A es,” ra, Ph, ee vi " 7 ng 5 ‘ ba! 4 . ; < Some : “ we Peas fo say Ona! ty “at “Se, ae i . c 7 mo a 7 “ : ks : fe — 1 a eR RN Nt ee oe a Pea a arrained e aes a Py nae BA raadeg i ; Ks yes’ setae Ae aha atl eg ) ¥ eee State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. PON UAT ne PORL GUMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES, ! 1 OEE ee By As Lys Ay ok NES Eby, JANUARY SESSION, 1895. PROV 1 DE NC Ee: c. L. FREEMAN & SON, STATE PRINTERS. Soo. dae ‘en td wy CE ERE Bs CaS |i aba hte gl ba To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, at tts January Session, 1895 : The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries herewith present their annual report for the year 1894. TROUT. The Commissioners have purchased ten thousand (10,000) year- ling trout, most of which have been distributed in the various -waters of the State. A few hundred will be retained for distribu- tion early in the spring. The trout fishing, the past, as for several seasons, has generally been poor, though some good catches are reported. This, in part, is due to the very low state of the water in thestreams, which in some cases have dried to their bottom and thereby destroying the fish, in part undoing what the Commissioners are trying to do, by restocking. We could do more and to better advantage if our ap- propriations were larger. BLACK BASS. The Commissioners have been enabled through the good offices of Fred Mather to obtain a limited number of adult, large mouth Black Bass, it being deemed desirable to introduce them into some of our rivers which are now practically without good food fishes. 4. INLAND FISHERIES. The small mouthed Black Bass are very plentiful in the ponds and streams where they were placed by our predecessors and are valued more highly each year as a food fish. SHAD. Through the kindness of U. 8. Commissioner M. McDonald there were placed in the head waters of Palmer River at Shad Factory about two millions (2,000,000) Shad Fry. As has been before stated by us, this is the only body of water unobstructed by dams in our State. We have also applied for an apportionment of eggs of the Land Locked Salmon. BAY FISHING. The fishing in the upper portions of the bay for Tautog and Scup has been very poor, but Squiteague have been taken very freely by hook and line. The season has been unfavorable to the net fishing during the spring ; while some few did very well, most of them got but poor returns for their outlay and efforts. In the lower portions of the bay, as the season advanced, the Squiteague and Menhaden became very plenty and the season’s catches of these fish were large. The Tautog or Black fish were quite plenty all the season. Blue-fish were plenty at Block Island, but not many in the bay. Bass showed an increase of numbers over former years. We are pleased to give in full the following letter from Capt. N. bB.Chureh. It gives a very clear idea of the menhaden fishery as well as his observation of other fish along the coast. NEw York, December 22, 1894. J. M. K. Sournwick, Esq. Dear Sir: Your letter of the 19th is at hand and I am very sorry to say that Iam not prepared to give you a very full report of the general fisheries. I will not attempt to write about our local spring fishing as you are probably Cr REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. more familiar with it than Iam. The Menhaden fishery for the whole coast has been a fairly prosperous business. Some of the Chesapeake fishermen started out in March with the idea of going South to find them in their Southern quarters, but they had not gone far south of Cape Hatteras when they found them very abundant; they fished on them and followed them into Chesapeake Bay, where they had very good fishing for a short time. They were next seen on the Jersey coast, and in and around Sandy Hook Bay where they had good fishing fora while, then the fish turned and went into Chesapeake Bay where they had very heavy fishing all summer. This body of fish was small in size and very poor in yield of oil. The body that locates on our coast struck in in May, great bodies of them located in Long Island Sound and in Narragansett and Buzzard’s Bay, and also in Boston Bay, and the bays and rivers of Maine. No great catches were made in Maine or Boston Bay owing to the fish being on the rocks and in strong tides in the latter place and on account