Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-03-11
SATURDAY MORNING.

! ittt,loh abtt IN person. asking US Tor antS
a part of the rights their forefathcrs en-
| jesed-
| II may seem to most of YOU small mat
ter whether You say, yes, this bill shall
pass, or, no. ii shall not, but, gentlemen, To
the fishermsn who ask for the right which
this bill will give them, it means much.
! Few Of Us. excepting those who have been
or are now in some way connected with the
I fisheries, have much of an idea of the
amount Of capital invested at present, or
which mas been in the past. in that branch
, of business in oar State; in the year 1877.
the year before this prohihitory law was
/ passed by our State, the menhslen business
alone in Lincoln county had invested in its
1 II factories, crafts, outfits, etc, 81 ,o46,-
coo, employing ltt27 men. IL steamers. Is
| sailing vessels. The maekerel fishery had
invested at the same time and in the same
county about $3.50 600 in 10 sail of vessels
wharves. etc, aud made smployn n,ent for at
/ least 1900 men.
/ The prohibitory laws have been tinkeresi
| from time to time since, and the business
| has gradually diminished until today the
amount Of money invested in the
| men.lsien business in the same
county will not exceed Si75,oao,
and the mackerei business cannot show
more than 800 900 invested. with fleet of
- sail of vessels, aud, of course, a CORE
spending falling off in the number of men
employed. do NOT, of course. claim that
the decline is wholly occasioned by our re-
strictive laws. but great portion of il is.
| DO not be behind other states in these mat
ters, but allow our own fishermen the prisi-
lege to enjoy the same rights in his own
State that he is allowed when he goes to
others. This he does not have under the
present law Massachusetts restricts US
from entering a part of Buzzards bay for
menhaden, but all the rest OF her waters are
free to fishermen of any state.
! have spoken of Lincoln county, for
that county seems to be about the only one
in our State that has ever carried ON the
menhaden business to any great extent, and
it seems to be centrally located for that
business. Where Lincoln county has dimes
in the mackerel business, Cumberland coun.
ty has dollars.
At present there is new branch of fish
ing springing up in the vicinity of Boothbay
Harbor, that of catching herring with
seines off the harbors and among the islands
between the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers
Within the past year there has been COM
pany organized, and a second cold storage
plant built at Boothbay Harbor ii, an
expense of about $4,000. This
company purchases of the fishermen the
herring while they are fresh, and by plac-
ing them in cold storage they are frozen
and kept IN that state as long as necessary.
and when the deep sea fishermen from our
own and other states cannot procure bait
fresh from the water, they are supplied
from the cold storage at small prices. This
company stored through the months of
October, November and December last
about 1000 barrels of these herring, and has
employed since its erection, large num-
Der of men and boys, beside the fishermen
who catch the fish. The stockholders in
this company are scattered all through
Lincoln county, and until after their plant
was completed supposed there was no ques-
ton as to their right to seine these fish when
and where they pleased, but it is
nevertheless, fact, that every fish which
this company used, and every fish sold for
other purposes in that vicinity, upward of
20 900 barrels within the three months men
toned were caught in violation of the law.
These fish cannot be caught by hook and
line. Now must we let them pass our
shores, and perhaps to some other country?
Some may say, why not build your weirs
and catch them the same as in
the eastern part of our State. For
their benefit | will say, the eond-
tions are such with us that weirs con-
structed as they are east cannot be bull, to
stand, on account of the extreme depth of
water, swift currents, and their exposed
position.
The majority of our fishermen are un-
able financially to build weIrs even if they
could be made to stand, as they cost, in the
way they are obliged to build them, from
one to two thousand dollars, while a little
seine and boat, suitable to catch the her
ring, costs but Sloo.
Only one complaint by any citizen is
necessary to convict the fisherman, fine
him, and if the fine isn't paid, they have "A
lien upon his nets and gear, or upon the
vessel, no matter by whom the vessel is
owned.
Commissioner Gould in his report for
1892 says illegal SEEMING by night for
mtckerel and menhaden is very extensively
carried on at times. The active mo-
tons of the fish in coming to the
surface, give in the darkness a marked
phosphorescent CLEAN which guides the fish
erman to their locality, thereby rendering
capture, contrary to law, both easy and
safe" To one not versed in the different
modes of fishing for the different kinds of
fish. this sounds reasonable, but let me tell
yon the menhaden have never yet been
canght in the night. The mackerel fisher
men never knew until within few years
that mackerel could be caught in the night
with seines, and then only during the dark
est, never during moonlight, and the same
with the herring.
The herring Seiners with their very small
seines and craft can get around near the
shores and among rocks and islands, and
successfully cast their seines, and they are
the ones that are obliged to be law breakers
if they take fish at all during the night as
the herring are never caught off shore.
presume Mr.. Gould thinks the fisher
men pursue their fishing in the night in or
der 10 evade the wardens. but allowance
must be made by us for our Fish Commits
sioner Gould, for until his appoint
ment two years ago his knowl
edge of salt water fisheries was
very limited indeed. and like
every other man in new business, thinks
after one or two years experience he
"knows it ALL : but men with twenty. thirty
AMI forty years experience think they have
Just begun to learn the habits of our salt
water fish, and these men, after five
minutes conversation with this gentleman
readily conclude that it would not take
small book to contain that which Mr.. Gould
has vet to learn. This gentleman through
his friends in the back towns, and very
few along the eoasthas petitiened this Leg
islature, asking it TO make 2 law that will
prohibit our fishermen from taking shad,
msrkerei, herring and uenhaden within
State waters. or within three miles of our
shore at low ~ster. To men who are ac-
qnainted with the habits of fish, this sounds
ike school boys making rules by which
their teachers shall he governed.
Fi-hermen. and all men connected with
the Inackerei mehaden and herring fishery
know that an act of this kind means total
humiliation of the business of our State.
People who have read much know that the
shores of Maine are the feeding grounds
for fish during the summer months.
Why should the State of Maine furnish
the feeding ground necessary for these fish,
And not allow its citizens to take them
while with rs, but carefully preserve and
protect them that they may be ready for
the butcher the moment they go beyond our
State boundary, and the citizens of other
states gobble them up and reap the benefit
of our nursery.
| sa3 il means annihiiation, because
tIfree-fourtts Of all the mackerei and men,
haden. and all the herring, are caught
within the prescribed limit. Notwithstand-
ing this fact, our fish commissioner advo-
cafes law Of this kind, and recommends
in his last report that the State furnish
police steamer to guard our coast and keep
our fishermen of shore.
Mr.. President, if we pass a law not al