The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1895-04-25
Fish of Blount County.

SlTehtuS vi DiOuub OOuuty' iot
will give the Lawful way to fish AS
I have been asked great many
questions about the fish laws of
Tennessee. Chapter 143 of the Acts
of 1887 reads as follows. Section |.
Be it enacted by the general AS
sembly of the State of Tennessee,
that it shall be unlawful to take or
catch Ash by means Of any seine or
net from the 18th. of March to the
1st. of June in all running streams,
and after that time it shall not be
lawful to catch or take the same
with any seine or net, the meshes
of which are less than one ond a
quarter inches square,or with traps,
the Stats or fingers of which are less
than one inch apart, Provided,
nothing IN this act shall be con-
strued to prevent from taking fish
in any other manner now allowed
by law. :
Sec. g Be il further enacted.
That it shall not be lawful to use
any dynamite,gun-pOwder or other
material OF like character, in any
of the streams af this State, for the
purpose of killing fish.
The lawful way to fish, according
to the Code of Tennessee is, with
hook and line, and with trot line,
gig, spike, gun, grab-hook or
snatch-hoOk.
Il Neems to me that this is as
much as anyone ought to ask for,
but am sorry to say, that we have
a great many people, that destroy
thousands of fish every year with
dynamite.
have tried by all means pos.
sible to stop it, but l have failed,
because the people 40 not take in
terest enough in the matter, to
give the information that is needed
to make prosecution successful.
l CO, Id name some, very promi-
nent men that have been guilty OF
dynamiting fish.
/ have worked up two or three
cases and the Grand Jury brought
in Il true bill and when 1t came to
court, the lawyers get around the
States Attorney and tell him there
is nothing in the case, when 1t is a
good case, and so he will nolle pros,
on the defendant paying the cost,
which they are glad to get to do,
A great many people run to me
just before court and want to know
if / am going to prosecute such and
such persons for dynamlting fish,
and when l want them to give
their evidence in the case they
never want to give 1t because the
defendant is a good friend of his.
An the Spring of 1894 from Tuck
aleechee Cove, to the dam at the
Rockford Cotton Mills, it was al
most daily occurrence to hear of
some one dynamiting fish, it was so
bad at one time along from Ken.
nedy's mill down the River, that
the Buzzards were after the dead
fish. You would be surprised if !
woul name some of the men en-
gagged in the dynamiting.
Our fish laws are not as strict,
as they should be, but If we could
enforce the laws we now have, the
fish in the streams of the County
would increase great deal faster
than they now are.
The first law l think that needs
to he looked after is the law on the
sale of dynamite, the way the law
now is any one can 60 and buy as
much dynamite as they want II
they have the money to pay for it,
and then they can use it as they
please. Any merchant can keep it
for sale and all Hardware mer-
chants do keep is and will sell it to
any one.
Another way that great many
fish are destroyed is by SEEMING,
The seiners will begin on stream
and will seine the stream and keep
all they catch until they quit
SEEMING and then they will sit down
and select out the best and throw
small ones away, after they have
carried them until they are dead
There has been more fish des
troyed in Tuckaleechee and Mil
ler's Cove's and along by the ole
Henry Mill below the gap of the
mountain than any where else OF
Little River. 1t has been so bat
for year or so that they dynamite
the small creeks, such as Pisto
r Creek, Crooked Creek, Ellejoy
Creek and others.
If the people don't help the
Grand Iury and the Fish Gem