New-York tribune., 1907-08-04
SALrATIOH FOR THE LOBSTER.

The outlook for the lobster is not SO very bad.
after all A dispatch from Washington printed
in The Tribune yesterday reported partcu-
Iary encoura ging statement on the subject
made by the United States Fish Commissioner
Mr. George NJ. Bowers II his remark that
.,the lobster question is solved" seems unduly
hopeful one must remember that the man who
uttered it is probably better acquainted with
the facts than anybody else, and could not well
have any motive for misTeprescntng them.
Mr. Bowers comedies that the official returns
of the number OF Holsters caught on the New
England coast show n gradual decline for
twenty wears He shows. however, that these
figures do not now as they did once, represent
the total catch. A great many Holsters are
captured by Cottagers, whose traps are grow
ing Increasingly numerous, but who are under
no obligation to report their success. Owing to
an improved system OF nurture much greater
proportion OF artfCially hatched Holsters sur
wives the periIs of infancy than was the case
a few wears ago. When the government began
this work not more than about four thousand
Of the Young from single lobster withstood
The ordeal Of infancy. On the average, fully
thrca times as many now live long enough to
he intr1sted TO the Additional measures
NAV possibly be needed to give permanency 10
the advantages recently secured, but 1t Is evil
dent that there is no immediate danger OF ex-
termination
In the benefcealt work of averting such
result the national and state governments Co
operate. One undertakes to make good the
| losses each year by replenishing the original
stock The other aims TO protect the young
until they reach maturity, which is attained In
about three years In detail and even In the
theories on which they are based the laws of
the states chiefly Interested differ somewhat
from one another. but they are all fairly strin-
rent and if they could be rigidly enforced the
principal peril to which the lobster Is exposed
that Of being killed while still below the nor
NAL siZe-would be effectively met.
Evasion Of the statutory prohibition is not
easy in the open market where Holsters are
bought and sold, though underhand methods OF
disposing of illegally obtained spoil prob
ably known to fishermen. AS yet, however,
II does not seem possible TO detect and punish
offences committed by or for the private owners
of lobster pots. Mr.. Bowers says that the num-
Der of people occupying cottages by the sea In
summer who seek to supply their tables directly
from the water instead OF by purchase IS al
ready large and is steadily growing The labor
of visiting and emptylng their lobster pots may
| he performed by servants, whose devotion to
| their employerS interests may exceed their
regard for law. or who may not happen to
know that in failing to throw back into the
t ocean lobster which Is not eight inches long
| they are guilty of misdemeanOr. Anything
| Ike n systematic inspection Of these pots by
| state officials would probably prove imprac-
| tIcable Yet II q way could be discovered to
| compel compliance with the laws by the occu-
| pants Of summer homes along the coast the
| lobster might have a somewhat better chance
| to increase and multiply than 1t enjoys at
| present