The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-12-25

The VIRGINIA FISH AND GAME LAWS
The Forest and Stream, OF New York, an
American authority par excellence in TINS
line, observes that in no State in the Union
are game laws better obeyed than in Wiz.
gina. Our markets have never, in our ex'
perience, shown such an abundance OF
game in season as they have exhibited
since these laws became generally known.
The poorest man may now enjoy partridge
for his Sunday breakfast. 1t is to be hoped
that the same may be said before long about
the fish laws. In this connection it may be
well to quote from the address, published
some time since, by the Virginia Fish and
Game Protective Association ~:
The main reason Of the exhaustion of our
fisheries may be briefly stated as follows /:
1.-THE shad and herring, in order to maintain
their numbers, must have access to suitable
areas OF fresh water, where they can spawn
without continual molestation. Formerly
they could and did run up all our rivers to
considerable distances to deposit their
spawn i'm locations where the young were
comparatively safe from the depredations OF
other fish. Now the dams in our principal
rivers practically limit the spawning areas
to our tidal waters, and the few fish that by
. happy accident run the gauntlet OF stake
and pound-nets that iniest the mouths and
estuaries OF our rivers are continually ha.
raised on and in the vicinity OF their spawn
fairgrounds by the drag Of the haul.seine
and the play OF the dri:t-net, so that it is not
surprising that so few ascend our rivers
now. The fact that any at all come into
our streams is but another evidence OF that
f,,l pf which
crces them TO return to the streams and the
localities in which they were spawned.
sit cannot be too often or too forciblV
urged that the restoration Of our shad- and
herring. fisheries, indeed their. continued
existence, depends upon the establishment
and enforcement OF CLOSED SEASON OF not
less than t,oo days and three nights in each
aceek, during which every net OF whatever
kind, and every other appliance for taking
fish, shall be removed from all our waters.
"With such law rigidly and impartialy
enforced and the natural supply supple
mented by artificial propagation, we may
assurediy expect in a few years the COM
,plete restoration OF these important indus
tries. Nothing less than this will be sufi-
: cient. The utterly destructive methods now
pursued, mainly at the mouths OF our rivers,
have already shorn this great bounty OF ma
ture to such an extent as to render it the
enjoyment almost solely OF the rich, where
as, at all properly treated, the table Of the
poorest man could, in season, be graced
daily with its products. The time has been
when Richmond, for instance, was supplied
from fishing shores almost within her limits ;
her supply BOW comes by rail or steamer,
and largely from other States. Many OF the
most valuable fishing shores on the James
and the Potomac have become SO unpro-
ductive as to be utterly abandoned"
1t is to be hoped that the business before
the Legislature this session will not be- Sc
engrossing as to prevent proper attention to
these most important matters. A promi-
nent official in North Carolina writes
"Our Legislature meets in January, when
we are going in heavy for game and fish
laws: and we hope for hearty cooperation
from Virginia with regard 10 our inter.
State streams"