REPORT 
 
 Convention held at Boston, 1903, to secuee 
 Better Protection 
 
 LOBSTER 
 
 By JOSEPH W. COLLINS. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 
 
 18 Post Office Square. 
 
 1904. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 SH 380.C71 
 
 Report upon a convention held at Boston, 
 
 3 1924 003 717 745 
 
REPORT 
 
 Contention held at Boston, 1903, to secure 
 Better Protection 
 
 LOBSTEE 
 
 By JOSEPH W. COLLINS. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 
 
 18 Post Office Square. 
 
 1904. 
 
148741 
 
 Approved et 
 Thb Statb Board of Publication. 
 
Cnmmnnfomlt^ of IJassat^s^lts. 
 
 To His Excellency the Governor and Honorable Council. 
 
 I have the honor to submit, on behalf of the Commis- 
 sioners on Fisheries and Game, the following report upon a 
 convention of the commissioners of various lobster-produc- 
 ing States and delegates from the Dominion of Canada, 
 who met at the State House, Boston, Mass., on September 
 23 and 24, for the purpose of, if possible, arriving at some 
 basis for uniform action in the matter of recommending 
 legislation to secure the better protection of the lobster, 
 which, beyond question, is the most valuable crustacean of 
 the world, and by many is believed to be in serious danger 
 of commercial extermination along certain sections of the 
 Atlantic coast. 
 
 For several years it has been evident that the adequate 
 protection of the lobster from the evil of over-fishing could 
 be best secured by uniform action on the part of those coast- 
 bordering Atlantic States which have an industry based on 
 this species, and therefore a special interest in securing its 
 preservation, in order that the fishery for it may be con- 
 tinuous and profitable.' While it was reasonable to antici- 
 pate some difference of opinion as to details on the part of 
 the commissions from the several States and Canada, there 
 were many reasons to believe that all were anxious to pre- 
 serve — or to increase, if possible — the present supply of 
 lobsters ; and therefore that a convention might lead to the 
 adoption of certain recommendations which all could agree 
 upon, and which would be of large benefit if enacted into 
 law in the several States. 
 
 For this reason, and because we realized the advantage of 
 co-operation in a matter affecting the welfare of several 
 Commonwealths, and controlled wholly by the States, our 
 
4 PROTECTIOX OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 Board of Commissioners ventured to express a desire in 
 their last annual report for authority " to call a convention 
 of State and Provincial commissions, to consider the desira- 
 bility of uniform legislation regarding the lobster and other 
 matters, or to attend a convention if called elsewhere." In 
 response to this request, the Legislature granted the desired 
 authority, and appropriated the money estimated to be nec- 
 essary to meet the requirements of the occasion. 
 
 The authority and appropriation were contained in the 
 following law : — 
 
 [Chapter 348, Acts of 1903.] 
 
 An Act to authoeize the Commissioners on Fisheries and 
 Game to call or attend a Convention of Commissioners of 
 Lobster-producing States and of the British Provinces. 
 Be it enacted, etc., as follows : 
 
 Section 1. The commissioners on fisheries and game are 
 hereby authorized to call a convention of the fish and game com- 
 missioners of the lobster-producing states and of the British 
 provinces, to meet at Boston during the year nineteen hundred 
 and three, to determine on recommendations for uniform laws and 
 regulations for the better preservation of the lobster, and for 
 other like purposes. If such a convention is called elsewhere 
 than at Boston, the commissioners are authorized to attend the 
 same, instead of calling a convention as provided in section one. 
 
 Section 2. The said commissioners may expend a sum not 
 exceeding two hundred dollars in carrying out the purposes of 
 this act. 
 
 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [-4^^- 
 proved May 15, 1903. 
 
 Subsequently the following letter was sent to the commis- 
 sioners of Maine,* New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecti- 
 cut, New York and New Jersey ; also to the authorities in 
 the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland : — 
 
 Dear Sir : — A convention of commissioners of the lobster- 
 producing States and British Maritime Provinces will be held at 
 room 249, State House, Boston, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1903, for 
 
 * The invitation was addressed to the Commissioner of Sea and Shore Fisheries, 
 who alone, we understood, had an interest in the matter which the convention was 
 called to consider. 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 5 
 
 the purpose of considering what can be done to secure a better 
 protection of the lobster, and, if possible, to obtain laws which 
 are as nearly uniform as possible in the various States and Prov- 
 inces. You are cordially invited to attend this convention, which 
 we anticipate will be one of the most interesting and important 
 ever held for the purpose of trying to prevent the ultimate com- 
 mercial extinction of the lobster. 
 
 Yours respectfully, J. W. Collins. 
 
 Those in attendance at the convention were (beginning at 
 the north) : Mr. E,. N. Venning, deputy commissioner of 
 fisheries at OttaAva, and Mr. A. C. Bertram, inspector of 
 fisheries for the island of Cape Breton, to represent the 
 Dominion of Canada ; Mr. A. E. Mckerson, commissioner 
 of sea and shore fisheries of Maine ; Messrs. Nathaniel 
 Wentworth (chairman) and Charles B. Clarke, of the Fish 
 and Game Commission of Xew Hampshire ; Messrs. .Joseph 
 W. Collins (chairman), E. A. Brackett and John W. 
 Delano, of the Fish and Game Commission of Massachu- 
 setts ; Messrs. Henry T. Root (president), J. M. K. South- 
 wick (vice-president), Charles W. Willard, William H. 
 Boardman and William P. Morton (secretary), of the In- 
 land Fisheries Commission of Ehode Island ; Messrs. George 
 T. Matthewson (president) and E. Hart Geer (secretary), 
 of the Fish and Game Commission of Connecticut ; Mr. B. 
 Frank Wood, State superintendent of shell-fisheries of New 
 York. In addition to the commissioners and delegates, 
 there were present several experts, scientific and otherwise, 
 besides gentlemen holding various views regarding the 
 protection of the lobster. Among these were Dr. George 
 W. Field, recently associated with the Massachusetts Insti- 
 tute of Technology, who has given much attention to the 
 study of the lobster; Messrs. F. W Morgan (secretary) 
 and E. H. Potter, of the advisory committee of the Fisher- 
 men's Association of Connecticut; Mr. Edward W. Kelly, 
 a deputy of the Ehode Island Commission; Messrs. T. L. 
 Davis- and E. L. Bonney, members of the Massachusetts 
 Legislature ; Mr. J. R. Eeed, president of the Massachusetts 
 Fish and Game Protective Association ; Mr. H. H. Kimball, 
 secretary of the same organization ; Messrs. G. L. Young, 
 
6 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 A. L. Young and Harvey (of the firm of Cox & Harvey), 
 wholesale lobster dealers of Boston ; Capt. Robert Conwell 
 of Provincetown, ex-representative to the Legislature, and 
 owner of a fleet of fishing vessels ; and Mr. Anthony Atwood 
 of Plymouth, lobster dealer and lobster fisherman. There 
 were perhaps others present, but none except those whose 
 names are given participated in the discussion. Others more 
 or less interested in the lobster question were invited to 
 attend, but for one reason or another were unable to be 
 present; some were out of the State. 
 
 The convention assembled according to program, at 10.35 
 A.M. , September 23. The writer called the meeting to order, 
 made a brief address of welcome to those in attendance, 
 and improved the occasion to point put the importance of 
 co-operative action between the States and other lobster- 
 producing sections, in order that the lobster might be 
 retained in American waters without further decimation. 
 Among other things he said : — 
 
 All that has been done so far, by legal enactment or otherwise, 
 has proved inefficient to stay the decadence in the supply of lob- 
 sters. The question that presents itself to us to-day is, whether 
 it will be wise to let present conditions continue, or shall we 
 endeavor to bring about other conditions which may insure the 
 conservation and proper protection of the animals. 
 
 The convention was then duly organized by the election 
 of otEcers. Joseph W. Collins was elected as chairman and 
 Dr. George W. Field as secretary. Mrs. Martha O. Drowns, 
 stenographer of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commis- 
 sion, took stenographic notes of tlie meeting.* 
 
 The question of who, in addition to commissioners and 
 delegates to the convention, should be entitled to participate 
 in the deliberations was submitted to a vote, and the con- 
 vention decided unanimously to accept expert testimony. 
 
 • It was somewhat unfortunate that the extreme pressure of office work 'subse- 
 quently made it impracticable for Mrs. Drowns to promptly write out the notes she 
 had taken. It was only by utilizing to the utmost bits of available time that she 
 was able to transcribe the notes. By the time they were completed the preparation 
 of the annual report of the commission was occupying the attention of the writer to 
 the exclusion of other literary work, hence the delay in the completion of this report. 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 7 
 
 There was an evident desire on the part of all for a free and 
 open discussion, so that, in reaching conclusions, the con- 
 vention should have the advantage of having listened to the 
 presentation of all sides of the question. Also, in deciding 
 at the start to accord every facility to experts, consideration 
 was given to the fact that some of them had come long dis- 
 tances to attend the convention, and that it might be impor- 
 tant to such to return home as soon as the facts of which 
 they were cognizant could be laid before the convention. 
 
