Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-03-17

SmcljS III Il certain seasons of the
yy.tr, ami il any furth'r protc, ton
is needed an amendment ia that gem
: raj would b. better than conIin"
here with another general law Whirh
OGlH affects "a small section of tn"
state. | submit that V ought not
To onact IS Il general law :, bill which
really affects but :; small part o.
our coast ana only one river. esp"c-
ially WhcI. only one appeared Ia ad-
vocatc that Till and not . single peti-
ton presented in favor as il. Is it
just and right that a. hin Of this
kind should bp enaCttd2
In the Shcepscot river there are
large number of men who depend on
the seining of smeltS during the fan
and winter. In my section alone We
have from - to 100. In the fall the
only thing they have by which To get
a living is by this seining OF sneitS
and by the hand lining of fish on the
rivers and harbors. AT times that is
fairly profitable. ana at other times
there are no fish at all for them. |
really believe, if this law is enacted
that many of the people along the coast
OF Maine and their families Will suffer
during the winter for want OF n means
OF livelihood This seinine OF smelts j.
not done by large seines or by sweep
ing. This is dene by means Of small
sciuos OF not over ~ fathorHs in length
and these are set near To and dragged
UPON the shores of this river and it's
tributaries. Very little nf the SEEMING
thar is done is done in the main river
The greater part is done i'm the bays
AMI hack Of the islands, and the mouth
OF the SheepSeot river is really Il bay.
Now ! submit that these seners with
these small seins dragging the coNcs
and bays pf that river Il mile wide can
not catch all the smeltS that come into
that river. ! do not believe that they
catch one tenth part OF them. All that
they ask is just the right to seine along
the coast, they simply ask for justice
Tor all parties. In regard to ice fishing
at the head OF this river. the condition
at The he&d ot the Sheepscot river is
very different from the condition at
the head OF the other rivers. At the
head o. this river ice fishing is carried
on on Il very small scale. | do not be-
lieve there are over a dozen or l. men
wh" depend on its for living who
fish there every day These seine fish
ermen ask to be allowed To share
equally with those AT the head of the
river. They believe that these fish
were placed in our waters for the hene-
III Of ali men. not for any special class
|ot mcp, that TO deprive them of Il right
tO share in the fish that swim by their
doors would be working a great injus-
ticc. ask YOU tn deal fairly and just
|ly In this matter and not TO deprive
these poor fishermen OF their jusr
rights by cnaeting any such class leg
islation as this bill calls for
Mr.. HARMON of Stonington: Mr.
Speaker, this bill was given very careful
consideration by the shore fisheries COM
mittee of which / am a member This
is tte only river on the coast which is
open to seinors at the mouth. By the eff
forls oC The gentleman from Boothbay
two years ago. who was a member Of the
shore fisheries committee he had this
river opened up aud got q bin through
to that effect. IT satisfied few Of hi9
constituents az the mouth Of the river
who destroyed the smelts and, their
schools on the way up the river. trust
the motion To Indefinitely postpone will
not prevail.
Mr.. Hersey OF Iiouiton moved to ad-
journ,
The motion was lost
The question being on the indefinite
postponement OF tne bill
The motion was declared lost
Mr. Kelley of Boothbay called for a
division.
Continued on Page Twelve.)