Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-07-17
THE DESTRUCTION OF EDIBLE FISH
Norfolk virginian-Pilot.1

Norfolk Virginian -Pilotl
Commodore Mcdonald Lee, of the
Virginia oyster navy, who is also Edi.
tor OF the VIRGINIA CITIZEN, tells the
Baltimore Sun something about purse
netting" and menhaden fishing which
that usually well-informed journal evil
IDENTIFY did not know. The Sun. like
some other newspapers which we
might mention, writes on fisheries CUES
tons as though it were the depository
OF all knowledge on the subject, while,
as matter of fact, what information
it has comes at second hand and is any,
thing but accurate. This is the case
with many of the up-the-state papers
in Virginia in regard to the oyster
question, and to this more than to any
other one thing is probably due the
fact that the State has so long failed
to adopt and pursue proper policy in
preserving and fostering this important
industry.
Discussing a short time ago what il
terms the ''purse-netting evil" the
Sun declared that the menhaden fish,
ermen were destroying the supply of
edible fish in the waters of the upper
Chesapeake, by netting food along with
commercial fishes, and urged that steps
be taken to break up the practice and
so preserve the former. Commodore
Lee points out that the idea is alto
gether erroneous. Menhaden, he de-
ciares, run by themselves, as do also
the different varieties of food fish.
Whole schools of the former NAV be
'pursed up" without catching more
than am occasional food fish which NAV
have struck in for meal just at the
time. Mr.. Lee speaks from years of
experience and study and he ought to
know what he is talking about. That
he does know will, we believe, be at
tested by anybody who has first hand
knowledge of the fisheries business. If
the catching of menhaden has any
effect in lessening the supply of food
fish, 1T flows not from the actual net
ting of the latter but from destruction
OF the food upon which they feed. For
some time the scientists have been con-
tending that menhaden are necessary
for food to blue fish and other impor-
tant edible varieties and that destruc-
ton of the former would of necessity
mean the destruction of the latter also.
The scientists may be right, but none
of the results predicted have vet come
to pass. Menhaden fishing has gone on
as usual, and if reports may be relied
on, the supply of that variety of fish
was never so abundant as this season.
But there is no successful denying
the fact that the supply of edible fish
in the waters of the Chesapeake is be-
coming less and less each year. Time
was, and it has not been SO very lone
ago. when the waters in this vicinitS
teemed with spot and hog fish-the
supply being amply sufficient to med,
the needs of the entire State. TodaS
the hog fish is comparatively rare, while
the spots are barely sufficient to suppk
the demands of the local market
What and where is the cause for this
steady falling off? 1t lies not with TIL
'purse-netters" but with the pounf
and seine fishermen. The size of the
mesh ordinarily used both by TIKI
Founders" and the seine-haulers (
not sufficiently large to admit of TIKI
escape of the smaller fish, which are
thus caught along with the larger ones
IL these small fish, which are worthless
for edible purposes, were thrown back
into the water as soon as caught, NJ
damage would be done. But instead
of that, they are dumped upon tn,
shore to rot, or shipped to market where
finding no purchasers, they find thei
way to the. garbage heap. Not Ions
since a prominent fish dealer in Nor
folk informed the Virginian-Pilot tina
is was not rare occurrence for him /,
receive consignments of spots too small
for marketable purposes and which
We're invariably dumped into the rive
upon arrival.
L OANSA caNh NhNditAotdAiSCo IL ilO
surprising that edible fish are becom
ing scarcer and scarcer. The small fisl
of today become the large fish of to
morrow. Ii the small ones are des
troyed, lit goes without Dsay ing thai
there will soon be no large ones. Self
interest C. mbines with every other con
slderation to demand that fisher mer
abandon this destructive policy. If cor
tinued, il ought to be perfectly obviou.
that the time is bound to come wher
the public will be deprived of an i'm
portant article of diet and the fishermen
of an occupation. Either the meshes OF
the.nets and seines should be so en-.
larged as to admit of the passage
through of the smaller fish, or the small
fry. when caught, should be returned
to the water. If the fishermen viii
not consult self-interest enough to d.
this of their own accord, they should
! be made to do it. 1t may not be prac
ticable to force them to throw back the
small fry, but it is possible to prohibit
by law the use of nets or seines with
meshes under a certain size.