 The action of the convention having clearly indicated its 
 desire to hear from experts from a distance before taking 
 further action, Mr. Potter of Noank, Conn., was first recog- 
 nized to speak. He said : — 
 
 A great percentage, if not nine-tenths, of all the lobsters that 
 are caught by the Connecticut fishermen are caught in the waters 
 of the State of New York. Last year there was an antagonism 
 between the two States almost to the ruination of the business in 
 Connecticut, but they have come to an agreement, and there is 
 peace now. There were more traps this year than last. Three 
 years the industry seemed to be on the decline, but the reason for 
 this we cannot say. 
 
 Subsequently, "Mr. Potter stated that the lobster catch in 
 Connecticut was larger in 1903 than for some time pre- 
 viously, but as no statistics are gathered in that State, the 
 estimates must unavoidably be more or less crude. He also 
 stated informally that, whereas nearly all the craft formerly 
 used in the lobster fisheries of Connecticut were sail boats — 
 generally sloops and cat-rigged — all or nearly all of them 
 now have gasoline motors, which are used not only as a 
 motive power to propel the boats, but also as a power to 
 operate a winch or drum which is used to haul the lobster 
 pots. 
 
 This addition to the motive power of the boats, especially 
 in the matter of promptly and expeditiously handling the 
 gear, is a matter of much moment. The fishery is carried 
 on for the most part in or near the Race in Long Island 
 Sound, where the water is deep ; the cuiTcnt is so swift, 
 except for a brief time at each slack tide, that fishing can- 
 
8 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 not be prosecuted ; therefore, whatever makes possible the 
 quicker manipulation of the pots makes feasible the utiliza- 
 tion of a larger number and consequent enlargement of the 
 catch, even if there is no actual increase in the abundance of 
 lobsters. And this is apparently what has happened. The 
 effect of this alleged greater catch, if it has occurred without 
 a corresponding increase in the general abundance of the 
 lobster on the fishing ground resorted to, is not difficult to. 
 anticipate. It means ultimate exhaustion. 
 
 Mr. Morgan of Noank, Conn., spoke as follows : — 
 
 So far as the Connecticut lobster men are concerned, it seems 
 to us that a weak point regarding the protection of the lobster is 
 the wholesale destruction of the egg-bearing lobster, in the fall of 
 the year particularly. The federal government has agents secur- 
 ing the summer lobsters for propagation, but the fall lobsters, 
 which appear on our coast about the first of September, the law 
 prohibits the exhibiting of them for sale. This is what our boys 
 consider is the weak point regarding the protection of the lobster. 
 Judging from this season's catch, the look is not toward the final 
 extermination of the lobster, but is the other way. I have attrib- 
 uted that to other feeding grounds. The tendency during the past 
 ten years has been downward in the abundance of the lobster. 
 
 A question having been asked as to whether Connecticut 
 had any official data, especially statistics, relating to its lob- 
 ster fishery, Commissioner Geer of Hadlyme, Conn., replied 
 in the following words : — 
 
 In answer to the question regarding statistics of lobsters in the 
 State of Connecticut, I would say there is only one law on our 
 statute books in regard to lobsters, and that is in regard to the 
 size and egg-bearing lobsters, and therefore there are no statistics. 
 called for. We are unable to state anything in regard to the 
 condition in the increase or the decrease, so far as statistics are 
 concerned. It seems rather a singular fact, too, that the State of 
 Connecticut has never had any reports from the fishermen on 
 lobsters. The only thing we have to go by is the verbal report of 
 the fishermen. Some years it grows less, but this year there is 
 an increase. Mr. Potter and Mr. Morgan of Noank are right 
 from the seat of the lobster business, and can speak with more 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 9 
 
 knowledge than I can of the conditions of the lobster industry in 
 Connecticut. What they say we shall have to depend upon, as 
 there is nothing else to go by. 
 
 Commissioner Matthe-vvson of Connecticut not then being 
 present, Commissioner Southwick of Newport, R. I., read 
 a paper which embraced statements from his point of view. 
 It was entitled, "The Lobster: his Foes and his Friends," 
 and was as follows : — 
 
 The question to be considered is based upon the theory that 
 there has been a diminution of lobsters in the waters of our coast. 
 If we could calculate from the increased number of men engaged 
 in the business and the number of appliances used for their 
 capture, we could arrive at some figures that would indicate one of 
 the changes, and the measure of its extent. 
 
 Our tables of shipments from Newport indicate that in 1887 
 the shipment was 834 barrels; in 1888, 1,161 barrels; the next 
 ten years showed an average of 1,986 barrels each year; the next 
 four years showed an average shipment of 4,418 barrels gross; 
 deducting amount reshipped leaves an average of 2,886 barrels 
 for each year. 
 
 The number of lobster pots set in Rhode Island is calculated to 
 be 5,835 ; we estimate the number of pots set in this State thirty 
 years ago at 500. We give these figures so that those mathemati- 
 cally inclined may figure out what they may from them. For 
 ourselves, we think that any calculation of the inhabitants of the 
 great deep, which ignores the fluctuations caused by nature, very 
 fallacious. 
 
 The generally received evidence of reduced numbers is the 
 reduced catch per pot, the diminished size of the lobsters, the 
 increased price in the markets. The first would be good evidence 
 under the same conditions, but the conditions are not the same as 
 thirty years ago ; the increase of pots makes a great difference, to 
 say nothing of the changes that nature is continually making. The 
 diminished size may indicate something, but is not a proof of 
 diminished numbers ; but we can hardly agree with the old lady 
 who, on seeing a large specimen which weighed ten pounds, said 
 that was about the average size she used to see which were sold 
 for one cent a pound. The third reason given is palpably not 
 governed by the numbers, bat by the markets, and would not be 
 likely to change, were they vei'y much more abundant. 
 
10 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 What is the cause of diminished size and decreased numbers? 
 Admitting that both are true, these are important matters in the 
 settlement of the very great questions how to stop a reduction and 
 how to cause an increase of lobsters in our waters. If we can 
 determine the cause we can better arrive at a conclusion as to 
 what will be a remedy, as a doctor first diagnoses bis ease before 
 attempting to apply remedies. Heretofore, remedies have been 
 tried with no better result than generally follow quack practice. 
 
 Restrictive laws have not sufHced to increase the numbers of 
 lobsters, and we should be very glad could we know that artificial 
 propagation had been made a commercial success. We would be 
 the last to say a word to discourage the efforts made in artificial 
 aid to nature in every way it may be applied to the lobsters or any 
 other of our fisheries. There has been so much accomplished 
 that we have great hopes of much more in the future. The im- 
 portance of the object aimed at justifies all the effort that may be 
 made and any expenditure of time and money it may require. 
 
 In considering the question of the diminution of the lobster it 
 first becomes necessary to consider and give due weight to the 
 different agencies which operate to cause diminution. The first 
 enemy of the lobster is the eel ; it steals the eggs from the mother 
 lobster before they are hatched. The early life of the lobster is 
 passed near the surface, and is subject to many vicissitudes. He 
 is liable to be cast away in a storm, but much more likely to be 
 destroyed by the surface- feeding fishes, as the mackerel, the 
 menhaden, butterfish and other fishes whose normal food is this 
 young fry. The comparative few who survive the perils of the 
 upper waters and develop to a stage when they think they should 
 go to housekeeping on the bottom have to take many chances of 
 being gobbled up on the way there. After arrival at the bottom 
 the lobster's existence is continually imperilled, although he has 
 passed the period of greatest mortality. Here he is beset by the 
 blackfish, codfish and sea bass, who are particularly fond of 
 these young fellows, and continue to like them after they develop 
 to adult age and size. Another peril occurs which largely in- 
 creases the mortality of our lobsters — the frequent moulting 
 periods, which render them for a time the most helpless creatures 
 in the world, and the easy prey of all sorts of fish life. 
 
 To what extent the stock of lobsters in the water is affected by 
 any one or all of these causes it would be hard to calculate. Yet 
 there is another peril, which we have not mentioned — the dis- 
 eases to which they are subject, for we cannot believe they are 
 immune from what attacks other forms of life. The ever-varying 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 11 
 
 conditions that exist on the surface of the earth doubtless exist in 
 as large measure at the bottom of the ocean — in that part occu- 
 pied by the fishes. Just what effect is produced by these changes 
 we will not attempt to solve at this time. 
 
