Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-23

cauldron by the myriads of herring; they
seemed TO almost crowd the water out
of the canal. A days catch-l5, 600 TO
20,OO0-of ten years ago exceeds oil the
herring taken by Delaware City fisher
men in any one of the last two or three
seasons Ten cents hundred bought the
best Delaware river herring little more
than decade ago: As cents n dozen was
the price paid direct to the fishermen at
the heightn of the present season.
Shad, likewise have responded to the
Midas touch, and from 10, 20, 80 cents
apiece, ten or fifteen years ago, they
found egar purchasers for Si.75 to 81 each
at the seasons height on the Delaware
City docks.
No ONE CAN SOLVE PROBLEM.
Men who fish for livelihood, who
know the river and the habits OF the ilsh,
do not pretend to account for this scarcity
of the shad and herring. The scout at
the idea that has been advanced to the
effect that the noises of the now busy
Delaware have scared the fishes TO seek
n more rcposeful habitat and point to the
circumstances that the catches have been
small IN all sections along the Atlantic
coast this season and last. and Tor three
or four years.
They meet the claim that there are
fewer fishermen now than usual by the
statement that once usher anyways
fisher, thus disposing of the false report
that many of the Walton S disciples had
been lurcd by big wages to war work
in factories.
Does rlvcr pollution cause the decrease
of shad and herring and other food hshesI
Nobody answers.
The fishers with huge seincs for the
fertilizer factories along the coast do not,
II is said, capture enough food fish to
supply even the boats crew, so to them
cannot be laid any responsibility for the
scarcity unless by taking the Mcnhaden
the food of the other fish is not SO plcntl-
full
The shad and herring, of course. are
caught on the SWIM TO spawning grounds
consequently the less is very great, but
through artificial propagation billions oi
small fish are supposed TO be liberated
every season.
SAY. No FISH IN p YEARS
Other food fish. too. are passing from
the rivers of the State The rock fish,
the bass black fish. and the Sheopshcad
are growing fewer and fewer The Weak
fish also have h,cn not plentiful until
within the last week or ten days they
have been taken in tremendous quantities
in the Delaware river and bay. But these
catches are exceptional. Twenty wears
ago all these varieties of fish were ahund-
ant in the Delaware.
Fishermen who look backward =
wears confidently predict that the Del
aware will be without food fish III another
quarter Of a century, or even q shorter
time
sHAp BARONS AND STURGEON KINGS.
In noting the scarcity Of food ilsh
not only in the Delaware river but N al
Delaware waterways 1T must not be
inferred the fishermen arc not prosperlng.
On the contrary, the prosalc vocation Is
netting them more money and that more
quickly than ever before Profits today
are Infinitely larger than in the times u
plscatoral plenty 4 week catch %
shad but few fish. perhaps has brought
the fisherman $3.50 or $500 "a scaon ;
profits in earlier times - perhaps one
will read Of shad harons, or Of sturgeon
kings. when two sturgeon taken today
viii net a greater sum than the whole
catch OF two or three seasons 25 or 80
wears ago.
Nevertheless, Delaware fishermen per
ceive that they viii be practically with, u
occupation in = few years unless the pass
ing Of food fishes can he checked