The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-07-01

fishing, and those that remain barely
make expenses; and depopulated towns
with their deserted wharves and rotting
timbers, that line our coast from Cape
Cod to Eastport, bear mute but forcible
testimony to the ruin of the leading
branch of one of leading industries.
While the lobster does not rank as
high as the mackerei from an economic
standpoint, it is delicious shell fish,
and many thousands of families are de-
pendent upon lobster-catching and lob
Screaming for an existense; and what
is worth having is surely worth retain
ing.
The lobster catch is growing smaller
each year, and the Holsters are decreas
ing in size in the same ratio as the
catch. They have been caught weighing
over twenty pounds, and twenty years
ago Holsters weighing ten and twelve
pounds were caught in such numbers
that they created no special comment.
Nowadays if one is found in market that
weighs five or six pounds, it is placed on
exhibition, and two-pound lobster is
considered good-sized one. From these
facts alone it is apparent that the ma
iority of Holsters that are being caught
are, in sense, "baby lobsters," and the
catching of them cannot fail to be disas-
trous in the future.
Most of the Holsters sold in our mar
kets are caught off the Maine coast, al
though great many are imported from
Nova Scotia. The few laws that are sup
posed to protect Holsters are not prop
erly framed, and the lobster men have
practically their own way. They catch
Holsters under the legal size with impu-
nifty, and the majority of them think
nothing of taking females in spawn. In
Maine the State lobster law makes it lille
gal to sell, eat or retain lobster under
10t inches long, but New York has no
law governing the length of Holsters, and
consequently the lobster-man has only
to smuggle his small Holsters out of the
State, and once across the line he is
safe, Hundreds Of barrels of contraband
Holsters arrive every week in New York
from the Pine-Tree State.
The old and reliable king of saliva
ter fish, the cod, is beginning to show
signs Of being killed off. This is to a
great extent due to catching cod on
travis. A trawl is line often more
than a mile long, and it has hundreds of
hooks on it. 1t is sunk to the bottom,
WI ere it remains over night, and in the
morning is hauled in, and the fish taken
from the hooks. Many fish that have
been caught are bitten or nibbled by
larger ones, causing considerable loss,
and the quality of the fish is injured by
their being so long in the water. 1t is
claimed by many that the trawl on the
bottom of the sea are a source of alarm
to the Goldfish, and that they are driving
the fish away to other localities.
On the Grand Banks the fishermen
have found that after days fishing, if
the cleanings or CURRY were thrown
oyerboard, no fish could be caught next
day. For a while they set sail and
sought new place each day, but of re-
cent years they have thrown the curry"
into "gurry kids" where it remains I'M
til the fishing is finished, when it is
dumped over the side. If this "gurry"
drives the fish away, as it apparently
does, it is patent that schooner's crew
anchoring over place where kinds have
been dumped will have no luck. The
Grand Banks cover an immense area, to
be sure, but if this dumping of "gurry"
continues, it is only matter of a few
years when the Goldfish, like the macker-
ell, will be driven to other waters.
Such is the condition, briefly stated, of
our principal food fisheries, and that it
is deplorable one all thinking readers
will admit. Yet there is remedy, and
that remedy is proper legislation. The
difficulty with the present fish laws is
that, besides their weakness, they are
made by individual States. They should
be made by the United States. 1t is alb
surd to have the catching of fish, which
are under the Jurisdiction of one State
one day and another the next day, con-
trolled by laws of individual States that
are at utter variance. For instance, if
statute, the e would be no smuggling of
small lobs 'ers from one State to another.
Mr.. Eugene Blackford, ex-president of
the New York State Fish Commission,
ice said to me: "There Is New York
law relating to the legal size of bass;
New Jersey has no such law; and the re-
suit is that bass that are caught right
ECre in the North River are carried to
Jersey City, as they cannot be sold in
New York. This is unjust and unfair,
and seriously affects the retail dealers
business in this city"
The writer's opinion is that Congress
should pass laws for the protection of
the fisheries similar to the following:
No mackerel should be caught before
July 1st, as they are not through spawn
ing till then; they should only be caught
with hook and line; the seine should be
outlawed; none should be caught under
nine inches long; they should not be
u. ed for bait, nor fished for near the
sho. in shOal water.
There should be close season for lob
sters during the summer; none should
be sold or eaten under eleven inches in
length. and there should be severe
penalty for catching and retaining a fe-
male lobster in spawn.
The Goldfish trawl should be prohibited.
The fishermen of Provincetown use
only hook and line, and they are proverb-
tally successful.
These suggestions for legislation may
appear harsh to the fisherman, but in
times of necessity harsh measures are
If laws similar to these outlined are
made and enforced, fish will be plenty
again; the consumer and fishermen will
rejoice together, and our American fish
cries and our rejuvenated ship-buildiDg
industry of Maine will increase and pros
per hand in hand.-John q. Rogers in
Cambridge Post.
THEE THINGS TO REMEMBER.