 What is man doing as the enemy of the lobster? He has mul- 
 tiplied the appliances for catching them near twenty-fold in fifty 
 years, and the catch has increased ; but what relation the additional 
 catch bears to the increased fishing has not been calculated, to our 
 knowledge, nor has any calculation been made of the relative 
 destruction by fish and by nian. Still, upon this question hangs 
 the whole matter as to the advantage or necessity of restriction. 
 We ask here to be allowed to quote from Professor Baird in his 
 estimate of the number of fish destroyed upon our coast by blue- 
 fish at 10,000,000,000 daily, or the number of menhaden so 
 destroyed at 3,000,000,000,000,000 in the summer months. He 
 also says : " This calculation might be pursued to any extent, but 
 I have presented enough to show that the question of human 
 agencies in the way of affecting or influencing the great ocean 
 fisheries is scarcely worth considering." If Professor Baird was 
 right about the fishes, may it not in some measure be true of the 
 lobsters? "We have heard of an effort being made to annihilate 
 the English sparrow by killing all on Boston Common, and we 
 opine a like result may follow the catch of lobsters or fish of the 
 ocean. True, every lobster taken from the water makes one less 
 left there, so all that are taken cause a reduction, but the question 
 is as to the measure of the reduction. It must, to be effective, be 
 beyond their power of reproduction. This is the question of most 
 importance relating to legal control of the lobster fishery. 
 
 Having considered the enemies of the lobster, we now pass 
 to inquire about his friends. I know many will exclaim, " He 
 has none." But we are sure that is wrong, for every fish com- 
 missioner thinks he is one ; besides, he has friends among the 
 fishes, and perhaps his best friend is that most predaceous among 
 them all, the bluefish. He does not eat them, but he does destroy 
 hosts of the enemies of their young, as Professor Baird has shown 
 us. Besides, the bluefish furnishes them food from the remains 
 of his prey which he leaves in his wake ; these settle to the bot- 
 tom, and at times the lobsters thus get an abundant supply. 
 Except for this source, it is hard to see how they would get their 
 necessary food. Other fishes also help them in like manner, and 
 can well be called friends of the lobster. 
 
 If better results have been attained by restricting the catch than 
 we have given credit for, we shall be glad to learn of it. We 
 
U PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 cannot well control the effects produced by nature ; hence all that 
 can be done, if anything, is to restrict the catch by man. So 
 general and fixed is the belief in the efficiency of this method that 
 very much money and effort is continually being put into it, even 
 though no apparent success follows, and within certain limits all 
 are willing to acquiesce in it as an experiment, but some appear to 
 wish it anyhow, successful or not ; with these we cannot agree. 
 
 The attention of Mr. Southwick was invited to the fact 
 that his attempt to compare the lobster with free-swimming 
 migratory species of fishes was not based on sound principles 
 of reasoning, and therefore was misleading ; for, in the first 
 place, there could be no comparison in the fecundity of free- 
 swimming fishes, which might yield tens or hundreds of 
 thousands of eggs annually, and the lobster, whose power 
 of procreation has been so very much reduced in recent 
 years by over-fishing that it now usually has only about ten 
 or fifteen thousand eggs at a time, and, as is well known, it 
 generally breeds only once in two years. The disparity, 
 therefore, between the undersized lobster of to-day — often 
 too small to breed at all — and the mature fish of the sea, in 
 the matter of reproduction, is such that no instructive com- 
 parison could be made. 
 
 It was also pointed out that the lobster is non-migratory ; 
 that it occupies only a narrow belt along the coast, which 
 seldom extends more than fifteen miles from the outer head- 
 lands and islands ; that, for this reason, it is subject to the 
 operations of man (as in Maine) throughout the year, and 
 is not exempt from being hunted five or six months of the 
 year, as are many species of migratory fishes. 
 
 The effect of man's operations upon the lobster was cited 
 as an evidence of the fact that he has ever been the cause 
 that has led to a decimation of the species and a marked 
 diminution in the size of individuals. These conditions did 
 not exist before fishing began , but they are universal where 
 it has been carried on. There is no exception in the world. 
 From Norway to Newfoundland, and from the latter island 
 to New Jersey, the story has been the same. Everywhere 
 where a lobster fishery has been established there has been 
 
PEOTECTIOX OF LOBSTERS. 13 
 
 a marked diminution of the species — in cases reaching 
 ahnost to extermination — until it has always become nec- 
 essary for governments to step in, and to so regulate and 
 control the fishery as to delay final exhaustion of the supply 
 of lobsters, or perhaps to apparently stay the ruinous deci- 
 mation. 
 
 In view of these well-established facts — facts which are 
 patent to every one who cares to inform himself on this sub- 
 ject — the question was very properly asked : "If all this 
 does not prove man's agency and influence in the decadence 
 of the lobster, where shall we look for proof of the cause 
 of that decadence ? " 
 
 Commissioner Root of Providence, R. I., said : — 
 
 I am not an expert in the lobster industry. For the last two or 
 three years we have been conducting a series of experiments with 
 lobster. We have established a laboratory, and are hatching 
 3ters ; raising them to the third or fourth moulting, and putting 
 them into Narragansett Bay and adjacent waters. We have been 
 successful in this. We got a million lobster fry this season. 
 The process is very simple. We have spent a number of years in 
 trying to solve the problem of raising lobsters. There is now no 
 difficulty about it at all. We let them go at the age mentioned, 
 because it is impossible to keep them longer in narrow waters. 
 We have succeeded in keeping them until they were 6 or 7 inches 
 in length. 
 
 We buy all the egg-bearing lobsters, strip them, and return 
 them to the water. Now, if they could be carried on through the 
 year, I think we would practically solve the whole thing about the 
 propagation of lobsters, so that eventually there would be a large 
 increase. 
 
 Two years ago we had quite a stringent lobster law passed, and 
 we are enforcing it thoroughly. We do not allow anything caught 
 less than 9 inches. We furnish every lobster fisherman in Rhode 
 Island with a measure. 
 
 The question is, to devise some way in which we can buy egg- 
 bearing lobsters after the season is over. We have made a large 
 increase in the catch of lobsters this year, and most of the lobster 
 men are in sympathy with us now; they are, as a rule, in 
 sympathy with what we are doing. We retain almost all of the 
 lobsters up to the third or fourth moulting stage. 
 
14 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 Dr. Field said : • — 
 
 No commission has done more eflScient work than that of Rhode 
 Island in the line of propagating the lobster. If I recollect 
 rightly, the hatch of the eggs is about 70 per cent., and probably 
 about 25 or 30 per cent, of those that are hatched get to the 
 lOurth stage. The fry are retained in "scrim" bags, about 10 
 by 4 feet, in which the water is kept in motion by a mechanical 
 device. 
 
 Participating in the discussion, Commissioner Southwick 
 said : — ■ 
 
 I think the great difficulty in the propagation of lobsters is in 
 having the water space large enough under natural conditions to 
 put them in after they are raised to the third or fourth moulting. 
 Their home is in the ocean, and to find a space large enough that 
 they can have control of is very difficult in a small State like 
 Ehode Island. That is the difficulty in the rearing of lobsters for 
 commercial purposes. The great destruction of lobsters, as I 
 saw from the little experiments I had myself, was when they are 
 in a confined space. They eat one another, and fight like tigers. 
 It is hard to get them distributed through the water and get them 
 separated. The motion of the water in the breeding apparatus 
 keeps them separate, but if they had a large space they would 
 separate without the motion. 
 
 Deputy Kelly of Newport, R. I., speaking of the general 
 aspects of breeding lobsters and the enforcement of the laws 
 for the protection of the lobster, made the following state- 
 ments : — 
 
 We buy all the egg-bearing lobsters that are brought in, but 
 after July there are no more ripe eggs ; then about the first of 
 September come the black eggs. The egg lobsters, as a rule, 
 average about 4 pounds.* 
 
 At this point Mr. Root said he didn't know whether lob- 
 sters hatched by artificial means were as strong as those bred 
 in the sea in a natural way. 
 
 * This is believed to be an error. It is probable that the egg-bearing lobsters of 
 Rhode Island are not larger than those of Massachusetts, and the latter are much 
 smaller than the size given by Mr. Kelly. Indeed, those collected by the United 
 States Fish Commission schooner " Grampus " on the coast of Maine from Kenne- 
 bunkport to Rockland, in the spring of 1903, did not, in the writer's judgment 
 average more than 2 pounds in weight, it so much. 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 15 
 
 Continuing, Mr. Kelly said : — 
 
 Regarding the enforcement of our laws, short lobsters — those 
 less than 9 inches long — cannot be seized in transit, because of 
 the interstate commerce laws. However, aside from those, during 
 the close season from Nov. 15, 1901, to April 15, 1902, we seized 
 and liberated at Newport 20,000 short lobsters, which were taken 
 from 300,000 pounds examined. From Nov. 15, 1902, to April 
 15, 1903, we examined more than 225,000 pounds of lobsters, 
 but got only 3,957 "shorts," which we seized and liberated in 
 the sea. 
 
 Commissioner Boardman of Central Falls, R. I., re- 
 marked : — 
 
 The demand for lobsters is growing larger all the time. The 
 number caught is larger than formerly, but there are more fisher- 
 men, and the catch is necessarily smaller for each man. 
 
