Evening star., 1934-12-02
NEVER-ENDING battle Of con-
servation is being fought by
l the Nations anglers, but the
aonmarcial fisherman too has

~ the Nations anglers. but the
commercial fisherman, too, has
thoughts along the same lines, accord
ing to r. H. Fielder, chief of the dlvl-
sion of fishery industries OF the unlteo
states Bureau of Fisheries. repre-
sentative of commercial fishermen.
Mr.. Fielder was speaker on Fridays
Rod and Stream radio program.
Il believe" he said, that you Will
find at least a part of the commercial
fishermen are conservatlonlStS at
heart, and that in some areas the
commercial fisherman Is the best
friend of the angler He removes from
the water many species OF food nsh
not classed as game fish, and also
many predatory fish.
"vN MY contact with anglers and
commercial fishermen I have been
impressed with the fact that both
groups at times have blamed the other
for destruction of a fishery. For IN
stance, the anglers fishing for blue
fish in Chesapeake Bay ofttimes COM
plain that the commert lal fisherman
is running this fishery. wonder If
the sportsmen have ever heard the
other side of the story, as have, that
the commercial fisherman blames the
sportsmen for breaking up the schools
of bluefish so that he, the commercial
fisherman, is unable to make the
catch. think instances of this ma
ture are really the crux Of the Situ-
alton, for, in the past we have had
but little meeting of the minds rela-
tive to controversies between anglers
and commercial fishermen.
IF our commercial fishermen can
get together with the anglers on the
different problems existing or that
equal chance for them to cooperate
in ef1ecting conservation. The ex-
tremists among both groups in their
zeal to conserve certain debatable
species of fish may rush to the State
House with a proposed bill which the
other group may never have heard OF
until they learn Of the committee
hearings, thereby erecting opposition
to the actual passing of the law which
might otherwise be avoided. All too
often these bills have received too lit
tie consideration before being pre-
sented to the State legislators, and,
as result, we find that many of
them have most adverse effect How
much better it would be for both
groups to get together before such
bills are presented. I believe the re-
suit would be more and better con-
servation legislation.
URING my work with the N.
r. A. I contacted thousands
of persons engaged in the
commercial fishery industry. It would
be hard to find better or more con-
scientious lot of men. I am sure this
group will cooperate with the anglers
in developing any program to sustain
our fish supply. In fact, these men
have made the first overtures. In
September members of the National
Fishery Code Authority met with the
National Planning Council of Fishery
Conservation Commissioners in Mon
treal during the American Fisheries
Society meeting. This is the first time
in history that these two groups have
assembled around the table to discuss
their common problems. More will
come of this meeting when local
groups gather in the various zones in
the country to discuss conservation.
They will, no doubt, settle many con-
troversies still pending between anglers
and the commercial fishermen"
In closing, Mr.. Fielder said: II wish
to leave with you the suggestion that
voa, faha tha noxov,rarcial AshArnnan n