Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-01-01

Annual Repor. Of Comm,..,o..r s,..,.

L q ".
The annual report of H. O. Stanley. COM
missioner OF fisheries and game, has been
published. 1t is urged by the commissioner
| that the fish ard game of our State have a
| great money value in attracting summer
| tourists, and that efforts should be made to
increase their value. The commissioner
believes s. is less than the minimum cost of
every pound of trout taken from Moosehead.
Rangeiey or Grand Lake stream by summer
visitors or our own anglers. Our stock Of
nsh and game can be quadrupled, bur we
must have better laws and they must be rig.
idly enforced 1t is hoped that no more
| commissions to taxidermists will be granted
without the strictest scrutiny as TO the objects
OF the applicants. and bonds should be re-.
CURED Tor faithful adherence 20 the terms Of
| the commissions. Strenuous objection 10
made to throwing shingle waste or slaughter
house refuse into streams, as destructive to
| fish Fishing with nets of anv kind should
not be allowed above tide water The run OF
| salmon for the year is good large in num-
oers, but the average small in size. The
hshways are proving a success. The streams
are becoming populated with salmon, as the
Result OF spawn planting.
There has been distributed this season
Penobscot salmon fry in the different rivers.
as follows, viz:
Penobscot river, 200 900
st. Crox river, POI ooD
Nachias river, u OOe
hennebec river, 200 o o
Androscoggin river, 0oOO0
Presumpscot river, $40 900
oaco rl'er' 60o00
Tstal' 1.iS2. 900
IL
Jsct of the rapid destruction of lobste-s and
that planting should be resorted to-
The planting of land locked salmon has
been amply repaid in most gratifying results
at Moosehead. at Enfield and at Rangeey
AT Moosehead they have been captured on
the fly, from time to time, for the last two
wears. At Enfield, fish estimated at most ex-
aggerated weight, were seen on the spawning
bed this year. but in all probability fairly es-
timated by one accustomed to judge correct
ly of the weight of fish in the water, fully
equaling ten or twelve pounds. At Rangeley
considerable numbers have been taken bv
anglers for several years past.
In Rangeley lake alone, over fifty of two
pounds weight and over, were taken by an
glers last June. More or les. were also taken
in the lakes below. Quite a number were
seen by the Commissioner on the spawning
beds in Rangeley stream in October, some of
them very large and estimated by him and
Others at not less than ten or twelve pounds.
The return for the subscription of $500 to
the Grand Lake stream fund, 60, 200
eggs, which were divided equally between
Moosehesd. Rangeley and Enfield.
Deer have been very plenty. The effect
Of the law and its enforcement, imperfect
though it may be, has been very marked
increase of these animals A law, somewhat
similar to one in force in Nova Scotia, should
be passed, forbidding the killing of more than
two or three moose or deer caribou by any
one person. The laws in New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia, and other provinces of the
Dominion, requiring the payment of S25 or
$50 for permission to hunt or shoot within
their boundaries. by every nsn-resident, has
had the effect to precipItate upon our State
an unusual number of hunters, mostly for
market.
Wild ducks are rare and to be seen but in
limited numbers, owing to the wide spread
crime of batting and netting. Farmers who
like to vary the monotonous fare of their
table by an occasional duck or bit of venison,
of infraction of our game laws that come to
their knowledge.
If the Commissioner had the means of
employing competent detectives, he would
soon root out this evil of poachng, which
now bids fair to exterminate the fish and
game of our State. WoOdcock and plover
and many of our rufitd grouse. in close time,
are still shot for market, along our lines of
railway bv our own and outside poackers.
Our insectiverous birds require protection.
There is statute forbidding their being
killed, but as there is no penalty attached, it
is valueless.