 This ended the forenoon session, and the convention ad- 
 journed until 2 P.Ji., at which hour the meeting was called 
 to order by the chairman. Immediately thereafter Com- 
 missioner Wentworth of Hudson Center, N. H., spoke on 
 the relation of New Hampshire to the lobster and the lobster 
 industry, as follows : — 
 
 It is not for me to tell you that, comparatively speaking, our 
 interests are very small. We have only eighteen miles along the 
 coast, but what we have we value very highly, and we are ready 
 to work with you and pull with you for what we think is for the 
 best interest of all. This lobster question is one about which 
 there should be something done, in my opinion. On our coast the 
 lobsters are gradually disappearing, there is no question about it ; 
 and if something is not done before long they will soon be a thing 
 of the past, like the passenger pigeon. I am not prepared to say 
 what is the best course to pursue. Some advocate catching 
 nothing beyond lOJ or 9 inches. Unless we get better protection, 
 it doesn't make much difference what length of lobster we have ; 
 it will be but a short time before we will have none at all. I am 
 free to say I do not believe in lowering the length of lobsters 
 below lOJ inches. I may be wrong, but I cannot understand 
 how, by killing off the small lobsters, in time you are going to 
 have many large ones left. It is a certain thing if they do not 
 
16 PEOTEOTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 throw back the smaller lobsters at the present time they will not 
 throw back the larger ones. Of course, gentlemen, you under- 
 stand we get many of our short lobsters from Maine and Massa- 
 chusetts. There is no question but what a great many short 
 lobsters come across from Maine ; I know they come from Maine 
 to our dealers. 
 
 Commissioner Clark of Concord, IST-. H., felt that Mr. 
 Wentworth had given full expression to his views, and that 
 he could add nothing of value to what had been said. 
 
 Commissioner Mckerson of Boothbay Harbor, Me., rep- 
 resented the most important section of the United States 
 coast, from the stand-point of the lobster ; one which 
 yields more products of this kind than all other States 
 combined. He said : — 
 
 In the first place, I want it understood that I am not here as an 
 expert, but am here ofHcially, with nothing specially prepared to 
 say to you at this meeting. I am here to gain all the information 
 I can, and to impart what I am able to. 
 
 As you will understand, the Sea and Shore Commission is 
 entirely separate from the Inland Commission in Maine. We are 
 doing all we can with what money we have to do with. We get 
 all we ask for from the State in the way of an appropriation, and, 
 being alone, I am a little timid to ask for too much. They have 
 been very liberal with us. They know, if anything happens, or 
 something doesn't go just right, whom to put the blame on, and I 
 have been very careful in asking for appropriations. 
 
 Last winter I proposed a law by which the State should pay for 
 the seed lobsters we could collect. The request was granted, and 
 a small appropriation was made to meet expenditures. It was an 
 experiment. The State appropriated 17,500 for 1903 and $5,000 
 for 1904, and out of the first allotment we had to purchase a 
 launch to prosecute the business in. We got a gasoline launch, 
 made a sort of lobster smack of her, and started the first of May 
 to patrol our coast from Kittery to Eastport, visiting the lobster 
 dealers and the fishermen. . . . They [the dealers and fishermen] 
 found it hard to believe that the State was trying to do anything 
 for them, and it was a long time before we were able to get them 
 to save the egg lobsters. But, at any rate, up to this time we 
 have got a little over 11,000 egg lobsters. The United States 
 government worked in conjunction with us up to the first of July. 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 17 
 
 They have attended to the western end of the State, and we have 
 looked after the eastern end. We have delivered our seed lobsters 
 to the government smack, which took them to the Gloucester 
 hatchery, hatched them artificially, and returned the fry to the 
 coast of Maine ; the mature lobsters were likewise returned to the 
 section from which they were taken. 
 
 Then the government said they would lease a pound on our 
 coast, and would try the experiment of keeping 7,000 lobsters 
 over until another spring, when they would take some to the 
 hatchery, which is now being ei-ected at Boothbay, Me. So we 
 have put 7,000 in this pound. This is an experiment, to ascer- 
 tain whether it is feasible to carry them over winter. Although 
 they have carried other lobsters there until March, they never 
 have carried them as late as May or June. 
 
 Since then we have been buying the egg lobsters of the fisher- 
 men, and liberating them right where they were caught. Three 
 hundred went to the Gloucester hatchery, 7,000 to this pound, 
 id we have liberated 1,000. 
 
 "When a female lobster is liberated, we punch a hole through 
 the middle flipper of the tail, and then when she is caught the 
 second time and is liberated a second hole is made. We have 
 paid for only 11 lobsters the second time. We propose to buy 
 them over and over. We are to pay the fishermen not exceeding 
 25 per cent, more than the market price at the time we buy them. 
 It depends upon time to tell how this system is going to work, but 
 I can see no reason why it shouldn't work well to keep up the 
 supply of the lobster. But, as I say, I am willing to get all the 
 information I can here and get suggestions from other people, and 
 to give what I can. 
 
 Commissioner Root inquired : 4' How do you account for 
 so many short lobsters being shipped from Maine?" Mr. 
 Mckerson then read the Maine laws regarding lobsters. 
 Continuing, he said : — 
 
 We have thirty wardens working along the coast almost every 
 day in the year, using their best endeavors to stop the catching of 
 short lobsters. 
 
 At the last time I made my report, which was in 1902, we had 
 171,770 pots in use in the State. I got the average per pot of 
 the lobsters caught in the State for 1902, and found it was 48. 
 The average for 1901 per pot was 46 ; in 1899 the average was 
 
18 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 39 ; and in 1900 the average was 44. The increase seemed to be 
 most pronounced in the eastern part of the State. 
 
 There is a greater demand for short lobsters to-day than ten 
 years ago. 
 
 The next speaker was Mr. Venning of Ottawa, Can. He 
 said : — 
 
 First, I desire to tender the thanks of the Department of Marine 
 and Fisheries of Canada for the opportunity my colleague, Mr. 
 Bertram, and I have of being here to-day, and the ben'eflt we have 
 received from the information given us by gentlemen of the 
 different States. But of course we are here in a rather peculiar 
 position. We will gladly give you the benefit of anything we 
 know. If we in the Dominion have done something which seems 
 better to you than you have been able to do, we will be very happy 
 to explain those points to you. But I don't think we can under- 
 take to join in any agreement you may make about the sea and 
 shore fisheries. Of course the lobster is a peculiar animal, and 
 each country and perhaps each State must deal with it according 
 to the needs of their respective localities. 
 
 This convention is no doubt a step in the right direction. It 
 seems to me that what you are attempting to do to-day is to de- 
 vise some means by which you can control and protect the lobster 
 fishery of the United States in a way that will be nearly uniform 
 in the several States. . . . Or, rather, it appears to me that you 
 are looking to reproduce the lobster fishery that you once had. 
 
 We think we are not in that position in the Provinces, for we 
 believe we have the best lobster fishery to-day in the world. We 
 have 855 lobster canneries scattered along the sea coast of the 
 Atlantic Provinces, valued at $1,388,000. The aggregate yield 
 of these establishments was 10,056.604 cans, with a value of 
 12,011,319; while the total product of the lobster fishery, in- 
 cluding lobsters sold whole or alive, was worth $3,245,880. The 
 live lobster trade reached a valuation of $1,234,561. 
 
 Notwithstanding its present importance, we look upon the live 
 lobster trade as almost in its infancy. It is engaged in almost 
 exclusively from the south-western section of Nova Scotia, where 
 this part of the lobster trade amounted to $1,113,485, which was 
 a larger amount than the yield from canning in the same section of 
 the coast, which reached a total of only $1,000,603. 
 
 Thus the bulk of the live lobster trade, which is at present con- 
 ducted on the south-western coast of Nova Scotia, where the 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 19 
 
 traffic promises enormous development, constitutes an object lesson 
 of the greatest importance, in considering the advantages to all 
 concerned, and especially to the welfare of the lobster fishery, in 
 the substitution of the exportation of large, live lobsters for the. 
 canning of undersized ones. The reason for this is obvious, and 
 is to be found in the peculiar geographical position, combined 
 with the facilities for transport. 
 
 The United States' markets for live lobsters are within a few 
 hours' reach of a portion of this district, notably the counties of 
 Digby, Yarmouth and Shelburne ; and a large and growing trade 
 has sprung up, which will probably extend farther north. The 
 fresh lobster trade is controlled by the laws of the United States, 
 80 far as the length of lobsters is concerned. Of these it has 
 been said : — 
 
 The wholesome laws of the United States touching the size limit will; 
 exclude undersized lobsters, and the incentive for their capture will 
 ""ase ; hence the matter will adjust itself, and cannot but inure to the 
 
 3ting benefit of the lobster fishery as a whole. 
 
 A consideration of length, however, does not obtain in the 
 canning business, because the canners can legally pack nearly 
 everything they can get hold of. It would be pretty hard to watch 
 all the traps, for there are 1,363,512 of them used to supply with 
 lobsters the 855 canneries we have on our coasts. 
 
