Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-05-13
RUINED FISHING AND CUNNING.
Leaving our Inland Waterway Incomplete Has
Ruined Sport in Rivers and Bays.

ly as tide, is so limited at Ocean City
that it is a practically negligible
quantity; but in place of it we have the
most marked effects of the rising and
falling of the waters made by the
winds. Without going further into this
explanation | would say that tides, in
the sense of ocean tides, have no effect
as far north as Ocean City on the fish
ing in the bay.
Under the conditions above described,
it can readily be seen what opportuni-
ties were once offered to both the gun
ner and the fisherman for sport at
Ocean City. The upper bays, in which
the wild celery once grew profusely,
were filled with canvasbacks and red
heads of as fine flavor as those from
the Susquehanna flats, while rock or
striped bass of the largest size up to Is
pounds in weight frequented those bays
and were caught from the railroad
bridge at Ocean City, even large ones
being occasionally caught in seines. etc.,
in the Isle of Wight bay. White perch
of the largest size were so plentiful
they were seldom fished for sport,
and in the spring about May and June
the largest-sized speckled trout, or,
locally, salmon trout, were taken in
great quantities on their run to the
spawing grounds in Isle of Wight and
Little Bays.
But some IL or Is years ago the
United States Government undertook
to connect this long line of fresh-water
ways with the ocean, by making a canal
to connect Indian river with Little bay.
upon the theory that the waters of the
former, freshly drawn from the ocean,
would make these long lines of water
ways salt until they commingled with
the natural salt water of the lower
bays. And it was a wise scheme, for
had it been carried through as Originally
designed it would have added thousands
of acres of the best oyster-planting
grounds in this or any other State to
the productive industry of our citizens
"a consideration far outweighing any
regard for the sportsman or sports.
But the Government has not carried
out the scheme; it has carried it to a
point which has been largely destructive
to the best interests of those who were
commercially interested in fishing and
cunning, as well as of the amateur
sportsman, and by stopping where it
has stopped. the undertaking has wholly
failed to make the broad beds of these
waterways salt enough for oyster-grow-
ing purposes. They have dug the canal
to depth that permits just enough
saltwater to come in to destroy the
wild celery and other fresh-water
grasses which made Isle of Wight bay
an ideal habitat for the ducks and the
fresh-water fish; and yet, even as far
south as Ocean City and for miles be-
low it, the saltwater supply from this
source is so slight that not an oyster
will grow. am not sure, but do not
think the water in this canal is over Is
inches deep. Anyone going from Re-
hoboth Beach on the railroad can judge
for himself. Should the canal ever be
deepened to a proper depth, so as to
bring a strong ocean current into these
fine inland waterways, it will open up
rich field for our citizens. Unless it is
so deepened, it would be for the in
terests of all fishermen and gunners-
commercial and amateur alike-that
the unsightly ditch should be closed.