The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-01-25
THE CATCHING OF FISH.
4 BILL PROHIBITTNG TDE USE OF
FOUND AND PURSE NETS.
The Committee Finally Decides to Report
the Measure Bilis Con-
sideed by other Committees.

The House Committee on the chesa-
peake and its Tributaries met yesterday
afternoon at 4 o clock In room No. ., on
the upper floor of the Capitol building.
with Mr. Tabb of Gloucester I'm tho
chair. The committee decided TO report
favorably Senate bill No. 203, which
makes IL a misdem.anor to inJurc hsh
boxes ana the artificial breeding OF
fish i'm charge of the Fish Commissioner.
Niolators OF the law shall be fined. and
Imprisonment not To exceed thlrty DAYS
is 10 be added when this fine Is not paid.
The next bill taken up was one intro
duced by MIR. Digs amending the law
in regard TO fishing In the YORK., Marta-
poni, and Pamunkey rivers. The patron
OF the bill explained that pond-nets,
purse-nets, and other fixed devices, shall
not be used I'm the York river below GOu-
cester Point, on the Gloucester side. IN
water deeper than twenty-five teet, anu
elsewhere in York river In water deeper
than ten feet. and In the Mattaponi and
Pamunkey rivers I'm water deeper Than
six feet The bill was favored by tho
delegates and senators representing the
counties bordering on these rivers. The
only objection was raised by Mr.. Hatha-
way, OF Lancaster. who desired TO nave
the use OF purse-nets allowed
Mr. Hathaway next ADDRESSED tie COM
mittee. He asked that the words purse
nets" be stricken from the bill. lac sa'd
hundreds Of thousands OF dollars We're
invested I'm fish factories In this state.
and the mcnhaden tsh, that Is used IN
the manufacture of guano and oil, was
only caught In Durse-nets. This nsn was
inclined TO 80 into inlets I'm schools. Ihey
noated on top on the water and did not
live I'm fresh water " mad been charged
that a good many ed;Cie fish were caught
i'm purse-nets. Last summer some sports
men had complained to Governor OFer-
rail- about fishing in Rappahannock river.
The Governor then sent the oyster navy
on the ground. and from there all over
the Chesapeake, and. as the commodoFe
tod HIM ttathawayl Afterwards. ne nah
not seen one edible nsh caught WIN -
900 bad fish In purse-nets. IL was mn
possible to catch buefisn In purse-neis.
for the would tear the purse-nets. The
latter were only used IN York river IN
Space around York Spit Lighthouse, ana
about as far as ten miles up IN YORK
river There were nine fish factories IN
Lancaster county. which exDend about
$50 900 each annually I'm Virginia. II the
isning with purse-nets was prohibited
the property of these companies would
become absolutely useless.
Mr.. Hathaway also stated that he had
been informed that a company desired
to invest "A million dollars I'm the building
Of a plant for the purpose OF using the
water that has been made use OF In ire
fish factories In cooking the hsh. 1his
water was 10 be used in the production
of certain kind OF gas. Ia the fish
factories were interfcred with then TINS
new enterprise would go elsewhere.
Or Bowdoin, the State Sheii-Flsh
Commissioner. also appeared before tne
from these fish factories did only fish
for menhaden, 1t was nevertheless true
that they did catch other nsh, ann nj
certain seasons of the year the edible
fish were caught In large quantities.
especially In May and June. Among the
fish caught i'm that manner were troct.
channel bass or Back drum, and red
drum. These latter kinds followed the
msnhaden TO feed on them Bluefish
were very often caught IN pursc-nets,
inasmuch as they follow mennaden, which
they use as food.
Upon being questioned by Mr.. Digs.
DIR Rowdoin said he did not think the
passage of the bill would Interfere with
the fish industry In this State
After some further discussion the COM
mittee decided 10 report the bill favora-
bly,.
PROPERTY OF RAILROADS.
She Committee on Roads and Internal
NrvigatiOn held "A regular meeting at
o'clock yesterday afternoon. Several bills
were considered, the most important
among them being that introduced by
Mr. MAYNARD In regard 10 the amount Of