 Five years ago two or three lobsters would fill a can, but now 
 it will take from five to ten lobsters for the same amount of meat. 
 The fishermen can now get seven or eight cents apiece for lobsters, 
 and it takes four, five, six or more of them to fill a can. 
 
 Professor Prince in 1896 wrote : — 
 
 In the Dominion of Canada there remains the last great lobster fish- 
 ery of the world, and it is not too much to say that this fishery has 
 reached a critical stage. , , , 
 
 The signs of exhaustion are unmistakable. Small, immature lob- 
 sters, 5 to 8 inches long, which a few years ago were rejected with con-, 
 tempt, are now eagerly taken, and form, in some districts, the staple 
 article on which the lobster canners depend. Instead of two or three 
 lobsters sufficing to fill a one-pound can, not less than five, six, seven 
 and even ten lobsters are now required. 
 
 Ten years ago the average size of lobsters was 10 inches (2 pounds 
 weight), while thirty years ago an old fisherman has testified that 13 
 inches (3i pounds weight) was the average. 
 
 In order to keep up the catch each season, the quantity of gear is 
 being increased year by year all around the coast, yet the average num- 
 ber of lobsters taken per trap has been steadily diminishing. 
 
20 PROTECTIOX OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 He goes on to say : — 
 
 A prominent packer in Prince Edward Island publicly stated that at 
 one cannery the number of cans packed, as compared with the number 
 of traps operated, revealed that during a period covering six seasons 
 the average number of one-pound cans to each trap was 24 in 1891, 16} 
 in 1892, 13J in 1893, 124 in 1894, 7f in 1895, and 54 in 1896. 
 
 This kind of thing cannot continue ; and the utilization of berried 
 and soft-shelled lobsters is indicative of the desperate means resorted to 
 to maintain an aggregate pack. 
 
 The fisheries act, chapter 95 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 
 section 16, empowers the Governor in Council to make regulations 
 for the better management and regulation of the sea coast and 
 inland fisheries, which shall have the same force and effect as if 
 enacted therein, on publication in the "Canada Gazette." It is 
 by virtue of this authority that the regulations controlling lobster 
 fishing operations are framed. 
 
 From time to time since 1873 restrictions have been imposed 
 upon our lobster fisheries. As long ago as 1877 the necessity for 
 sectional close seasons was recognized and admitted by Canadian 
 legislation; and, although changes have since been made in the 
 dates and geographical divisions, the principle has not only been 
 maintained, but greatly extended, inasmuch as at present there 
 are no less than seven different close times. 
 
 The question of a uniform close season has been open to much 
 argument in the past, and the records of the department reveal 
 that scarcely a season has passed without concessions, based on 
 geographical and climatic conditions in different districts. 
 
 I notice nothing has been said here to-day leading to the idea 
 that you have any close seasons for lobsters. It seems that you 
 are satisfied with attempting to save the lobster by the size limit. 
 We go farther in that respect. We have seven sections in the 
 Provinces having close seasons varying from eight to ten and a 
 half months. We regard that as very important. We put berried 
 lobsters out after the close season comes in force and after the 
 open season is over, and therefore we think they cannot be caught 
 again until the next open season. The close season with us is 
 really the most important factor in the regulations. 
 
 In 1 898 a commission was appointed to investigate and report 
 upon the Canadian lobster fishery, with a view to devising regula- 
 tions designed for its betterment. As a result of the report of 
 this commission, a 'complete readjustment of the close seasons and 
 size limits was effected by Order in Council, Dec. 7, 1899 and 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 21 
 
 April 8, 1903, so that the regulations affecting the lobster fishery 
 at present existing are : — 
 
 Geographical District. 
 
 Open Season. 
 
 Size Limit 
 (Inches). 
 
 1. Bay Of Fandy, bordering the counties of St. 
 John and Charlotte, N. B. ; 
 
 2. Remaining waters of Bay of Fundy, from 
 Albert County line, N. B., to line between Digby 
 and Yarmouth counties, N. S. ; 
 
 3. Atlantic coast, from line between the counties 
 of Digby and Yarmouth to Halifax Harbor ; 
 
 4. From Halifax Harbor to and through Gut of 
 Canso, including portion of Richmond County, 
 Cape Breton Island, fronting Chedabuclo and St. 
 Peters bays ; 
 
 5. Remaining part of Richmond County along 
 Atlantic coast, Cape Breton Island, to Cape St. 
 Lawrence, including Magdalen Islands and Anti- 
 costi Island, together with the north coast of the 
 river and Gulf of St. Lawrence, from the head of 
 tide to Blanc Sablon ; 
 
 6 From tide head, south shore river St. Law- 
 rence, following the coast line of Quebec, New 
 ''-"nswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia 
 Cape Breton Island, fronting the Gulf of St. 
 'rence and Northumberland Strait; except, — 
 
 1 . The portion of the Strait of Northumberland 
 between New Brunswick and Prince Edward 
 Island, from Chockfish River to Cape Tormentine, 
 in New Brunswick, and from West Point to Cape 
 Traverse, in Prince Edward Island. 
 
 January 6 to mid- 
 night, June 29. 
 
 January 15 to mid- 
 night, June 29. 
 
 December 15 to mid- 
 night. May 30. 
 
 April 1 to midnight, 
 June 30. 
 
 May 1 to midnight, 
 July 31. 
 
 April 20 to mid- 
 night, July 10. 
 
 May 25 to mid- 
 night, August 10. 
 
 104 
 lOi 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 These regulations are supplemented by the following prohibi- 
 tions : — 
 
 (a) The capture of soft-shelled and berried lobsters. (Order in 
 Council, Dec. 7. 1899.) 
 
 (6) The selling or oflfering for sale or barter, and the supply or 
 purchase, /or canning purposes, of any fragments of lobsters or broken 
 lobster meat. (Order in Council, Dec. 7, 1899.) 
 
 (c) The setting or placing of lobster traps, etc., within one hundred 
 yards of any stationary salmon net. (Order in Council, Dec. 7, 1899.) 
 
 (d) The setting or placing of lobster traps, etc., in any waters of the 
 depth of two fathoms or under. (Order in Council, Dec. 7, 1899,) 
 
 (e) The boiling of lobsters on board of any ship, vessel, boat or 
 floating structure for canning purposes, except under special license. 
 (Order in Council, April 10, 1900.) 
 
 Note. — Such licenses have never been granted. 
 
 (/) The preparation for lobster iishing by placing gear of any kind 
 before six o'clock of the morning of the day on which the legal season 
 opens. (Order in Council, March 1, 1901.) 
 
 (g) Fishing for lobsters in the lagoons of the Magdalen Islands. 
 (Order in Council, April 6, 1894.) 
 
 (A) The use of trawls for lobster fishing in Gaspe and Bonaventure 
 counties, Quebec. (Order in Council, March 28, 1894.) 
 
22 PROTECTIOX OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 The penalty for a breach of these regulations or any of them is 
 provided by section 18 of the fisheries act, as not exceeding flOO 
 and costs or imprisonment not exceeding three months, accom- 
 panied by liability to confiscation of vessels, boats and fishing 
 gear. 
 
 There are also special regulations that apply to the canneries, 
 but you have no canneries, and these may not be especially inter- 
 esting or germane at this time. I will say, however, that no one 
 can pack lobsters in cans without a license, and no one can ship 
 lobsters from the canneries without they are stamped with the 
 government label. It is the only industry we license. We found 
 it better to control the canning than to control the catching of fish 
 through license. 
 
 Lobsters are climatic. The difference in the legal lengths per- 
 mitted by our regulations is explained in this way. Where a few 
 canneries exist, we raise the size limit. In the first place, rapid 
 increase in the number of canneries called for the exercise by the 
 government of some restraint upon their multiplication. The 
 policy of the department is to confine the licenses to the number 
 of the canneries in existence. If the local conditions are such as 
 will permit of it, then we may increase the number of canneries 
 there. 
 
 The machinery for carrying out our protective laws is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Under the minister and deputy minister of marine and fisheries 
 at Ottawa, the chief executive ofllcers of the fisheries branch of 
 the department are the commissioner and assistant commissioner 
 of fisheries for the Dominion. Subordinate to these are the fish- 
 ery officers for the several Provinces, as follows : — 
 
 The Provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are 
 each divided into separate inspectorates, such inspectorates being 
 under the charge of a district officer, called an inspector, who is 
 vested with the powers of a justice of the peace ex officio for all 
 the purposes of the fisheries act, and may try cases and impose 
 penalties and forfeitures within the limits of his division. Subject 
 to him are county officers, called fishery overseers, who have simi- 
 lar magisterial powers, restricted to their immediate sub-divisions. 
 These oflficers are further assisted by special fishery guardians, 
 temporarily employed at times and in localities where their services 
 may be needed. Such temporary assistants have no powers be- 
 yond cari'ying out the instructions given them by the regular 
 fishery overseers. 
 
