'Hnr.G l%]| /^l,^.,^^^^^!.^^ /^^ CZ^^ t::^-^__^Z^^^^^ }tdte of ^hade ^shnd and §rovidence §lmMionn. ANNUAL REPORT SSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES MADE TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT ITS NEWPORT NATURAL HISTORY Sue try, JANUAKY SESSION, 1890. PROVIDENCE : E. L. FREEMAN A SON, PRINTERS TO THE STATE. 1890. REPORT Jo the Honorable General Asserably of the State of Rhode Island, etc., at its January Session, 1890 : The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries herewith present their An- nual Report for the year 1889 : SHAD. We received through Col. M. McDonald, U. S. Fish Commissioner, about three million shad fry, sent in their special tank car. These were placed in Palmer river, at Shad Factory, it being, in the estima- tion of the Commissioners, the waters best suited to them, as there are no insurmountable dams or other serious obstructions to their return. The only expense to the State for this large installment of shad fry was the transportation from car to river. TROUT. The Commissioners have distributed personally and through others interested in the increase of fishes in our inland waters, nearly ten thousand (10,000) trout fry and yearling trout in the various public streams and ponds of our State. The past open season for trout fish- ing (from March 1 to August 15) has demonstrated to the entire satis- faction of your Commissioners that their efforts in this direction, as well as those of their predecessors, have not been useless, neither have the expenditures of the State's moneys been lost to it. That such is the fact need not be told by us, as ample evidence can be obtained from 4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. the merest tyro. It has been brought to our attention continually dur- ing the past season that such large catches of trout have been unknown for years, and the fish averaging good size. Of course, nature has helped us very materially in this i;egard ; the continued high water in the brooks and ponds during the summer and fall, and mild winters for the last few years, has been a very important factor. The Commissioners have come to the conclusion to hereafter put in yearling trout instead of fry ; the expense will not be much greater, and actual results can be seen and benefits received sooner. Through the courtesy of Col. M. McDonald, the State is to receive ten thousand (10,000) land locked salmon eggs, as well as ten thousand (10,000) Penobscot salmon eggs. These will be distributed in the various waters of the State suited to them, with the mere expense to the State of hatching and planting. The Commissioners have been informed of young salmon "Parr" being taken by parties fishing for trout, which shows that they thrive in our waters. These were undoubtedly a part of those put in by us last year. The Governor and Council of the State of New Hampshire have kindly donated twenty thousand (20,000)_lake trout eggs. These were obtained through the generous efforts of Col. E. B. Hodge, Fish Com- missioner, and as he says in his letter to us were " obtained from trout weighing from ten to twenty pounds," we hope to obtain good results from them. The Sea Fisheries of this State must ever be, as in the past, of great interest. We regret that we have not better means of procuring correct and complete statistical data. We give such as we have been enabled to procure at this time, trusting that in our next report we shall be able to give much more in this line, believing it to be of the greatest value in arriving at an intelligent understanding of the subject. Most of the changes in our fisheries are phenomenal, the fluctuations' in numbers are beyond calculation from any known data, and so varied from unknown causes, that it is useless to estimate the future from ob- servation of the past. Especially is this true of the anadromous fishes Report of commissioners Of inland fisheries. 5 of the ocean that visit our waters, and strangely enough no past inves- tigation has revealed their location or history while absent from us. While considering this part of our subject, we find the following para- graph in one of our papers, which, if it fails to establish facts that will give light upon this mysterious question, is not without interest : " Where the Mackerel Are.