The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-02-02
FISHING INDUSTRY DAMAGED
By Present Methods of Fishermen
Wholesale Slaughter of Small Fish
Threatens to Destroy What is Now
One of the Leading Pursuits of Abe
marie Section.

The question of most vital interest
to the people of Eastern North Carroll
ma today is how to protect the fishing
industry. That the industry needs pro-
lection against the destructive waste
resulting from the present system of
trapping them is conceded by every
intelligent man who is interested in It's
preservation. Unless something is done,
and that, too, in the lear future our
sounds and rivers will be oepopulated
of many of it's edible fish and the an
hlal catch enormous a few years ago,
will be depleted completely. It's not
the amount appropriated to the uses of
man as a food hat threatens the des-
truction of the industry. It's the
waste; object, wilfuI waste, for which
there a be no excuse or justification.
Natures apparently i~nexhaustible "e-
sources can be destroyed by destruct-
i've waste, and then man recognizes
tho fact that he has been a wastefuI
fool; but, yet he must suffer for his
folly.
This criminal waste in the butch -ry
of the young fish has became o -p-
parent in other sections of the fishing
country as to excite intense alarm; an
immediate definite action to save the
industry.
This is what a prOminen- citizen, n
terviewed by the Virginian-Pilot, said
yesterday:
Ten years ago spots were plentiful
and, sold in Norfolk for from 10 to
Is cents a dozen while they are now
luxury and in season bring as high as
$3.50 per dozen. l have interviewed
the leading fish dealers and many fish
ermen, who are we'll posted, and they
attribute the scarcity to the destruc-
ton of the small fish on account of be-
ing caught in pound nets with small
meshes."
The gentleman further stated that
he could see no reason why small fish
should not have the same protection
as small oysters; and for that reason
he would in the immediate future draft
a bill tending to that end.
Another prominent gentleman of the
tidewater section of Virginia gives the
following statements. "A great finan-
tity of small fish is being slaughtered
by the pound nets in Chesapeake bay.
The reason for this is, that the mesh
es of the nets are SO small that the lit
tie fish cannot escape through them;
and, as a result, they are thrown upon
the beach, where they die. after which
they are hauled to the fertilizer fac
cries. t.
Have any of the fishermen Of
eastern North Carolina ever witnessed
anything similar to this? How about
the millions of behring's caught in can
ais. creeks and rivers five years ago,
and hauled by the cart load upon the
fields until they became a stencil?
Listen again to another statement
made by the same gentleman: There
are yer 5000 pound nets in Chesapeake
bay, and each net has destroyed from
400 to 1000 bushels of these small fish
each year" The purse net fishing has
the almost complete ruination of tt
fish industry IN the State of Virginia."
1t is the opinion of this gentleman, that
If the evil continues. there will be q
spot and trout famine soon; while, il
the evil is rectified by requiring the
meshes of the nets to be made large,the
industry will soon recuperate itself
and be restored to its former cOndi-
tons. These statements are practical.
liiicu WIFI coIuuiOn seuSc JuuScLAcAs,
and ~prOphesying in strong language
the ultimate results. ought to find
weight with every man, who is inter-
ested in the fishing business either di-
rectly or indirectly.
Why is there no winter rock fishing
in the Albemarle Sound? Just SIM
ply because the rock fish doesn't come
and can't come, because it has been
caught up in pound nets. when its
about three inches long.
Consider the sturgeon fishing on the
Potomac. Old fishermen on the Poto-
mac say that they have, in time passed
seer sturgeon piled up like cord wood
upon the shores, and were given to
any one who would haul them away.
1.-THE sturgeon industry" says the
yTyo.Ls--o- n ~ CSc~ sx1.or fnr roarr