 The Province of Prince Edward Island forms one inspectorate 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 23 
 
 ou the same principle as an inspector of fislieries, fishery overseers 
 and fishery guardians. 
 
 The department maintains a fieet of fishery protection cruisers, 
 . . . numbering four steamships and two sailing vessels, which 
 materially assist in the protection of the lobster fishery throughout 
 the season. Besides these there are three steam launches, specially 
 constructed for lobster patrol work, operated under the supervision 
 of the commander of the fisheries protection fleet, to which they 
 are attached. 
 
 Inspector Bertram's district is the Island of Cape Breton. The 
 authority and power our inspectors have are very great. There is 
 an appeal against their decisions, but so far -as the carrying out of 
 the fishery laws is concerned, our officers have authority. The 
 county oflScers do not often exert it, for the inspector generally 
 holds the courts. 
 
 We have little lobster hatching. The question of the artificial 
 hatching of lobsters has engaged the attention of our department 
 f ?ears ; but up to the present time the practical operations have 
 n been pursued to the same extent as in the case of other 
 fisheries, such as salmon, salmon trout and whiteflsh, which are 
 extensively produced in the fish-breeding establishments, from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific. Latterly, however, greater strides are 
 being made in the direction of lobster hatching, extended arrange- 
 ments for which are now being pushed with increased vigor. 
 
 Some initial experiments were made on a slight scale in the 
 introduction of fioating incubators, which did not meet with a 
 sufficient measure of success to induce any extended operations. 
 As far back as 1891 a lobstery hatchery was established at Bay 
 View, Pictou County, N. S., which has been successfully main- 
 tained and operated since that date, to the entire satisfaction of 
 the department, the aggregate output of healthy lobster fry within 
 a range of sixty miles of coast being 1,439,300,000; the distri- 
 bution of 1903 was 162,000,000. In addition to the above, a 
 hatchery has been put in operation this season at Shemogue har- 
 bor, Westmoreland County, N. B. There are at present in course 
 of construction two other hatcheries, one at Blockhouse Point, 
 Charlottetown, P. E. I., and one at Shippegan Gully, Gloucester 
 County, N. B., while the department is considering the selec- 
 tion from suggested sites for further lobster-hatching establish- 
 ments. 
 
 The fry from the Bay View hatchery are distributed by small 
 steamers along the coast line about sixty miles in the vicinity of 
 the hatchery. 
 
24 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 
 
 In connection with efforts to maintain the supply of lobsters b^ 
 methods of artificial propagation and protection of the breeding 
 fish, an interesting experiment was this year [1903] initiated at 
 Fourchie, Cape Breton County, N. S., under the auspices of the 
 Department of Marine and Fisheries. An arrangement was made 
 with Mr. H. E. Baker of Gaborous, a large operator in the 
 canned and live lobster trade in Cape Breton Island, for the utili- 
 zation of his lobster pounds at Fourchie, which were partitioned 
 off for the reception of lobsters of different classes and in different 
 stages. 
 
 The principle of the scheme was to purchase from the fishermen 
 50,000 desirable seed 'lobsters, and place them in a suitable pound 
 for protection, where they could be retained and fed during such 
 time as fishing operations were proceeding ; after which, or when 
 the eggs were sufficiently advanced, the lobsters were to be liber- 
 ated along the coast whence they were taken, thus permitting such 
 of them as had not already cast their fry in the pounds to hatch 
 their eggs in their natural haunts, in conformity with the strict 
 methods of nature. 
 
 A specialist of the department was sent to inspect the working 
 of the scheme, and on the 5 th of August he reported that the eggs 
 were hatching out in millions within the enclosures of the pounds, 
 and the young lobsters were making their way through the wire 
 netting into the sea. At the time of his visit there were still in 
 the pounds about 20,000 ben-ied lobsters, the eggs of which were 
 in various stages of development, while the enclosure was teeming 
 with vigorous, newly hatched fry. 
 
 It is perhaps not too sanguine a conclusion to say that, so far 
 as can be proved by the facts actually observed in the experience 
 of those charged with the conduct of this experiment, its result 
 was a complete success. At all events, these 49,769 mothers, 
 with their progeny, were at least saved out of the actual catch of 
 the fishermen, and would otherwise have found their way to the 
 markets, either as canned goods or exported alive, after the eggs 
 had been raked off. 
 
 The fact that we have been able for twenty or thirty years to 
 carry on the lobster canning to the extent that these statistics 
 show, proves conclusively that the lobster must have had some 
 assistance along the provincial coasts, through protection arti- 
 ficial propagation, etc. There are 225 lobster canneries in Prince 
 Edward Island, and the fact that they have maintained the pack 
 and that the business is still going, I think proves that the protec- 
 tive measures for the lobster are to some extent effective. 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 25 
 
 There has not been any noticeable diminution in the lobster 
 production in recent years ; it is rather the other way. "We think 
 our lobster fishery is in a very good condition. We don't find 
 they are diminishing too much. We pack from 10,000,000 to 
 15,000,000 cans right along eaoh year. Our canneries have been 
 in operation since about 1866 or 1868. We started in 1873 to 
 protect the lobster. We are trying to foster the sale of the live 
 lobster in the United States. It is the canning industries that are 
 destroying the lobster. 
 
 Mr. Venning was followed by Mr. Bertram of Cape Breton, 
 who confined himself principally to the protection and prop- 
 agation of the lobster, as they had come under his observa- 
 tion in the district over which he has control. He said : — 
 
 I don't know that I can add very much to what Mr. Venning 
 has said. He has been able to discuss our fishery laws and con- 
 ions from a general point of view ; I can 'speak only from a 
 _-jal point of view. I was called here by a telegram, and was 
 not fully aware of the nature of this convention, therefore, I did 
 not bring any statistics with me. I did hope that the convention 
 would deal with all branches of the fishery, particularly with the 
 migratory fish ; but when I came here I found the discussion was 
 to be confined to the lobster fishery. 
 
 I am very pleased indeed to be here, and to learn something 
 about your laws and the conditions of this important industry in 
 the United States from the gentlemen who have spoken here. 
 
 What we all desire to do, it appears to me, is to consider the 
 question of keeping up the supply. I may say that in the early 
 '80s we began by hatching out lobsters by artificial means, with 
 what we called an incubator. I think that this system of hatching 
 lobsters was originated .in Newfoundland by a Mr. Neilson. The 
 first incubator was a wooden box, with a perforated, metal bottom, 
 about 3 J feet in length, made like a cradle, which he anchored in 
 the bays and harbors ; the motion of the water would keep it 
 rocking, and this hatched the lobster fry, which would escape 
 through the perforations of the car. There were no beneficial 
 results from this system, and we soon abandoned it. Last year a 
 pound was created on Cape Breton Island, costing about $5,000. 
 The greatest drawback for keeping up the* supply that we have 
 discovered was that the fishermen cared not what happened to- 
 morrow, so long as they were provided for to-day. It would 
 require an officer in each boat to prevent illegal work, and it was 
 
26 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 very hard to detect them when the spawn had been rubbed off each 
 egg-bearing lobster. 
 
 With this pound system we buy up the egg lobsters from the 
 fishermen ; such lobsters are put in cars by the packers, and a 
 boat goes around the coast and takes up the lobsters that are in 
 the cars and carries them to the pound. We leave them there 
 until the close season begins, then we liberate the lobsters from 
 the pounds and put them into cars ; therefore, those fish would 
 have time to spawn. Then when the close season begins in an- 
 other section we take the egg-bearing lobsters out of the pound 
 and liberate them along other sections of the coast, and then they 
 spawn annually. 
 
 I believe that this is the right system. I am thoroughly con- 
 vinced that our government is warranted in any reasonable expense 
 for this. Ten thousand dollars for this was appropriated this 
 year. 
 
 The canning industry is of the greatest importance, because it 
 ^ives employment to a large number of people at the opening of 
 the year. This year our lobster fishery was 20 per cent, greater 
 than at any time for the last ten years; I cannot account for 
 it, unless it is from the fact that in the previous year heavy storms 
 ■occurred in the month of June, and broke up the traps and liber- 
 ated the lobsters in them. This shows the necessity of restriction 
 and a close season. 
 
 We have in our country overseers for each county, and under 
 the overseers the guardians. The guardians visit a hatchery ; 
 they report this to the overseer. This works well ; it prevents 
 people from taking lobsters indiscriminately. 
 
 We have a check on the packer. We issue a license, and he 
 pays for the number of lobsters he is going to pack. Say he 
 packs in 300 cases, we issue a license charging him |2 a hundred. 
 Then we have labels for each box, and oar own overseer puts on 
 the labels and numbers the labels, so that the packer cannot pack 
 any more than the prescribed number in his license. But the great 
 •evil we have found is that the fishermen wash the berries off the 
 breeding lobsters. 
 
