The Republican journal., 1907-08-01
THE DECLINE OF OUR SEA FISHERIES


Zone of our foremost national indus
tries bids fair to be wiped out of exist
ence, and this with hardly glance of
attention given to it from the country
at large" says John z. Rogers in an ar
ticle on ''The Decline of Our Sea Fish
cries" in the July number of Appleton's
Magazine. He refers to the fisheries of
the eastern coast, and in particular to
the mackerei. cod and lobster fisheries,
of which he says that they are in 'such
danger of determination, that unless
prompt and radical protective measures
are taken, it will not be long before
these fish, like the buffalo, will be only
a memory" Locally there is much to
confirm this view of the situation. The
writer recalls the time when haddock
and Holsters were plentiful in our bay
and the mackerel came yearly in large
schools, and when, like all the shore
towns, Belfast had fleet OF fishermen
engaged in the cod and mackerel fisher
les. 1t was all Lining in those
days; no purse seines, pounds or travis.
Yet dealers today will tell you that fish
are as plentiful as ever and that the in
creased price-almost prohibitory for
people of limited means-is due to the
greater demand for sea products. On
the other hand recent report of the
Massachusetts State Board of Fish and
Game Commissioners says: "The out
come, the commercial extinction of the
LOBSTER is as sure to result as dav is to
follow night. In thirteen years there
has been decrease of more than 66 per
per cent. in the catch of Holsters" Last
year. of 81, 713 boxes of canned lobster
landed in Boston, 81, 400 were imported
and PA were domestic. Twenty-Five
years ago there were lobster canneries
at Camden, Castine and Isle au Haut,
the latter employing some two hundred
men and women, and once fortnight
a smack came to Belfast to get Holsters
for the Camden factory. Now the num-
Der taken i'll this vicinity is too small
to be worth mentioning, and the local
markets are supplied mainly from Rock
land. In the opinion OF James Dono-
hue, Maine commissioner of sea and
shore fisheries, in 10 years neither Mas
sachusetts nor Nova Scotia will have
lobster along its coast unless there is
radical change in laws and the method
of enforcement. Neither of these sec
lions, he says, properly protect the lob
ster, and Nova Scotia fails to enforce
what laws there are, and as result, the
determination of the lobster is bound
to eusue.
On the other hand statistics show
that there has been a marked increase
i'll the Maine catch of Holsters. due
mainly, it is said, to the protective
measures adopted by our fishermen.
The 1906 stock was the largest gathered
in nine years, the total number disposed
of being o,579, 512. In 1898 the catch
was 5, It's, 1882, in 1899 7,267, SOC; 1900,
:, 49,, lis; 1901, S,1S5, 342; 1902, 1870, 265:
1908, 7,494, 69l; 1904, dow record of the
period 6,9o+, SIS; 1905, 1925 9S. 1t is
by lobster experts that the
1907 catch will be over 10000, 600. The |
value of the 1906 catch was s1,6+O646 |
and 21o0 men were employed. An ex-
change says that $50 far as the coast |
Of Maine is concerned, credit for the |
situation belongs to the for !,
mer commissioner of sea and shore J
fisheries, the Hon. Alonzo R. Nickerson |
IF Boothbay Harbor, and the United |
States Representatives at the lobster
hatchery there, which is in charge of
Capt. E. E. Hahn, superintendent
United States Fish Commissioner
George NJ. Bowers of Washington, D.
J., who visited Maine recently to in
'pect the fish hatcheries and look for
site for a lobster pound, says
hat this crustacean is not being exter-
and that "the combine" is re.
'ponsible for the present high price of
obsters: FISHERMEN along the coast
ell me that they have caught from 10
@ 20 per cent more Holsters this year
han ever before, though many of them
'un close to the measurement" To an
Evening Express reporter in Portland
re said: 81 have just returned from
he East Orland station. 1t is a
beauty, one of the finest buildings for
he money ever saw. 1t is in a fine
ocation, too, near Bucksport, and
landy to reach You might state for
ne that of all the senators and repre-
entatives in Congress none are any
more friendly to the department than
he delegation from Maine"
While the statements as to the lob
ter situation are somewhat reassuring,
he statistics and well known facts
the cod and mackeral fish
ries afford little encouragement The
yures compiled by the Boston Fish
Bureau show steady decrease of this
nee important industry, and the catch
# Goldfish and other ground fish as CON-
,iled by this bureau shows a decline
rom year to year similar to that of