Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-09-18
tCommunicated.i
FISH YET AGAIN.
EpIToR vIRoINIA CITIZEN:

EDITOR VIRGINIA CITIZEN:
The Norfolk papers come back to the
fish subject, the apparent damage to
the food fish of the Chesapeake and
adjacentwaters, and find, after all, they
have large company in the opinion that |
our fish are being steadily depleted by
pound nets. purse nets and other catching
devices, and quotes as follows: 1.-The
subject is one that will not down. Some
thing must be done and done promptly,
else the time is not far distant when
the Foolish supply of this section will
be as the things that are not. On this
point there can be no difference of opin-
ion.'
Certainly there can be no harm, but
good, in a much more careful study of
the whole subject, for it is one of
vast Importance, and if it can be shown
that the food fish supply is really dimin-
ished by reason of great destruction
and loss of this important food supply,
it should be made subject of the most
careful scrutiny. ,apd if remedy can
be found, let US have it by all means.
But really less is Known perhaps about
fish and their habits, their unexpected
appearance and disappearance, than
about almost any subject of equal inn
portance. We know, for example, that
herring and shad appear in the waters
of the Bay and move rapidly up stream
to their spawning grounds in the spring.
and that. having performed this essen
tial function, they return to the place,
wherever that is, from whence they
came. But science so far fails to re-
veal where these fish spend their
winters, whether in the deep waters of
the ocean about the mouths of the
rivers, or far out in the briny deeps.
For more than a quarter of a century the
U. ). government has been interested
in the subject of the decreasing num-
bers of shad in the Potomac and other
Virginia waters, and annually immense
numbers of shad are artificially Matched
| and turned loose in the rivers to take
their chance of life. But oddly enough.
although this has been done every sea-
son regularly, with scientific accuracy,
and although there is no trouble in prop
agating the young fry of shad, yet in all
these years no perceptible increase of
this very important foolish has been
noticed. Shad are no more plenty than
twenty-five years ago. Meantime the
fishermen complained that herring were
gradually growing scarcer, but within
the last few years these fish have ap-
peared in vastly greater numbers, al
though no attempt has been made at
artificial propagation. Herring are now
as plentiful rs in 1860, and much more
plentiful than % or 30 years ago.
The papers in the last few days re-
port that there is an unprecedented run
OF mackerel off the Nova Scotia coast.
there being so great glut that fisher
men are at a loss what to do with the
catch. No one offers reason for this
sudden increase of mackerel at this
point. 1t is stated that in the Gulf
stream fish of certain sorts disappear
for years, and as suddenly reappear,
with no apparent reason for the coming
and going.
Here this season, trout and rock have
been sosmuch more abundant in the Rap
pahannock that local fishermen are pug
zled at the phenomenon, and in places
where for long period these fish were
well nigh absent. they are now easily
taken with hook-and-line. Trout have
not been so abundant in our local
market for some time as this season.
All this, however, has not to do with
the subject of the apparent disappear
ance of spot, hog-ish, trout, etc., in the
Chesapeake, except so far as il shows
that our knowledge of fish and their
habits is scanty. While the purse
nets. weirs and other traps for fish
doubtless have their part in depict
ing our waters, yet it is strange cir
cumstance that from time to time fish
that were scarce, and scarce for years,
suddenly reappear in quantities.
The subject of the menhaden fisheries
and the Indirect starvation of food fish
is one that is certainly obscure. Where
do the menhaden come from? Where do
they spawn? To what region do they re-
treat? We have no answer for these
questions. But one thing seems GER
tain: that trout, spots and other food
fish do not prey on the grown fish, as
any tyro knows that carniverous fish
only take for food such fish as they can
easily swallow. 1t is impossible that
q trout could eat menhaden larger
than itself, and even blue fish proba-
bly, can do no more, and while he may, as
is stated, dart in among shoal of men,
haden. seize his meal and depart, he could
not seize larger fish than himself, tear
this in pieces and devour the fragments.
Atmosth he could only prey on the smaller
menhaden-the partly grown ones-and
judging from what one sees of these
about the fish factories, small men
baden are scarce in the catch.
! Still, there can be no harm but prob
able good, in the suggestion of spec
ial commission to study the whole sub
ject exhaustively, and as we know that
such study has done, and is doing great
good SO far as the oyster industry is
concerned, possibly, a long and careful
study of the whole subject of fish and
thair hoh;ks will raSnlt -, ;oo~oo~<I