 Mr. Venning then said : — 
 
 We began the first close season in the months of July and 
 August, in 1874. The first regulation made affecting the lobster 
 was the prohibition of the soft-shell lobster under IJ pounds in 
 weight. That was in 1873 ; we had no close season then. 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTEKS. 27 
 
 Mr. Bertram, continuing his remarks, said : — 
 
 In hatching lobsters under the usual process you have got to 
 liberate the lobster fry in the open sea, where there are hundreds 
 of scavengers to devour them. When you liberate the berried fish, 
 it goes to the bottom and spawns, and selects a home where it 
 hatches. The home of the lobster seems to be in deep water, with 
 rocky bottom. There is absolutely no question but that the fry, 
 as soon as they are hatched, do come to the surface of the water 
 and stay there for two or three days. The mother lobster crawls 
 along the bottom, and the eggs hatch very slowly. 
 
 ' After the conclusion of Mr. Bertram's remarks the con- 
 vention adjourned at 4.30 p.m. to 10 a.m., September 24. 
 
 When the convention was called to order on September 
 24, Mr. B. Frank Wood of New York, N. Y., spoke for 
 his State. He said : — 
 
 I regret that it was impossible for me to be with you yesterday* 
 The loss, I feel assured, has been mine, and I have come now 
 with the hope of being able to give the convention any information 
 I can concerning the matters under discussion so far as they relate 
 to my State. New York is not a great lobster-producing State. 
 It is, as the chairman suggests, a great State, but our lobster 
 "fisheries are not extensive. We consume the lobster. We take 
 ^our lobsters and the lobsters from the British Provinces. Our 
 most extensive lobster fishery lies just to the south-west of Fisher's 
 Island in Long Island Sound ; the lobster fishery is in the Race. 
 It seems natural that it should be utilized by the men on the Con- 
 necticut shore rather than by those on the shores of our own State, 
 it being about twenty-five to twenty-eight miles from Greenport, 
 and only five or six miles from Mr. Potter's home [Noank]. 
 "Consequently, quite an industry has grown up at Noank in taking 
 lobsters. 
 
 As to the status of the question between our people and the 
 Connecticut people, there is an honorable truce existing, and we 
 now have the matter under advisement. I believe in Connecticut 
 a, commission has been appointed by the G-overnor of the State to 
 consult with the authorities of our State, in order to arrive at some 
 adjustment of the question. 
 
 I am here to learn, and I am sure that, so far as the State of 
 New York is concerned, it will be willing to enter into an arrange- 
 ment looking to the enactment of uniform laws for the protection 
 
28 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 and propagation of the lobster. New York State has been in the 
 habit of putting out a few lobsters annually — about 4,000,000' 
 to 5,000,000 of young lobsters. That has been annually done 
 until last year, when it was omitted, not because of any change in 
 the policy, but on account of deficient arrangements. 
 
 Commissioner Matthewson of Thompsonville, Conn., was 
 the next speaker. He said : — 
 
 I certainly regret that I was not here yesterday to hear the dis- 
 cussion. I am "here to learn, as Mr. Wood is. I do not know 
 much about the lobster question. We haven't gone into it very 
 much in Connecticut as a commission. We have considered the 
 matter some and are in hopes to get into line and do something. 
 I think there is no question but that Connecticut would come into- 
 an arrangement to secure uniformity of law. We have biennial 
 sessions of the Legislature, the next one meeting next year. We 
 would be pleased to work for a uniform law for the preservation 
 of the lobster. 
 
 The foregoing completed the discussion by States and 
 Provinces, with the exception of Massachusetts, which was 
 the last State to be heard from. Mr. J. R. Reed of Bostoa 
 was the first speaker. He spoke as follows : — 
 
 I am not here to speak from the stand- point of a scientific man 
 — although I have learned something about lobsters in twenty- 
 five years of interest in the cause — but from the stand-point 
 of the prosecuting attorney. Now, my experience here in Massa- 
 chusetts has led me to see that, with an effective commission, we 
 can absolutely control the market, and see that our laws are 
 enforced in all our larger cities. There is one thing that, under 
 existing laws, it is almost impossible to do, and that is, to enforce 
 the law along the sea shore, where the small hotels and the rather 
 cheaper class of summer visitors congregate; and, as you know, 
 the coast of Massachusetts has a great many of these settlers. 
 There is constant opportunity to evade the law. The short lobster 
 can be easily brought in and cooked at once and served. 
 
 I was very much impressed yesterday with what our friends- 
 from the Dominion of Canada said concerning their law in regard 
 to their close seasons. I have great respect for the Canadian 
 law, and I think our friends across the line can give us many 
 points as to the way and the spirit in which to enforce the fish and 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 29 
 
 game laws. They have, as they told you yesterday, a close season 
 all along their coast line, varying in different sections. I believe 
 in that system for Massachusetts, and the law would not be bad in 
 other States. If we should make one single law which would be 
 absolutely enforced, we will save our lobster. My idea would be 
 to pass a law that no lobster pot shall be set in the waters of 
 Massachusetts during a period of perhaps two or three months of 
 the year, for a term of years. If that should be proposed here in 
 Massachusetts it would be fought tooth and nail in the Legisla- 
 ture. But I believe that a law should be made, so that any deputy 
 finding any pot at that time, besides having the fisherman fined, 
 could break the pots ; and I am sure that the law could be en- 
 forced. By having a close season in the summer time, the special 
 temptation for the lobster fisherman to violate the law would be 
 removed. These summer hotels, and people who are usually 
 designated as "cottagers," are those who hold out the larger 
 temptation to the fishermen to sell lobsters contrary to law. 
 
 )r. Field of Sharon, Mass., presented his views as to 
 the best means to secure the protection of the lobster, as 
 follows : — 
 
 About two years ago, at the request of Captain Collins, I began 
 an investigation of the lobster question in Massachusetts. The 
 ■direct purpose was to learn in what respects the present lobster 
 supply can be dealt with to the better advantage both of the con- 
 sumers, i.e., the public, and the producers, i.e., the lobster fisher- 
 men and dealers. 
 
 The results of the preliminary investigation, published in the 
 annual report of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission, 
 were briefly as follows : — 
 
 1. The number of lobsters, great and small, at present in the 
 ocean is very markedly less than it was twenty or even ten years 
 ago. 
 
 2. The causes of this decrease plainly appear to be: (a) the 
 increased demand and consumption as food ; and (6) the existing 
 laws, which have been in force practically since 1873. 
 
 3. The prime necessity for placing the lobster industry upon 
 the best possible economic basis is a code of laws which shall be 
 essentially uniform throughout the geographical range of the lob- 
 ster, where uniform conditions exist. Snch laws, to be effective, 
 must be adapted for : (a) increasing the supply of lobsters with- 
 out limiting the demand ; (6) must appeal to the common-sense 
 
30 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 
 
 of the people as evidently likely to fulfil the purpose for which the 
 laws were instituted ; (c) must be adapted for rapid, effective and 
 inexpensive enforcement ; (d) must be so framed as to work a 
 minimum of injury to the important vested interests ; and (e) 
 must promise the best possible market conditions, with reference 
 to the public demand in regard to size, season, price, etc. 
 
 As an adequate basis for such uniform legislation, the first 
 necessity which confronts us is an accurate first-hand knowledge- 
 of the varying conditions throughout the geographical range of the 
 lobster. 
 
 My study has convinced me that, however much these conditions 
 may vary, the most promising path for securing the best possible 
 supply of lobsters for all time lies through the protecticm of the 
 adult lobsters ; for it is obvious that the only possible source of an. 
 increased number of lobsters is an increased supply of eggs. 
 
 Attention must first, then, be directed to means of increasing 
 the number of eggs which are annually laid. Egg-laying begins 
 in the period when the lobster is from 8 to 11 inches long; the 
 first litter is from 5,000 to 10,000 eggs. An 11-inch lobster lays 
 ordinarily at least once in two years about 20,000 eggs; at 13 
 inches, about 40,000; at 15 inches, about 80,000; and above 
 that, 80,000 to 95,000 eggs. We may estimate the total number 
 of eggs laid during the lifetime by the average female lobster at 
 not far from 500,000 to 700,000. Of this total, not more than 
 30,000, and possibly not more than. 5,000, are laid before the 
 lobster reaches the legal size for capture — 9 to lOJ inches. 
 
 From this it is plainly evident that the most valuable lobsters in 
 point of capacity for furnishing eggs are those above the present 
 legal size for capture ; and that, by making it unlawful to kill a 
 lobster below 9 or 10 J inches, we really put a premium upon the 
 destruction of those adult lobsters which have reached a size where 
 they become of most value for maintaining the future supply. By 
 killing these adult lobsters we are actually destroying the only 
 possible source of all future supply, and, from a biological point 
 of view, committing an error similar to the financial one of spend- 
 ing both principal and interest. Of the results of such a policy 
 there can be no shadow of doubt. 
 