— The United States Fish Commissioners say that there are plenty of fish somewhere all the year round, and that what are caught by the fishermen do not deplete their number to any great extent. These commissioners prove their statements as a general thing, and have done so in regard to the mackerel. Last season this commission hired a man to go to the Cape of Good Hope to look for mackerel on that coast, the commission to pay him and his expenses for the trip. He was from Harwich, Mass., a well known mackerel killer. When he arrived at the coast of Africa, the shores were teem- ing with mackerel eighteen inches long and fat. They were easy to catch. He soon captured a cargo of mackerel and the vessel is nearly due. He could not obtain barrels there the kind usually used for fish, so he put the fish down in wine barrels. The man informed the fish commissioners that he would pay his own expenses, without recourse to them. He will make one thousand dollars, at least, out of this single cargo. It appears that the mackerel have gone across the ocean, perhaps for a few years' pastime. Probably a fleet of mackerel schooners will go there from the United States as soon as full returns are given from this vessel. — Fall River Neics" If it should be proved that what we have been accustomed to con- sider as our own fish, by their long residence in or near our waters, are cosmopolitans, and claim the world as their own and vary their loca- tion without limit of space as the season changes, then have we a phase of this question not before presented to us. It has long been known that mackerel have been found in widely separated parts of the world, while of some of the others of the fish that periodically visit us, such as the scup for instance, are believed to be peculiar to this locality, and to a comparative restricted portion of the coast. The most impor- tant of the wandering fishes that yearly visit us are the scup, mackerel, horse-mackerel, bass, squeteague, sea-bass, herring and menhaden. On these wandering fishes of the ocean we chiefly depend for our summer fishing. They appear on our coast the last of April, or more 6 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. often in early May, in large schools, and remain with us more or less all summer in diminished numbers, or so scattered as to appear greatly diminished in numbers. The habits of these fish are quite different. Of edible fish the scup are decidedly the most numerous, and, ex- cepting the herring, the first to come. When they arrive on the coast they are in large schools and swim near the surface, but later on they scatter throughout the waters and become a bottom fish. This was true of them in former years, when they remained throughout the sea- son in large numbers and rarely failed to make good fishing with hook and line. The earliest settlers found them abundant, but from some cause they left our waters and reappeared in 1793, first in small num- bers, but increasing from year to year until they became the most numerous of all our edible fish. They seem to have grown in disfavor as they increased in numbers, until their low value caused them to be used as a fertilizer, but a widened market has served to restore these once despised fish to their deserved place among edible fish. From their reappearance in 1793 they have been more or less plenty in our waters every year. The very young fry seen here indicate that they spawned in our waters. A few years ago the phenomenal appearance of the young of these fish, about two inclies long, from some unknown source baffled all cal- culation in regard to them. The past season has been a peculiar one ; large schools of them came on our coast, in as large if not larger num- bers than ever before, but very few came into the bay, and fishing for them has been very poor during the season. It is also observed that last year (1889) the fish came in shore as in former years, while in the two or three preceding years they were taken much more successfully in the off shore traps. We furnish a statement of the shipment of fish by the New York steamers for the last four years, and as the great bulk of the fish so shipped were scup, some estimate of the comparative catch can be made. We also have the statement kindly furnished us by the Messrs. J. Church & Co., which shows their catch to be in these four years as follows : REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 7 1886 about 4,000 Barrels Average price per Barrel . . $7 00 1887* estimate 10,000 " .... " '* " " .. 3 00 1888 7,000 " .... ** " " " .. 4 00 1889.... between 10,000 and 12,000 " .... " " " " .. 2 50 These figures are made from records and estimates of the shipment when made in bulk. Amount of Edible Fish and Lobsters shipped from Neioport by loay of Old Colony Steamboat and Railroad lines. Year. 1886 17,434 Barrels Fish, inclufliug Lobsters. 1887. FISH. January 6 Barrels , February 9 " March 26 " April 85 " , May , 10,293 '' June. 4,148 " July 900 " August 349 " September 431 " October 293 " November 87 " December 30 ** Total 16,657 Barrels. 1888. PISH. January 68 Barrels. February. 35 March 30 April 157 " . May , 5,605 " . June 6,813 July 1,407 " . August 465 " 25 Barrels. 33 37 94 51 20 184 213 100 34 15 38 rels. 834 Bai LOBSTERS. 31 Barrels. 7 14 155 177 159 179 197 * The record was lost for year 1887. 8 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. September. October. . . November . December. Total 316 Barrels 113 Barrels 55 " 55 47 " 11 64 ♦' 64 15,033 Barrels 1,161 Barrels. 1889. FISH. January 14 Barrels February 24 " March. 