Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-03-05
THE HIGH COST OF FISH
Various Reasons Given to House
Committee.
of Good Food in New York
HRrbOr--COntrOI of the Product
by Few Men Forces Up the
Price.

When man comes before the House
committee on merchant marine and fish
cries, says the Washington correspondent
of the Boston Transcript, and testifies
to the wanton dc struction of seven tons
of food fish in New York harbor, in sight
Of five millions of people who are eager
to eat It, some Of whom are paying TWEEN
ty cents pound for it--when you hear
testimony of that character, as I have
1t, it must stagger, not to say terrify
you, and of necessity you must leave that
committee room a more thoughtful man,
said Congressman Stanley Bowdle of
Ohio, who had just come away from that
committee meeting with his mind full of
interesting Information on subject
which is closely connected with the prob
lem of the high cost of living, and which
indirectly involves other topics of equal
Importance.
TO PROTECT MIGRATORY FISH.
For a week OF more the committee has
been conducting hearings on the bill in
troduced by Mr.. A4nthicum Of Maryland,
which seeks to give up to the national
bureau Of fisheries Jurisdiction over all
migratory fish, that is, the food fish
which has seasonal movements into diff
ferent waters for spawning purposes Man,
most dangerous Of enemies, will not now
give him opportunity even to reproduce
his kind. THE testimony on the subject
is very clear" Mr. Bowde explained
"The food fish of our lakes, rivers and
I,
asset is in peril Astonishing facts have
been revealed to US. Take the shad catch
of the Delaware, for instance. few
years ago it was two million. 1t has de-
clned to two hundred thousand. The
same proportion Of decline Is observed
in the Chesapeake. The Hudson river
has been cancelled as a source of food
fish.
THREE CAUSES KILL FISH.
Three causes are operating toward.
the elimination of fish as a cheap anC
easily obtainable food--sewage oil anC
pound nets Our cities are dischargine
their filth into the rivers and bays anC
destroying the spawning grounds. Balti
more awoke to the seriousness of til,
problem some time ago. Approaching tn,
value of its fish and its oyster beds, Bal
timore provided for and is now finishinl
a twenty-five million dollar sewerage sys
TEN. In the end all cities must come
to this, or submit 10 the destruction of 8
great food suppdw. The Hudson, from
Troy to New York city, is a great oper
sewer Food fish there are as extinct a;
the fossil elephants. Even Washington
the beautiful city national, is one of the
offenders in this particular We heard ties
tmony attacking its sewage method ano
showing the evil effect on the food fist
of the Potomac.
OIL TANKS NEXT TO SEWAGE.
Next to sewage. as an agent of de.
structlon we must rank oil. Loading OF
into tank steamers results in covering
large areas with Shiny film which il
turn coats the gllls and eyes of fish and
eventually destroys them. And thirdly
must refer to the modern pound ne
which has supplanted the old seine ant
which strips from the waters substan
TALLY every fish that Is there to be found
The old seine was cast and hauled in
and in the intervals between the hauling
in and the recasting. quantities of fist
got by to the spawning grounds But tn,
modern method supplies nets that ar,
always open to fish and which sweep the
waters clean. Ohio is interested in tn
white fish of Lake Erie. The reports o
the fish commission show that 50 pc
cent of them have disappeared. TIL
Ohio commission has taken efectiv
means of stopping the wasteful catch
Sandusky. for instance. has had in plac
for fifty years a net ten miles long. AnC
there exists no effective Jurisdiction t
prevent it.
LAS another illustration. Chesapeake
Bay in it's lower stretches, has a multi
tude of these pound nets and the oil
seine haulers at the mouth of the Sus
Quehanna are left with nothing. Soon al
concerned will find themselves withou
| fish. There is such a thing in life as dom!
| a thing too well. The catching of fsl
may be too successfully an occupation
| For hundred years Virginia and Mary
| land have fought over the fish in tn
Chesapeake. Each had desired some legis
lation, but no agreement has ever beel
| reached Meanwhile the fish are vanish
ing.
SEVEN MEN CONTROL PRICES.
zone of the most perplexing question
| is raised by the control of fish foo,
prices. Seven mon. we are told, have con
| troll of prices for New York and Ney
| Jersey. Fish which sold for ten cents
pound ten years ago now brings twent.
cents. i am speaking now of marine fish
whose supply has not diminished by tn
| causes l have just enumerated. And al
| though. fish brings twenty cents poun
| in market the fishermen about Ne,
| York and New Jersey are getting abou
| two and half cents a pound for thei
| catch. These fishermen stand in need o
| organization. They are no longer i
| touch with the consumer, as once the
| were. They have but one customer.
| was in this connection that we wer
| startled by the statement that a flee
! of iishboats, on catching say ten ton
| of fish, will dump overheard seven ton
of dead fish on receiving information tina
the men with whom they deal will tax
but three tons. 1t is an amazing inc
dent and must arrest the attention of a
thoughtful persons. One can readily sc
| the necessity for getting the producer
I'm closer touch with the consumer.
WAITE ITNSPEAKABLY GREAT.