The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-05-04
SUNDAY SHAD FISHING.
Will 1t Harm the Fisher
men to Make the Sab
bath a Day of Rest.
THEY SAY CRABS EAT sHAD.
Besides That, Thieves Come Along
and Rob the Nets at Night.

The jolly fishermen who now ply their
vocation just off the mud flats in New
York Bay are now enjoying the height of
the shad season. However, they complain
of poor luck just at present, as the catches
are exceeding light.
dick" Meserole, a veteran fisherman
of Greenyille, who has spent the past half
century in enticing the fnny tribe, was
seen by NEWS reporter last evening and
he gave the following interesting in
formation on the subject.
Yes. the season Is now at its height
but the recent on-shore-windS have kept
the delicious shad well out 10 sea. We
did very well until the last storm, but
since then it has been very dull. The fish
will be very plentiful in the course OF
week or SO, however.
ut is a mistaken idea about the
mud dumplng5 hurting the business,
although some fishermen are OF that
opinion, The mud is all dumped.
on the flats and we never think of fishing
on the flats. The nets are set just beyond
Robins Reef and the enuire fishing terri
tory there only covers a few hundred
acres. The mud dumpings are running
oystering business and the oysternlen are
having hard luck. but neither chat nor
the employing OF sewage in the bay AFFECTS
the fisheries.
1.-THE law now pending in the Legisla-
ture prohibiting the drawing of nets on
the Sabbath would be deathblow to the
business If passed. 1t will not only hurt
the men who are engaged in the business,
but it viii hurt the general public. Why,
it would be folly for US to let the nets
alone for forty-eight hours in sue
cession. The crabs and the cells
would eat the contents of the
nets on Sunday, and hence entire
catches would DC lost. All the fishermen
are opposed TO the BILL and the party who
introduced 1t tAssemblyman Erwin) will
be remembered. We don't relish the
idea of lifting nets on Sunday, but if we
didn't we might just as well give up the
business. That law was tried in New
York and was repealed years ago, having
proved failure. Isn't 1T greater sin
to let the fish be eaten up by crabsl
1.-THE fishing business is on the gradual
decline and is nothing like it was years
ago. Forty years ago all the leading citi-
zens OF Bergen Neck made their living
at fishing and oystering, among them
the Van Buskirks, the Vreelands, Van
Rypers, Wauters, and others. They all
managsd to establish small fortunes at
it, and have long since sold out
Many OF them arc living today and their
descendants are numbered among the
wealthiest people in the county.
Yes, no mistake about it, fish were
more plentiful then than they are now,
and the business today doesn't pay one
| half as well as it did then.
lat present there are only about ten
concerns with nets off Robins Reef run
ming toward Liberty ard none of them
are piling up much wealth. The markets
are full and competition from the New
England States is cutting down the prof
| its.
Nothing but shad is caught in New
| York Bay now, and the season for them
is gradually growing shorter. Years ago
nets We're laid on January /, but the
season seldom commences before the LIST
of April now, drawing to an end about
! June |.
"The fishermen cling to their old Gus
toms relative to the rights of location,
| etc.. but no redress can be secured for an
| infringement upon a mans rights. We
believe and uphold the old common law
and every mans rights are secure aud
firm. The men are not exactly organized,
but they work together in strict harmony,
and all little difficulties are settled
peaceabiy among themselves. For in.