Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1872-01-12
Captain KHunter Davfds0n's Report-The
R0t0sMac Fisheries.

Fowl Law OF the State. The report is an
exceedingly interesting document and enters
into full and elaborate details upon the above
subjects, including various suggestions for the
amendment and more complete enforcement
of these laws. Owing to its length we can
not do more than insert that portion which
relates more particularly to the Potomac Fish
cries and the proceedings of the Commander
in his visit TO our waters last Spring. The
subject is one Of peculiar and lasting interest
to our people and should receive the especial
and earnest consideration of all. The report
alludes to the Increased duties Of the Police
Force consequent upon the enlarged field Of
its operations for the enforcement of the Po-
tomac Fisheries and Wild Fowl laws, and de-
tails at length the difficulties attendant thereto
from the insufficient means at command
The extremes of the basis Of operations are
$50 miles apart and no fuel to be had at in
termediate places. Without the presence Of
a vessel Of the Force no proper enforcement
of the law can be assured, and as only the
steamer can calculate her movements with
any degree of certainty. it will be readily
perceived that the Force has no idle time
In the opinion of Captain Davidson no Fish
cry law upon the Potomac can be enforced
unless a force be maintained there during the
season to be supported by the taxation of the
fishermen. The.report then enters more fully
upon the subject of the Potomac Fisheries
which we subjoin as follows:
Captain Davidson states that "having been
instructed last spring By his Excellency the
Governor to proceed to the Potomac river and
cooperate with the Fishery Force of the State
OF Virginia 10 the enforcement of the fishery
laws, he obeyed as far as it was in his power
to do SO. The act of Assembly in force at
the present being that known as the law of
1860, is the only one in which the State of
Virginia has concurred, agreeably to the COM
pact OF 1856.
"Our act of 1870, chap. 205, was before
her Legislature, but was defeated, leaving this
much-vexed question still open, for the law
of 1860 had been upon the statute book for
10 years unnoticed, 10 fact, never was at all
mPRitC0btC W. WIG GdCCs 6uQ udu ~ Uc0u clEtClIy
enforced on the Potomac last season, would
have ruined every fisherman, of whatever
kind, upon the river" He says he had pre-
viously received the opinion Of the Attorney
General as to the proper construction of this
law, which made 10 clear TO him when he ar
rived upon the river and besame acquainted
with the changes that had taken place in the
methods of fishing, and the customs that had
grown up between the fishermen of the two
States and of the States themselves, that bis
task was very difficult one.
After consultation with the leading men
Of the counties interested, 1t was determined
to confiue the operations of the force under
bis charge to the exercise of such influence as
it may have possessed amoag the fishermen
to persuade them to observe mutual regard
for the rights aud necessities of each other in
their several methods Of fishing, which course
also met the views of the Governor. This
bad an excellent effect upon the feelings of
the people and the trade itself. It lasted for
the time, being new effort, but 10 the alb
sence of law would be of no avail another
season.
Whilst upon the river Capt. Davidson inn
proved the occasion to inquire into the con-
fdition of the fisheries and the wants of the
people as to a law upon the subject, and re-
ports that the compact of 1886 between the
States of Maryland and Virginia requires the
consent of both States to any law in reference
to the Potomac fisheries before it can be en-
forced. This provision was a necessity of the
times-a treaty between separate powers
two years previous to the adoption of the
Federal Constitution, but at the present time
is great stumbling-block in the way Of leg
islative enactment for the protection and en-
couragement of those fisheries.
Capt. Davidson states that "all our efforts
to meet the occasion appear to be in vain !;
we have one view of the question, Virginia
agree, aud property depreciates, trade declines,
and the poor people suffer on the shores of
the Potomac Gd interim. The Potomac fish,
cry question must take its chances in two
Legislatures, instead of one" He says that
formerly all the fishing was carried on by
seines, each proprietor confined to his particu-
lar locality, or working the adjoining shores
in common, by agreement with his neighbors
beforehand. In the last fifteen or twenty
years the gill-net has come into competition
with the seine, and the fisheries are no longer
controlled by the wealthy riparian proprietors.
This, OF course, brings about conflict OF Ia
Dor, and hence most of the disturbance of the
fisheries in either State, and between the
States themselves.
When seines only were used, the fishermen
were principally confined to their own-shores;
but the gill-net drifts from shore to shore, up
and down, everywhere, in its own berth and
everybody else's. 1t is one of the improve
ments Of the times it enables the poor man,
with hardly anything to go to work on his
own resources, and with his boat and net to
follow the fish as they travel from place to
place in search of food or to spawn. In this
pursuit the giller comes in contact with the
seine-hauler, and certainly encroaches upon
bis rights. Protection is demanded, and a
law enacted to meet the altered condition of
things alone can give it. The non-residents
not only swarm the shores, but without the
presence of police force, they live ahoat in
''arks" and. other vessels. and completely
overshadow every other interest.
The subjoined statement viii serve as q
basis for almost any necessary calculation re-
garding these fisheries. It is presented in a
condensed form, as being, doubtless, of suf6-
|cient public interest, but the details of every
Maryland fishery on the river are 10 the pos
session Of Captain Davidson. The table re-
lates only to the Maryland shore; double the
figures, and we have the Virginia shore inclu-
ded-that is, all the fisheries How many
seines used on the Maryland shore of the Po-
tomac river, "a; how many square fathoms
OF seine, 80, ABB; aUmber OF men employed