98 " . April 89 May 11,872 " , June 5,157 July 754 " . August • ... 367 " September 246 October 220 November 214 December. 251 " LOBSTERS. 91 Barrels. 69 98 221 205 197 417 406 140 59 10 134 Total, 19,306 Barrels 2,047 Barrels. TOTAL OF FISH AND LOBSTERS. 1886 17,434 Barrels. 1887 17,491 1888 16,194 1889 21,353 HERRING are reported to be plenty, but of little value owing to the early catch of other fish. SEA-BASS commenced to run upon our coast about May 20th, but not in so large numbers as in former years. REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 9 STRIPED-BASS. Of this highly prized game fish more are reported than for some years past, but they were far from plenty. BUTTER-FISH. Less than usual. MACKEREL. While these fish are reported to have been quite plenty in our waters, the catch was much below preceding years. "Early Mackerel,— Captain Hopkins of schooner Mabel Howard, which arrived at Boston Friday from Kingston, Ja., reports that on February 23, when 45 miles off Nantucket, passed a large school of mackerel. The presence of mackerel so far north at this season of the year is believed to be without pre- cedent, as they seldom appear in schools off the United States coast before the latter part of March or first of April, and are almost invariably seen first in or near the latitude of Cape Hatteras. The mackerel are as much ahead of their usual time as the icebergs were, which became numerous in the track of European steamers in January. Mackerel are governed in their movements by the temperature of the water, and their presence off Nantucket indicates that the water in that vicinity is now of about the same temperature as the waters off Cape Hatteras usually are in the latter part of March. This is, indeed, a remarkable season. — Neio Bedford Mercury, March 4, 1890." HORSE-MACKEREL (bLUE-FISH) were more plenty than preceding year and for a short time quite plenty, but remained for a short time. The Baltimore Sun's Nor- folk, Ya., correspondent writes March 3, 1890: "Vessels coming in from the Roanoke island section say that the coast is hterally lined with blue-fish. One seine fishery on Thursday caught 600 and odd shad and 30,000 herring at one haul. The pound-net fishermen are also doing good work. The spring fishing season is now fully on, and the fish trains from Elizabeth City come in heavily loaded. Later on the steam fish- eries on Albemarle sound will be making the 100,000 herring hauls. The 10 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. truckers of Norfolk County, Va., now have green peas in blossom, several weeks earlier than usual, and are cutting and shipping asparagus." SQUETEAGUE were less than usual. TAUTOG are reported fairly plenty and good fishing for them in the lower waters of the bay. These fish are more local in their habits and never go far from us even in the colder months. We know of a catch of thirteen, weighing 30 pounds, on the first day of January last. The same per- son reports that he caught 150 pounds of large chogsets the same day. This is certainly very unusual at this season of the year, but the season being unusually mild may account for it. MENHADEN. The menhaden are by far the most numerous of all our fishes. They are little used as an edible fish, but are of considerable commercial im- portance, as will be seen by the report made by the oil factories. THE MENHADEN FISHERY FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS. This fishing for the year 1886 commenced the first of June and con- tinued until the 17th of November, and extended from Seaconnet to Cape Henry ; were most plenty on the south of Long Island ; very few in Rhode Island waters. The catch this season was as follows : Steamer Joseph Church with 2 gangs . A. M. Hathaway " George Curtis " CoraP. White " Seven Brothers " Fanny Sprague " George W. Humphrey " 2 Received at factory from other boats . Seaconnet " 2 Fearless " 1 John A. Morgan " 1 Schooner Penekese " 1 Total catch for the year 1886 232,471 Barrels, 33,406 Barrels 33,406 22,231 15,876 9,456 8,375 45,389 12,006 29,199 8,500 9,922 2,707 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISlHERtES. 11 Year 1887. The fishing season this year was from July 1st to the last of October, from Montauk to Cape Henlopen. The catch was very small, Capt. Church reports no large bodies of them on the coast and but few days of good fishing. No fish east of Block Island, none worth mentioning in Rhode Island waters. The catch this season : Steamer Joseph Church with 2 " A. M. Hathaway " George Curtis .. Cora P. White • ' Seven Brothers " Fanny Sprague " George W. Humphrey Received from other boats. " Seaconnet " Fearless " John A. Morgan Schooner Penekese 2 gangs ... 23,123 Barrels 2 " . . . 28,020 " 1 " .. 19,398 " 1 " . . . 12,463 <( 1 " . . . 3,801 " 1 " . . . 8,468 " 2 " ... 35,335 " 639 (( 2 '■ ... 23,300 << 1 " . . . . 9,700 " 1 " .... 