The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-08-10
ANTI-P0UND SOCIETIES.
The Hook and Line Fishermen Organize
for - Strong Fight.

The Hook and Line Fishermen Orgsnize
for a Strong Fight.
Special to The Jerseu City Nesos.
TRENTON. Aug. 10, 1S93.-The hook aud
line fishermen, who sought last February
TO have a bill passed by the Legislature
to secure the abolition of pound net fish
ing. have made ups their minds that they
will not be defeated next winter for
want of organization. They have secured
a permanent association, which is TO ex-
tend over the entire State. AT the pres
ent time those principally interested are
the fishermen In The vicinity of LOug
Branch, Asburv Park aud Bay Head, but
the membership is to be extended to all
who fish with hook II line aloug ths
New Jersey shore, in the Barnegat and
Tuckerton bays and in the inland waters.
and the purpose OF the organization is TO
secure a powerful Legislative committee
and funds necessary to successfully cope
with the lobby OF the Legislature thst
last year succeeded in defeating the Fish
Pound bill. =
New Jersey Anti Pound Societies are
to be formed whenever necessary and
wherever enthusiastic fishermen can be
secured to give either their time or money
to the cause. Nearly all hook and line
fishermen are interested In the abolish
ment oil fish pounds. because they have
nearly ruined the fishing along the coast
and iu the bays.
The principal complaint of these anti
Founders is that the fish pounds catch
more fish than can he marketed and de-
stroy thousands Of small fish each sea-
sou. The fish are caught so beautifully
that during the period of the giut che
fish are sent to Barren Island TO be
turned into fertilizer. On investigation
1t has been discovered that from Sandy
L..at - rh.l t-ht b-r@ 80 ~z.x~ -
operation t~wenty-four fish pounds. most
ly operated by New York fishermen. This
includes all the fish pounds in the Barne-
gat Inlet and on the Atlantic coast of this
state. It Is thought That there are about
the same number between Chadwick's
and Cape May Point.
There are w big pounds huggiug the
long bridge Perth Annoy u
South Amboy. aud particular complaint
Is made against this. because they pre-.
vent the fish from getting up the river to
spawn. There are many more pounds
located along he shores OF Rariuan aud
New York bays.
The meshes of the nets are SO small in
these pounds that nothing put an eel eau
escape through them. They WORK with
out cessation. day and night, n capture
fish going In both directions. Thousands
OF hsh going to their spawning beds are
captured and sent either to the market
or the ompost factories, and as a con-
sequence the hook and line fishing has
decreased greatly in the past few years
in which the grasplug wings of the
pounds have been spread along our coast
and in u bays. Fish return year after
year TO The water in which tn ey first saw
light, and il is but natural that this ex-
haus.Ive method of fishing should nave
its effect in a few years. Some idea of
It's magnitude may be gained by the fact
that a reputable Newark business man
saw sixty tons taken from the pound at
M~anasquan Que day. They were chiefly
weakhsh and blushsh, and were sent to
New York market six or seven hours
after they were landed.