officers
persons on Tue land, 10 nshlug or oNsieFnE laws,
further beg that, in case the honorable Legis.
latures of Virginia and Maryland should pro.
hibt such hauling seincs from beng used in
fishing, that they would compel the sheriff Of each
county in each State TO enter each fishing shore In
his jurisdiction and measure or examine each and
every seine hauled on such fishing shores not less
than five times IL each season and should he fai so
TO do, he shall incur penalty Of not less than FIVE
hundred dollars We wish the whole inhab isnts Of
each State TO understand that such laws a. have
at present. concerning fishing. injurious TO the
community but, 1t appears, that some OF the propri.
otors OF those large seines not yet satisfied, and
have said that they will have a law to their minds,
in the State Of Maryland prohibiting gill fishing, in
spite Il hell. We understand that another one
has said, that he will have law made 10 empower
the Potomac fishermen TO use caDnons upon all such
boats may be fishing gill nets put in The waters OF
the Potomac river; ana that he intends to carry all
gill fisherman TO Alexandra and ut them In JAIL
but this is something like what Gosh told David,
that he would give, &c. Now, we consider this 10
be Of more importance than anything under the no
tice n the Legislatures, Senate and Commonweahso
Virginia and Mary land, we pray that they will an
swer th. request OF their petitioners and repeal such
grievous laws as have been made and by so do NC
we believe that you will obl ge the largest end OF
etch State And should you not do something Of
this kind, believe that those who love fish will
have TO eat meat and should they not be able TO get
meat, they will have 10 eat bread. We have noticed
one thing which is this-ffteen years ego herrings
were fifty cents per thousand at the wharf, in Alex
andra, and the Potomac seinos were two hundred
fshoms long at that time, seines two and three
hundred fathoms long on the Delaware Bay, and
behring's from two TO three dollars per thousand
but now you can very seldom see seine there mote
than .eventy-fve faboms long and behring's hard
y ever more than one dollar per thousand. But one
tn ng more we will mention-that we think Il neces-
ssry that there should be law made in each Of thoe
States, prohibiting any person north Of Newcastle
county, Delaware, from fishing any seine or net in
the wat,rs OF those Commonwealth for the purpose
of catching shad or rringi y there has been a net
seine, or other fixture, invented in New York, that
viii catch every FISH hat will enter the mouth Of
river Now, for the proof Of this apply to the in
babiisns Of James City County, Virginia near Bsr-
rison's Bar or City Point, where you will obtain TALL
satisfaction.
As this is a matter Of great importance 10 the
Il ~