The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-05-28

Leg slstuEe, Senate and Common weslths Of Virginia
aud Maryland. IL has been stated BY nv.nbsr Of
sons that they SURPRISED that The Potoac river
viii not supply The inhabitants Of each State with
shsd and herrings used but this b. got Al all
surprising 10 those who are acquainted With tho na-
lure Of hshing and we believe that there 10 a
Siderable number of the Log isiatures, &c. Of Virginia
and Maryland that live in the western counties OF
'hoso States, and OF course, cannot be as we'll
qusined with the nature Of fishing a. We who live
Immediately On the waters, We have il in contempla-
tion 10 tell them something about the nature Vt fish
ing. The business Of shad and herring into any of
our fresh water rves Is to spawn, as they cannot do
80 In salt water aud II they do the salt water imme-
diaie'y destroys their spawn Now, their spawn. are
deposited ON rocks, gravel, chunks, brush logs,
grass, OF any other thing lying the bottom Of tho
RIVER End II they remain in the place position they
arc dropped Is believed that each shad or herring
will yield not less thaa two thousand but if they be
moved out Of their place, they dead much
stalk OF corn would be II pulled up and laid upon It's
hill, or an egg, IN the act OF becoming fowl, was II
to be rolled out ofits by the claw oil owl
into hank OF snow. Now, there arc some laws in
The States OF Virginia and Mary land prohibit gill
fishing, and we believe that tho Legislatures have
made them innoccntly, not knowing the above
turs, We will tell yoa 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 hauling seine, which bring
ashore every thing it surrounds, but the other Is
y
size, suffering all the rest to go through unmoIesed,
and at perfect liberty Your Legislature Of Virginia,
passed the most gfcvous law time during
The session before the last. prohibiting gill fishing in
the waters, OF the Potomac under the penalty of not
less than fifty more than five hundred dollars
This petition, IL seems, was got up by the Potomac
fisherman principally signed by the inhabitants of the
District Of Columbia and tand presented by John
Powell, ofFairtaI county, Virginia. This, We would
SUI pose, not to be genuine petition but we wish
IN tall ahA Nlss hon h. hat -
now playing wish To tell you OF the nature Of The
fishing Of these seines, and their dimensions also -
There are from twenty to fty hauing scints on the
Potomac river, which from six TO fifteen hundred
fathoms long; they are from Thirty 10 seventy feet
deep, with not less than thousand faIhoms Of
rope. These seines hauled from shore TO shore,
catching all sorts, both small and great young and
old turning and entirely destroying a the
deposited upon the bottom, while the innocent gill net,
passing up and down the river with the tide and
catching only certain size by the neck he
snare would catch Iabbt, not allowed to fsh.
Now pray the honorable Legislatures, Senate ard
Common wealths Of Virginia and MAJ yand, TO repeal
all laws prohibiting gill fishing in each of the above
named States; and in ar'cular the Potomac river.
But for the benefit Of the public, pray that law
be made prohibiting any hauling seine in the
| of these Commonwealth of more than five hundred
fathoms in length with four hundred fathoms of rope
one hundred going out and three hundred coming in,
these seines certainly the Of the fish be-
rivers, pariic uariy Delaware the North r,ver the
Rappahannock, James river, Pokomoke, Nantekoke
Fishing Bay Choptank, Patuxent, with other rivers
where there Of these large selnes used, and
orasmuch this is the condition, a, the present time,
of the hshermen We pray a law be made prohibiting
any person persons from fishing any seine, either
hauling gill seine, than five hundred hons
long; ard should any person on the Potomac river,
or in the waters Of these Commonwealth fish any
longer net they shall be under fine of not less than
1 tka. 10 La, Eah. 10 nnf
pay any respect to small fine, law gospel, God
Devil. We have not told you yet the size Of the
| fish that these seines catch. We will now do so =
| The size of the marsh mesh of gill seine is Sd
| inches vide and very seldom catch fish weighing
less than four pounds while the marsh mesh Of the
hauling s.nes are Ia inches and will catch fish
weighing half ounce. 1t is generally seen, on the
Potomac those no fish with these senes hs u
| up large quantities Of all sizes. The merchantable
fish sold on the shore, salted the small sized
hsh cAIted the land for manure BY hundreds OF
cart loads. The spawns Of course, are destroyed by
hauling and these senes are suffered TO be hauled
on the Potomac river, it is wonder behring's are SIS
per barrel II being Of best rivers for these
FISH, it cannot be doubted but that within few years
will be too late TO make law this effect. Ii 10
the opinion of the best judges, that if Virginia and
Marylan will prohibit those long seines from fishing
and allow gill nets, (the most innocent net that can
be used To fish in their stead, fish will be bought in
the western counties Of these States cheaper han they
1
But there i. not much attention paid by officers
persons the land to fishing OF oyslering laws
We further beg that, in case the honorable Legls
| latures of Virginia and Maryland should pro-
| hibit such hauling seincs from being used IN
fishing, that they would compel the sheriff of each
county 10 each State 10 enter each fishing shore in
his jurisdiction and MEASURE or examine each and
every seine hauled such fishing shores, not less
than five times in each season and should he fail 80
to do, he shall incur penalty Of not less than FIVE
| hundred dollars We wish the whole inhab tants Of
each State 10 understand, that such laws we have
at present, concerning fishing are injurious to the
community; but IT appears, that some OF the propri
etors OF those large senes 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 Of hell We understand that another one
| has said that he will have law made to empower
the Potomac fishermen TO use canoons upon all such
boats as may be fishing gill nets put in the waters OF
the Potomac river; snJ that he intends to carry all
| gill fishermen to Alexandria and ut them in JAIL
| but TN. Is something like what Goliah told David
that he would give, &c. Now, as consider this to
| be OF more importance than nythng under the
tice Of the Legislatures Senate and Commonwealth
Virginia and Mary and, cray that they will an-
swer this request Of their petitioners and repeal such
| greyous laws as have been made and by so do ng
we believe that you will &c the largest end Of
each State. And should you not do something Of
this kind, we believe that those who love fish will
have TO eat meat and should they not be able to get
meat they will have to eat bread. We have noticed
one thing, which Is this-hfteen years ago, behring's
fifty cents per thousand at the wharf, in Alex
apdria, and the Potomac senes two hundred
fsthoms long at that timo senes two and three
| hundred fsthoms long on the Delaware Bay, and
herrngs from two TO three dollars per thousand
but you very seldom seine there MOI Q
than 'eyeoiy6v fathoms long, and behring's hard
y ever more than ono dollar per thousand. But ono
thing more will mentiop-that we think II pecss-
sary that there should be law made in each Of tho
States, prohibiting any person north OF Newcastle
county, Delaware, from listing any seine or ne, in
the waters Of those Commonweaths, for the purpose
Of catching shad or herring there has been net,
seine or other fixture, invented in New York, tina,
will catch every FISH that will enter the mouth Of
river. Now Tor the proof Of this apply TO the in
bab'ants Of James City County, Virginia near Har-