The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-08-13
TRYING TO SAVE FISHERIES
Conservation Commission Has This
big Task in Hand.

siderable space is gwen TO the ISM
ling industry. The Bulletin says OF
the decreasing shad:
1t is all too evident that the al
nual movement of large numbers of
| shad to the headwaters OF CheSa-
peake Bay for the purpose of repro
duction is a thing of the past. With
| the advent of the extensive use of
pound nets in all the lanes along the
Atlantic Coast through which shad
and herring must pass in their mi
grations to fresh water to spawn, the
shad industry began to decline. With
price of shad, due to their gradual
decrease, the more extensive became
this form of fishing, and with it the
more rapid became the growing scar
city of shad. Then, too, with the
growing increase in the selling price
of shad new devices came into extern
sive use for taking them Among
these were anchored nets. This but
intensified the rapid decline in shad
until in recent years almost no shad
have been permitted to reach their
natural spawning beds where repro
duction alone can take place. These
men who have directly profted by
the wholesale destruction of shad,to-
gether with the fen interested in the
sale of Irvine, have so controlled Leg
islation that almost no corrective
measures for the perpetuation of the
shad industry has been brought
about in many of the States directly
interested, and there seems but lit
tie hope that corrective measures
will be taken in time to save this in
dustry to the various Atlantic Coast
States. Unless radical remedial ac-
ton is taken Immediately, it seems
certain that shad will become extinct
in our Eastern waters, for the claw
of the survival of the afttest" will
seal the doom of the few that are
left. A few shad here and few shad
there will have no chance amidst an
undiminished hoard of natural enc
mics aside from man. A million
sheep will survive and increase even
though fed upon by a thousand VOL
yes, but a few hundred sheep, or a
few here and few there, would be
utterly destroyed Will this not be
true of the few shad that are left?
| Unlike a gold mine that sooner or
later becomes exhausted, this, spring
time flood of food to our very doors
could have been perpetuated, and
this does not mean they could not
Int is wise to use only the increase
from heard Of cattle, so, too, it -
wise to use only the increase from
our stock of fish.
Arrangements were made early in
March for opening the State hatchery
on the Tuckahoe river, near Denton.
Md. The equipment for handling
fish eggs at this place is obsolete, but
in view of tue small expense ln1cl-
we'd il. condu ing the work al.d IN.
fact, too, that ore shad spa"o here
in a limited area of water than at
any other place in the State, it seem
ed best to open the station. At this
station all the eggs of the species
handled are incubated in floating
boxes anchored in the river. AT most
places only very unsatisfactory re-
suits could be obtained with this
| equipment, but at this place fair re-
suits are obtained purely because of
the strong current in the river which
gives some motion to the eggs.
The State hatchery on the Chop
tank river, near Denton, Nd, was
not opened because of the small num-
Der of eggs that could be obtained
at that place.
At the Tuckahoe hatchery the run
of yellow perch was about the same
as in recent years. The collection of
these eggs for this hatchery was not
confined to the Tuckahoe river, but
covered part of the Choptank river
and Wye river. The run of white
perch was very small. There can be
no question but that both yellow and
white perch are becomming depict
ed in these rivers. This unsatisfac-
tory condition of the perch fishery is
due very largely to the wholesale de-
struction of small perch in contra
diction to existing law. This prac-
tice, so prevalent in all the tidal wa
tiers of the State, OF permitting thou
sands of immature perch to die be-
cause of no reasonable effort to re-
turn them to the water before they
are dead, or so weak that they die,
should be severely dealt with wher-
ever found. 1t should be unlawful
to set any net for these fish having
meshes so small as to prevent the es-
cape of perch that cannot lawfully be
taken. A gilled perch, unless care
fully removed and returned to the
water at once, will die, and practi-
cally all those dumped into boats
with other fish die unless Immediate
Iy returned to the water, and this is