11,297 (< 1 " 123 " Total 175,667 Barrels. Year 1888. Fishing Season from June 12th to November 12th. The very poor fishing the season before led the fishermen to expect little this season, and they proposed to begin late if at all ; but the presence of the fish in large numbers induced them to begin early, and they found them abundant throughout the season from Block Island to the coast of Maine and quite plenty as far south as Delaware. The catch this season : Steamer Joseph Church with A. M. Hathaway " ' * George Curtis " Cora P. White " " Seven Brothers " " Fanny Sprague " 1 gang . . . 61,906 Barrels. 1 " . . . . 42,282 1 " . . . 23,753 1 " . 38,906 1 " . . . 19,963 1 " ... . 30,326 12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OP INLAND FISHERIES. Steamer George W. Humphrey with 1 gang Received from other boats " Seacoanet ... " 1 " . Fearless " 1 " . Schooner Penekese " 1 " 53.339 Barrels. 13,393 47,000 36,763 9,977 Total 377,607 Barrels. Year 1889. Fishing season from June lOth to November 20th. They were very abundant on the whole coast of New England, from Montauk to East- port, Maine. Our bay and rivers were well stocked with them from June until September. It is interesting to note the fact that six weeks good fishing were found on Nantucket Shoals, where a school of these fish had never before been seen by the fishermen, and notwithstanding the great catch it would have been largely increased but for the blowy weather, and immense numbers left our coast. The catch this season : Steamer Joseph Church with A. M. Hathaway " " George Curtis " Cora P. White " " Seven Brothers " " Fanny Sprague '' " George W, Humphrey " Received from other sources " Seaconnet " " Fearless " Schooner Penekese " 1 gang... . 63,738 Barrels 1 " . . . . 66,418 1 " . .. . 55.328 1 '• ... . 48,667 1 " ... . 33,115 1 " . . . . 34,580 1 " ... . 93,700 . 10,778 1 " ... . 50,297 1 ** ... . 52,403 1 " ... . 10,568 Total 508,483 Barrels. REG APITUL A.TION. Total catch of Menhaden in 1886 232,471 Barrels. " " " "1887 175,667 " " '♦ "1888 377,607 " " " "1889 508,483 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 13 The menhaden fishery has been remarkable the past season, the catch far surpassing anything before known. Their presence in large num- bers has been general along the coast, and some of the steamers took four times what the best catches were a few years ago upon the coast of Maine, where they were thought to be very plenty, in spite of the continuous high winds that prevailed last season. It will be noted in the preceding tables that in the last two years there was a reduction in the number of gangs equal to one-third less men and also one less steamer. It is the purpose of the Commissioners to present, as far as practi- cable, a correct statement of all the facts relating to our fisheries that may be of interest to our people, but not in the interest of one side or the other of any controversy or theory. We would be glad to corres- pond with any one having information that is of public interest upon this subject. We shall strive to avoid any statement not generally ad- mitted unless sustained by the facts. We are aware of the difficulty of obtaining exact data, and we shall avoid dogmatic conclusions upon questionable points from imperfect or contradictory testimony, that may be upset by facts before they get into print. It is hoped to make their report a reliable compendium of the fisheries of this State. Should any error occur we would be glad to have it pointed out and corrected. Experience has taught us that statements of fishermen vary much according to locality or individual experience in the same locality ; what may be strictly true of one locality may seem very wrong if ap- plied to another locality, even if not far removed. We invite the cooperation of fishermen and others to aid us in the work. Especially would we ask them for statistics of their catches and an account of any unusual occurrence or phenomena they may observe. The Hon. John H. Barden, who, since the formation of the Commis- sion of Inland Fisheries, has practically been at the head of it, and to whose previous efforts we are largely indebted for the Commission, declining to be reappointed, has been succeeded by Mr. J. M. K. 14 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. Southwick, of Newport. Mr. Southwick brings to tbe Commission a large experience with the salt water fishing which cannot but be favor- able to the work entrusted to us. State of Rhode Island in account with Commissioners of Inland Fisheries. Dr. 1889. May 2. Paid for 50,000 trout eggs $90 00 3. Paid for stationery, etc 13 00 16. Expense depositing 2,500,000 shad fry in Palmer river . . 20 75 Dec. 26. Expense of Commissioners distributing trout fry, traveling, etc. 25 14 $148 89 Or. Cash received from State Treasurer $134 77 Balance due Commission $14 12 Respectfully submitted, J. M. K. SOUTHWICK, HENRY T. ROOT, WILLIAM P. MORTON, Commissioners of Inland Fisheries. MBL WHOl LIBRARY UH 17US T