Evening star., 1926-06-20

their own, including Maryland and
| forces protect the oyster beds from
| illegal practices. such as poaching and
| theft. In the past there were many
! bitter battles. especially off the Chesa-
! peake shores and down on the Gulf
! of Mexico, where the breeding grounds
| of the oysters are maintained.
! At the present time great deal is
/ being said and written on the urgent
necessity of controlling the petroleum
! pollution of our coaStel and inland
waters, which for many years has af-
! fected the output of the fisheries Of
: the Nation.
| The Federal Government has finally
taken cognizance of the seriousness
| of the situation and has called an in
| ternational conference of l2 nations to
! consider what steps shall be taken TO
| force the various oil companies to
cease the pollution of our waters.
AT one time the Hudson River was
| noted for it's annual run OF shad and
salmon. but this is no longer the case,
| and it is the same condition that has
| destroyed the salmon of the rivers of
| Connecticut and the inland fish of the
! rivers of Ohio, Arkansas and of
Kansas. Indeed, it is stated on reli-
| able authority that unless immediate
! steps are taken the former prolific
| production of the Great Lakes will be
| seriously affected. as Lake Michigan
! is already in a dangerous stage of de-
| pletion and will soon be as bare as the
| Hudson.
! one of the favorite complaints of
! the fishermen in the various fishing
| journals, concerns the nefariouS ac-
! tiVitfes of the sea GullS, whose vora-
| CiouS appetite arouSeS great alarm
! Along the Eastern Shore. for example.
| it is said that during the time of year
that thousands of little crabs sit out
! on the marsh grasses, for a breath Of
| fresh air millions of gulls swirl over
| head in greedy warfare. The infer
ence being, of course, that the afore-
said gulls deserve stiff sentence for
murder. However, the following
month is sure to find another letter
| from some warm friend of the gull
who points out that he is innocent
| Other salt water fishermen have
great tales to tell of the capacity of
Goldfish for old lots of jack knives,
marbles or beer bottles.
| One old timer in Portland, Me, said
| that some of the boys on the ship
| New Dawn were cleaning their catch
and found a regulation size beer bot
|
none the worse for his choice of edi-
bles. Occasionally jewelry is dis
| covered in such fish.
| Apparently fishing is of great bene-
| fit to the hardy sailors of the coast,
as the Gazette gives an account of a
veteran lobsterman who has lived for
| so years on Teels Island, in the mouth
of the st. George River. off the coast
| of Maine and has never had doctor
a day in his life. He is still going
strong, and haulS his lobster pots by
hand on the 2S-acre island where his
! father and grandfather lived before
him, 5and has caught in one day as
many as 500 Holsters from his string
of 100 traps. He is now 8S years old
and says he hopes to fish until he is a
| hundred.
1t may we'll be that by the time Mr..
| Teel does reach the century mark the
Bureau of Fisheries will have it's fleet
of air craft to patrol special waters
requiring extra attention, as the Ca
madam government even now is using
seaplanes for its fish patrol work in
British Columbia, and has two planes
located at Prince Rupert for such
operations. France also has inaugu-
rated this aircraft inspection service
since last year, and in addition, an
officer of the French scientific office
| reports on all observations thus made.
| Meantime a newspaper account re-
ports the departure of 1000 of our
finest top minnows that are riding in
| official state on the battleship Mo-
reno for the Argentine, as tiny en-
VOWS Of good will from the United
States, as they are sent at the request
of the International Health Board, in
an effort to stamp out malaria from
| rho AYnaric9S