of their not showing but a short time each day in Maine. Good catches were made in our bays and rivers until they went out of them early in August, as they usually do. The very blowy weather in October and November was fatal to the fall fishing, which would have been good under more favorable conditions of weather, as there were large bodies of fish seen all along the coast. Some of the Southern boats followed the Menhaden south of Hatteras, and they told me that the bodies were so full of live sharks when they got there that it was impossible to catch them, they would bite the seine so badly. Blue fish have been very abundant south of Montauk all of the season, so much so that half of the fishing smacks engaged in catching them, hauled up early in the season. Squiteague have also been abundant as have been about all of the local varieties of our coast, such as Summer Scup, Tautog and other varieties, Striped Bass have been caught in larger quantities this summer than for several years, The Whiting catch is a wonder; they have been so abundant in Provincetown Bay as to spoil the fishing for other varieties, the pounds being full of them nearly all the time. Iam sorry I cannot go into the matter of local fishing more thoroughly, but I have been home so little this summer that I have had a very poor idea of it. Thanking you for your kind expressions, Iam, &c., N. B. CHURCH. 6 INLAND FISHERIES. Account of Fish shipped from Newport, R. I., by Old Colony Steamboat Co., in 1894. Month. Lobsters. Fresh Fish. Salt Fish. IAT io. dace) ates ss 4 2s 43 barrels. 68 barrels. barrels. SWPP: oi. oi oes so oui se a Bo coidis 2S Ste a ee ee en doy Ss 140" oi cat ad RY ee ae eee a Bees 1S A May: .:*. . HOB. OOO aT EIEIERH Fetes cee ee Soin a sy bag ae a O;089.4-a LILLE of Se IE a ae aR 844 “ Be: BG oat jaw) Lay) UR ae anes ARON eS i kee Siow Be POINPE ees skin oben = 1 ae at Bae es fc PINOT tee es se ack cr de, ea ab vt 1.040 — NWovember .. 0... ... pera 0 a a Ga bys 24 a SPECTER os) Fe a8.) a ele af Be i Tay 2800 13 68 >i (0 CNR as eee 2 ayoue 17,769 92 Total for 1893. Lobsters, 1,599 barrels. Fish, 24,452 barrels. Estimate of salt water fishes caught rn Rhode Island waters from shore, west of Point Judith. OT PAIGE ae ticle Kaa care or oh fantisje + aes ee A REISS ecasa huh? Ard lb Atay ial, Dekete laleiohn) Dee Cane: OT OTe aa Se Oe ee aces Rakin: 5d6- TSR Bt TCs GRAS 2 AOS a eee A ed BR SU a PN, A REBGNe SI UES CHSC TEST TI ea eg i Aa ae Sige bones aN CC ZHOe Hos Ae NC SG he ahaieineest a iva costes ain tee ps Pua BRO Ter SNe eT RLS SSeS Pee gry Fee. oe CILEL EC RoR ea SERN oP Un Brrecam muprestals A hoi Maem <2 ET 42 RS Se AI Aaa ag ma Nee TRG Nb 1,500 45 Teelege GRAS te Geis Mase a Sia a atla th eae ea BU ee REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. 7 olay 5340 3 6 El ae A UR cea 12 barrels EERE Dae PAUP IE ote vie Uae nla We gate LN Ou Grr PRIRTIT Po) Ie PEA, A DO CR LI Sale SOGOHs si" Pes EU UR AP EYEN 3 8. PS NORE Us NGC Ta UMhalang ol Shas a does 30,000“ Baerga etc 5 «HRN NAME GN lh write 20,6155). 5 LOBSTERS. The Chairman of the Commission would here report that in the past year he has devoted much time and study to the propagation of Lobsters. As much of the work was necessarily experimental he has there- fore given more attention to learning the best methods than to the production of large apparent results. He has made some import- - ant experiments that will be of value in the future. While the hatching of eggs in incubators has been attended with a fair degree of success he is of the opinion that any way differing from that of nature must be with greatly increased waste, both before and after hatching. He would, therefore, approve of retaining the egg lobsters until hatched, and then either return them to the water, or exchange them for other egg lobsters. Without a large outlay this must be about all that can be accomplished. But the subject is one of great interest and requires the most patient and thorough study before determining all the points to be considered. In the successful propagation of the lobster, the most important of all seems to us to be the rearing of them to an age when they shall have passed the first and most precarious stage of their existence. Should the State ever see fit to acquire control of some arm of the sea, then it may be made possible to retain the young lobsters until sufficiently