Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-05-21
OUR FISHERY LEa1sLATIoN.
A Very Clear Statement from One
who Knows all About ~.

| uonibbtu bOtl BANIhhAAitl NilN INh
| tions and the act md know what was in
tended. Let me first say that no act of
our Legislature passed for years was more
strongly petitioned for by our best citi-
zens Of both Kent and New Castle coun-
| ties than was this q It.
In its passage there was no thought or
intention of interfering with New Jersey
| fishing on her side of the bay or river.
We presumed that every intelligent citi-
zen Of that state knew that Delaware was
restrained from interfering with her fish
| ing on her own side. Why she should
have raised such great cry of lamenta-
ton as soon as the act was passed, is hard
| to tell she never waited to know what
we meant, but ut once raised the cry TINT
we were taking possession of the whole
| river and bay.
The most amusing part was that she nj
once called a meeting of her sturgeon
interest and said they had $3.50, 900 inter-
/ ested in it, which would be ruined and,
forthwith sent delegation for Governor
Albeit to come and protect them. As n
worthy governor he promptly came to
the rescue, getting tug ut Philadelphia
and sailing down to the one-sided seat of
hostihtieB at Pennsgroye. There he in
| quired for his fishermen. They were not
there. They were not oven ON Jersey
soil. They were not in the river or bay.
He found they were all, with some 1876
vessels and boats, lying in Jones', Muir
| derkill and Mispillion creeks in our State
As q sensible man he went home dis
| gusted, and when his fishermen found he
was not coming over to capture this State
| and tell them to fish on our side, they
thought it about time to leave. 1t was
well they did for the arrangements were
all made to escort them to Dover the next
| day.
The Pennsgrove Record, their own
organ, tells us they sailed over to Bay
Side on their own shore and caught
as high MS 27 sturgeon to net
This is high catch and it
is doubtful if any met on our side
has caught MS many. The question is
what were they doing with their over
grown fleet on our side when they had
such fishing at home? | am fortunately
able to answer this question.
Some two years back one of our stur-
geon fishermen. fishing at Bowers, was
| disappointed in his market boat to carry
them to Port Penn to ship. He had to
| put some 200 sturgeon on the deck of u
| 100-ton sloop he had for his men to live
in and sailed up through the Jersey fleet
at Bay Side. This was too much for
Jersey greed. They thought there was
| 100 tons of sturgeon ON that vessel and
| they made sure every one of them to be
/ early in our creeks the next spriue with
about 100 boats and vessels, where they
had never come before. When ouc i.sl
ermen came there they found no raom I
| fish and had to leave and try nnd make
their expenses further up the bay This
was the last feather that broke the camels
back. The people of that locality become
SO incensed ut this outrage on their fish
ing rights that they were determined to
have an act passed to put stop to it
hereafter and they have done SO.
There has been no disposition 10 treat
New Jersey unfairly or unkindly. She
always did her sturgeon fishing up to
within II few years ut Bay Side in the
| early pnrt of the season, and finished the
season at Pennsville md Pennsgrove.
| Our State has three corresponding points;
Bowers Port Penn and Delaware City. A
| few years ago New Jersey captured Della
ware City-there was no law TO prevent
her-then she seized on Port Penn, and
lastly on Bowers; resrltingin the passage
| of the present act.
II is true we have small sturgeon fish
| ing ground Mt Bowers. IL is only n small
inside channel, most probably made by
the several creeks emptying into the bay
ut this point it is about half u mile wide
and some IL miles long, and Delaware
already has ms many nets as can be con-
ycniently tished there without utadmitting all
the nets of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
In regard to the shad fishing, New
Jersey has some 90miles of tide water gill
net shad fishing, from Bay Side to Tren-
| ton, and all the rest of the river for seine
fishing to the New York state line. Penn
sylyania has about 55 miles of like tide
water fishing and the rest of the river for
seine fishing the same ns New Jersey.
| Delaware has about 40 miles of this tide
fishing for shad and the rest of her bay
is not adapted to it. In the hight of the
shad fishing, any one passing up the river
and seeing the lnrge number of nets
spread over this 80 miles would
wonder how it was possible for a
shad to get up. Delaware has
from Port Penn down about Is miles of
what they call the bay fishing. All the
fishermen of the Delaware river follow nc
other business in the spring and they are
all ready to catch the first shad. They
cannot have patience to wait II few days
for them to come up the river, although
they are fast swimmers they know the
first one comes in at Lewes and they al
come pell-mell in foating cabins and
boats of all kinds and back them into oul
creeks and inlets and commence TO fisl
for TINT Bhnd as soon MS winter is over.
1t is easy TO imagine how thick the neti
become on this Is miles of Del
aware's fishing ground and how
completely our own fishermen art
crowded out of their own rights. One oi
them told me that Just before the passagt
of this law he ronmed for two hours NJ
and down the bay looking for u space
wide enough to put his net in. If tht
fishing is good these up-river fishermen
remain until the sturgeon come to tear NJ
their nets they then go up the river t
their own homes and fish until the 1Otl
of June. Not so with our fishermen
they have TO remain, and get what littl
there is left until their nets are torn up
which generally occurs by the 25th o
| NAV. Delaware can see no good reasol
why she should be trespassel
} on by New Jersey, with he
| zuu Iilieb vi hhillliS WI tilo bciHNNiN
nor by PENNSYLVANIA. with her $50 miles
Pennsylvania has not complained; sh
knows she has full and rnir share of til
! fishing interests of the Delaware bu
r New Jersey is like the sra and the gray
: crying for more.
She has made nll this noise because Del
: aware has passed one single act for til
I protection of her fishing interests, til
| - 81, L., ,,fn M tbap
: people not know that New Jerseys statut
4 books are full of fish and oyster laws i
a reference to the Delaware river mn
:. bay? If they do not know
: some of our prominent citizens do kno'
2 it to their sorrow. We know full we
g that if New Jersey had the same advaI
@ tages of the fishing interests of the Deb
@ ware bay us she has of the oyster il
/, terest, no citizen of this State or IN
i other would be permitted to take singl
!. shad or sturgeon from its waters. Th
- is fully proven in the fact that she dot
Il not permit any one to pick up, catch {
0 even to carry away II single oyster frol
q the bay unless he is loyal Jerseyman.
q We find no fault with her law
It She has the right to make sue
IN laws as suits her. We respe,
n them she must respect ours. We don
j. intend to interfere with her fishing q
O. her side of the river and bay and Meth,
u New Jersey or Pennsylvania will hereaft
be permitted to violate our land by tire
passing in the way they have heretofo
done. They must not suppose becau
we treated them mildly on the first pa
% sage of the law and gave them fu
al opportunity to leave for their own fishii
10 grounds without arrest that we are goi1
l.. L..c