Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-03-03

shoals and perennially feed on
them. 1t is no unc0m-
mon thing to find five or six, NAY,
even ten or twelve behring's in the
stomach of a goldfish Prof. HuX,
ley counts that in 1879, 5000, 900,
of codling and hake were taken By
the Scotch fishermen, and esti-.
mates that these fish alone had
consumed 3,000,500,00O.00O her
ring during the year. This enor.
nous destruction of smaller fish by
the cod finds it's parallel in the alb
sorbing qualities of our own native
fish. Pomatomus saltatrix-our
wcllInown bluefsli. Nothing is
more destructive than the hluefish,
md the United States Fish Com
mission reports state that, making
an allowance OF ten fish per diem
for the blucfsh on our coast, and
that they keep eating fish at this
rate for 100 days, before the end of
the season they have consumed
in round numbers 200 600, 600, 000,-
000.of fish, which it is calculated
represents in weight some 300.O
600 900 of pounds. "Man, in fact'
writes Mr.. Huxley. lis but one of
vast co operative society of her
ring catchers. and the larger share
he takes the less there is for the
rest Of the company. IF man took
none. the other shareholders would
have 4 larger dividend, and would
thrive and multiply in proportion,
but it would come to pretty much
the same thing to the herrings."-
In endeavoring to explain the
abundance or scarcity of the he'll
ring, Prof. Hu&Jey makes this re-
ply to those who have advanced
all kinds of hearsay arguments,
bolstercd up by the favorite ex-
preston of lit stands to reason
;The truth is that ahsolutel! moth
ing is known on the subject, and
that little is likely to be known
until careful and long continued
meteorological and geological OBJ
ServatiouS have furnished definite
information respecting the changes
which take place IN the tempera-
ture of the sea, and the dIstribu
tion OF the pelagic cruStacea which
constitute the chief food of the
herring shoals.' TO further this
important inquiry Prof. Huxley adj
vocates systematic international
observations, to be made by the
British, Scandinavian, Dutch and
French governments. In our own
country a notable effort has been
made In this direction, and Prof. j.
Brown Goodies exhaustive study
of the menhaden seems to show
quite conclusivcly that the appear.
ance of the Brevoortia tyrannus is
due to differences in temperature.
The concluding words Of the lee
turer, who is treating the subject
of sea fishing, are as follows: "Let
people fish how they like, as they
like, ard when they like. AT pres
ent ! must repeat the conviction
we expressed so many years ago.
that there is not particle of evil
dence that anything man does has
an appreciate influence on the
stock of herring. 1t will be time
to NEEDLE when any satisfactory
evidence that mischief is being
done is produced" Now, exactly
these same ideas as are advanced
in regard to herring are enter
tanned in this country in regard to
herring, mackerel, and cod. If
they are scarce one year itdoeS not
arise from anything man can do.
If the sea fish arc absent in one 10.
cality they are found,in another
If they happen to he generally
scarce at one period--a most I'm.
usual occurrence-they will be
found in great abundance at an
other. If any decade be taken, and
the quantity of fish estimated. that
vuantity will be found to be about
the same. 1t is the most unsafe of
all things to take day, a week, or
a season, or even year, as repre-.
sentative of the great general ac-
ton of nature. What Prof Hux.
ley says in regard to sea fish in
general exactly comedies, then, with
our own leading authority.
But the same laws donot govern
anadromous fish, those to which
special attention has been paid and
which fshculture has developed
We do not yet presume to direct
! the action of nature on the broad
sea, but we can in a great meas
ure aid her when she sends her fish
to our rivers. FISH, tile anadromous
ones, those that are born in fresh
water. and grow IN the seas, and
then return to the rivers again to
reproduce their kind, as the shad
and the salmon, we can, from the
peculiarities of their habits, do
great deal with, for their move
mentS are under some kind Of con
troll. Their area of presence is
limited. Whereas it would be
hardly possible to imagine any ell
oincs of destruction which could
take a 1.-THE Of the herring out Of
the seas, if shad bore diamonds in
their bellies, it would be quite pos
sible, in time, to catch the very
last shad that assembled even such
big stream as the North river
We do not require even a great
MANY Years to effect this, the utter