Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-09-04

his business Is a very important one to |
ridewater Virginia, as nearly everybody /
in business is benefited directly or in |,
directly by this business.
Now in regards to the catching of
food fish and manufacturing same into
guano and oil. This is absurd. In the
first place should they catch any food
fish they would not put them into fer
tilizer when they could getfve times as
much by selling them for food fish.
This question was agitated several
years ago so much that the United States
Government took it up and through the
u. s. Fish Commission placed men on
board of several of the boats in the
business, and the writer had one with
him for three months and fshed the
Atlantic coast from Eastport, Me-, to
South Carolina, including the entire
waters of the Chesapeake bay. There
were also several other of these on
other steamers. The result of this
investigation was so Insignificant that
it was dropped by the U. S. Govern
ment entirely. The following year the
State of Virginia took up this matter
and put the oyster police fleet in com
mission at great expense TO the State,
and during same year the governor of
the State of Virginia made trip on
one of these steamers and expected a
great fish feed on that day and to his dis
appointment did not get any fish to eat.
1.-The writer was interested in that
business for twenty-five years, and l
have often made the statement which
is absolutely correct, that mess of
fried fish for the crew of one of these
steamers was as great treat as mess of
fried chicken This may seem to be
absurd to party not knowing or under
standing just how these nets are oper-
ated, therefore feel it my duty to give
a brief statement in regard to same.
"Menhaden fish go in schools near
the surface of the water and do not mix
with any other fish. Eatable fish such
as spots, trout and all other fish feed
near the bottom. These nets are rugged
so that they will not fish the bottom
because when they do they very often
hang on the bottom and cause much
damage and should there be any eatable
fish circled by these nets when they
find themselves surrounded they go
down to the bottom, theirnatural home.
The nets are drawn together at the
bottom with a puckering string, the
proper name of which is purse line,
thereby separating the fish enclosed
(Menhaden) from any bottom fish.
There are certain fish at times that feed
ON these menhaden, such as sharks.
skates, and at times bluefish, which are
sometimes caught in these nets, but
very rarely, and as stated before are
not manufactured into guano.
81 have nothing to say in regards TO
pound nets, because l know very little
about this business, but | do believe
it would be to the interest of the people
engaged in that business as mich as to
anyone else to have regulated mesh
so as not to destroy the small fish.
yours truly,
~. F. BUSHELS.
Norfolk, Va, Aug. 18th, 19OS."
Fish are migratory, and be-
cause they are scare in certain
places at stated times is no rea-
son they are becoming extinct.
Couldn't the fish that were i'm the
Chesapeake Bay and it's tributar-
les in early spring be hundreds
of miles away n month later -?
Reports have been coming from
Long Island all the summer
about the scarcity Of crabs there,
but where is the man who would
say crabs are n thing of the past
after spending two or three DAYS
on Chesapeake Bay? The same
scarcity OF crabs prevailed on
Long Island six years ago, with
five years of unprecedented num-
bers intervening. like condi-
ton can exist and does often
exist among fish.
The only practical knowledge
that can be gained along these
lines must necessarily come from
personal contact with the differ
ent branches of theindustry. and
we urge those who have it at
heart to get down among the
fishermen and study the habits
of fish, the methods employed i'm
catching them and thus make
their recommendations from a
personal knowledge of the bust
ness.