developed to sink to the bottom and escape the most hazardous period of their lives, thereby much increasing the chances of ultimate maturity. The complaint has been very general from fishermen and those 8 INLAND FISHERIES. not fishermen that the law relating to the size of lobsters that may be taken, has been continually violated ; to the detriment of the honest fishermen and the lobsters are not allowed to mature. We recommend that some one be designated to enforce this law in the different towns where it is violated. In the study of our fisheries it has often been suggested that the mud dredged from our harbors and rivers and dropped in the channels, was carried to all parts of the bay and in fishing grounds outside and deposited in quantity sufficient to be seriously detrimental to the fisheries. In this way some of the changes that have been noted and complained of have been explained. In order to get some reliable data on this subject we applied to Capt. W. H. Bixby, who has charge of the U. 8. Engineer’s De- partment and he very kindly gave us the following table, giving 3 the desired information relating to the work by the general gov- ernment. REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. 9 TABLE SHOWING THE AMOUNTS OF MATERIAL—MubD, GRAVEL, SAND, CLAY, BOULDERS AND Rock—REMOVED FROM NARRAGANSETT BAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES From 1867 To 1894, In Cunprc YARDs. 4 o od mH oO ‘ he ot i n Me a He Ms ba 2 ; re) Se ae _ ro] 5 — m f 2 re) | = 4 YEAR. & a oe me = a RB B $ SR ® rs a 5S ss S o S45 2) an = = Ss ae |. So = E g 2 SI is aa =) oi = i S 3 5 ns E as = = ss) e 5 ad .* 3 Fa is 2 5 = 5 = S a qa = F a a = - PRR sopeis,s:sbhee eis’ 1 ASG I a Serc,srete BD SUAS cca roll eae ete) cldacara soleil ela bckerare ul rch unease 54,649 TEBE testes cae de BPs aeecerckstovstlinte tc biotone: tite Obie ae Mise | tole Cake aheted Ihekide,Aaake wat lVarelene «Goblets aiecaelewele sneer lnetacee aoe | ites Spies fet lie \ tag ie Be tek TOK sealse| ARR ya (rag Ulett cea) ON Se Alay event BEM PR A! | 878 1 ee OP TTS ES SY AT ah EA Re are wager Beene: 18.201 fo eae 16,257|........ Fl Papen anon HEI PRC Noy iy Ses ene nee 16,284 Si errata terra reieya)| lecetatare ter eclia's lacie ohe-& ||(ate,a aio’cys e s¥a) (acim sracarsver] ctheyoaratecy: [refactor at Sey cr ute ccebor oss I oer ae "aarti eee Bveriase wasie cas GU fidiiemiatereece at liavorate lea ccetsval Nevaveiave orateliarsata w nate alorccdrare on lieiarsraotoner Na Ae ene 26,073 NSGE ete erese swt [Sd cancice pe sence s 80,529 SsGOBileleics crles TSO S. Asoc 11,213 56,940 A be l'5) ah ae CO ro fi Seztel Se SR Ad tc ano 8,244 634| 48,8038]........ 13,574 73,003 WSWGisg «cae. = <% Sis eb eaLiig| PRctaiene ol eraulbote's: wits alae AAS) 21. S59), WOR OZR eles aus | 6,336 | 122,115 Merrett ate ea) Pte avers ce alte ds. Nature has no balance as im- in the phrase “ balance of nature.’ plied. When she goes on the rampage she upsets things generally and does not stay, because to go farther would disturb the ‘bal- ance.’ She has various ways of marshalling her forces and undoes her own or man’s work of centuries in a minute. The whale, the shark, the seal, the blue-fish cannot be counted out of the category of nature’s forces. Does any one know of any retaining power that stays their hungry and destructive jaws when their prey is reduced to the limit of this “ balance of nature?” Does any convulsion of nature or any of its forces stop before up- setting the “‘ balance ?” We cited the work of man in our bay in twenty-five (25) years ; REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS. 11 the natural forces of a freshet would do more in as many hours in some rivers, but whether done by man or by natural causes the result of a change in the bottom is destructive of small animal and vegetable life and must be deleterious to the fishes. J. M. K. SOUTHWICK, Chairman. State of Rhode Island in account with Commissioners of Inland Fisheries : 1893. Dec. 81. 1894. Dec. 31. 1894. Feb. 27. Dec. 31. Dr. Mo-palance due Commissioners. 225 seed ee Gass < Se bin'e ele witb . n pated for Vear line GOW bed. veces nels oe Obs ams yeu eee deo - . expenses of Commissioners. ....2.............. i ob ig deat ee ee [TANS ORUAGION CaliSoe 2.2 jice Alber mi: 214 se shs,ae's ee Prensa rebate: MEGASNEON.. sha soa dew ace Whine cowie ee es Pullers MUG OUIMISSIGNETS.