 It is plain, further, that any legislation which merely limits the 
 demand without increasing the supply (such as the ordinary ex- 
 pedients of the prohibition of fishing, close seasons, restrictions in 
 methods of catching, etc.) is beside the mark, and cannot be 
 applied satisfactorily in the ordinary way to the lobster, on account 
 of : (1) the limited geographical range and the peculiar conditions 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 31 
 
 under which the lobster lives ; (2) the slow rates of growth and 
 reproduction (the lobster becomes sexually mature in not less than 
 four years, and probably, in the majority of individuals, in five to 
 seven years ; the eggs are carried by the female outside the body 
 for ten to eleven months before hatching) ; (3) the market demand 
 for lobsters, which happens to be greatest during the periods 
 of egg-hatching and egg-laying (May to November) ; and (4) 
 because this period is that also in which the lobster is most easily 
 accessible to the fishermen. 
 
 Finally, to be effective, a close season cannot fail to bear heavily 
 upon vested interests, and must withdraw all except canned lob- 
 sters from the market during the period when the demand is 
 greatest. 
 
 Thus the question narrows down to the problem of how to permit 
 the production of the greatest possible number of lobster eggs, and 
 the marketing of the maximum quantity of lobster meat in the form 
 which the market demands. 
 
 "his condition can be met by the perpetual protection of the 
 a t lobsters, and the killing and marketing only of those between 
 9 and 1 1 inches long. The commissioners of Rhode Island, Maine 
 and the Provinces have now taken important steps in the direction 
 of protecting a few of the adult lobsters, through the direct cash 
 purchase of egg-bearing female lobsters from the fishermen, at a 
 price somewhat above the market, after the method employed by 
 the United States Fish Commission for many years. These lob- 
 sters are placed in pounds or corrals. In Rhode Island and in 
 Maine the eggs are stripped off, and the young which hatch from 
 them are reared in confinement, and the female liberated ; while in 
 the Provinces the egg-bearing females ("berried" lobsters) are 
 liberated from the pounds at the beginning of the close season, 
 and the eggs hatch under natural conditions. 
 
 While this procedure in Rhode Island, Maine and the Provinces 
 is distinctly an advance and is certainly a step in the right direc- 
 tion, at least two prominent objections appear : — 
 
 1. The money appropriated for buying the female lobsters is 
 taken from the general treasury, so that in fact all the people are 
 taxed for the benefit of a very few. While practically the only 
 basis for such a plan of action must be found in political expe- 
 diency, it results in protecting some adult lobsters, and is directly 
 beneficial. 
 
 2. Inasmuch as this contemplates the protection of only the 
 females, the ultimate result must be an undue destruction of males, 
 with the strong possibility of upsetting the equilibrium in the 
 
32 PKOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 necessary ratio of males to females which nature has found essen- 
 tial to satisfactory fertilization of the eggs — about 106 males to 
 every 100 females. 
 
 Personally, I believe that such a measure, although in the right 
 direction, does not go far enough, since it practically places a 
 close season only on some adult lobsters,* and even on these only 
 during the time while the egg-bearing lobsters are held in cap- 
 tivity. 
 
 To secure satisfactory conditions both to consumers and to the 
 fishermen and dealers, I believe that a still larger number of the 
 adult lobsters must be protected ; that, in addition to work along 
 the lines of artificial propagation, immediate steps should be taken 
 to establish a perpetual close season upon all lobsters above a cer- 
 tain size, say 11 inches. The present laws permit the catching 
 of all lobsters above lOJ inches in Maine, New Hampshire and 
 Massachusetts ; in Rhode Island, 9 inches ; and in different parts 
 of the Provinces, from 8 to 10 J inches. By restricting the catch- 
 ing to those between 9 and 11 inches, we should secure protection 
 to the most valuable individuals (the producers of the greatest 
 number of eggs) , in exchange for freedom to kill a larger number 
 of lobsters ; but these larger numbers would be expected to fur- 
 nish more marketable material at a much less monetary and 
 biological cost. 
 
 From the data which I have been able to secure by personal 
 observation, there are in the ocean, for every lobster lOJ inches 
 and over, from 3 to 6 9-inch lobsters. The aggregate weight of 
 the average 100 lobsters lOJ inches and over, as they come to the 
 Boston market, varies between 100 and 170 pounds. The aggre- 
 gate weight of 100 lobsters from 9 to 10 J inches is about 105 
 pounds (weights taken from individuals actually weighed and 
 measured). I found that it required 155 9-inch lobsters to weigh 
 as much as 100 of the average size in the Boston market. One 
 hundred 9-inch lobsters can be expected to lay 125,000 eggs 
 within a year, assuming that one-half of the number are females, 
 and that one-half of these have reached the period of egg-laying, 
 and average 5,000 eggs each; 100 lobsters above 10^ inches 
 similarly can be expected to lay 1,000,000 eggs within a year, 
 assuming that 50 of them are females, and each of these yields 
 20,000 eggs. 
 
 While, commercially, the larger size (lOJ inch) is worth 55 per 
 cent, more than the smaller one (9 inch), biologically, i.e., in its 
 
 * The number depends in general upon the size of the appropriation available for 
 paying the individual fishermen to work for their own interests. 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTEKS. 33 
 
 egg-laying capacity, tlie larger size is 800 per cent, more valu- 
 able. Tiierefore, if instead of a dose season on all the lobsters for 
 a portion of the year we consider a possible law making a per- 
 petual close season upon some of the lobsters (the adults), we may 
 well permit the catching of any lobsters between 9 and 11 inches. 
 
 The lobster thereby gains protection for those adults which by 
 laying the greatest number of eggs give the best return for the 
 protection. The law-abiding fishermen can retain the lobsters of 
 the size which under the present laws some of their fellow fisher- 
 men, less conscientious than they, are now killing. 
 
 The general effect upon the market may be predicted as a de- 
 creased average weight of 6.4 ounces per lobster, but the public 
 would have legal access to the size which best meets the demand. 
 
 In case it does not seem expedient to restrict the legal catching 
 of lobsters to those exactly between 9 and 11 inches, experiments 
 and observations which I have made lead me to believe that the 
 prohibition of the use of any lobster pots in which the funnel ring 
 or opening into the pot exceeds 4 inches will, by excluding the 
 larger lobsters (thus protecting them) , tend greatly to increase 
 the number of young lobsters hatched, by reason of the protection 
 thus given to a relatively small number of large lobsters, about 
 half of which number may be expected to lay large litters of eggs — 
 from 20,000 to 90,000 — at least once every two years. 
 
 I am confident that a lobster pot can be devised, after a suffi- 
 cient experimental study, which would automatically regulate the 
 catch so as to prevent the entrance of the large adults, and permit 
 the escape of the unmarketable small ones; i.e., retaining practi- 
 cally only those between about 9 and 11 inches. In such an 
 event, the problem of enforcement of the law could be brought 
 down to an examination of lobster pots to see that they conform 
 to the prescribed dimensions, and penalizing the possession of 
 illeg'al pots. 
 
 Such a legally prescribed pot would immediately eliminate the 
 inconsistencies of the present, system of measuring, to determine 
 the legal length of the lobster caught. Such a pot is more valu- 
 able and is less readily concealed than a short lobster. A. law 
 concerning the size of the opening into the pot could be satisfac- 
 torily and economically enforced. 
 
 The plan which I have set forth, while in one way tantamount 
 to a complete reversal of present laws, is, as a matter of fact, 
 only a modification of the "close season" regulations already 
 established in practice, i.e., open and closed periods for all the 
 lobsters, as well as that of a closed time for some lobsters {i.e., 
 
34 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 
 
 the egg-bearing or " berried"), together with the inclusion in the 
 general plan of all the advantages of both the 9 and 10 J inch 
 regulations as to legal length now in force for many years. It 
 secures to the public, dealers aud fishermen the present satisfac- 
 tory supply, and guards the lobster from the strong likelihood of 
 commercial extinction, to which under present legislation and 
 practices it is apparently doomed through the killing of the adults, 
 and the consequent impairment of the reproductive capacity of the 
 race, a most certain method of " race suicide." 
 
 The writer followed Dr. Field, as follows : — 
 
 I can scarcely claim to be inexpert regarding the lobster, for I 
 have been familiar with it and have had it under observation for 
 more than fifty years. It has been my privilege to make careful 
 inquiries concerning it throughout its range of distribution in 
 America — from the Delaware Capes to the Strait of Belle Isle — 
 and also in northern Europe, where the lobster is a different 
 species from ours, but differs chiefly in size. 
 
 As a child, with bared feet and legs, I often waded into the sea 
 on the coast of Maine to a depth of a foot or so, and pulled big 
 lobsters from beueath seaweed-covered boulders, where they gen- 
 erally were found at low tide. When only ten to fifteen years of 
 age I caught lobsters in the waters of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward 
 Island, the Magdalen Islands and Lower Canada ; later I was a 
 lobster fisherman on the coast of Maine ; in 1879 and 1880 I col- 
 lected information regarding the lobster and the lobster industry 
 from Eastport, Me., to Delaware; and subsequently assisted in 
 the preparation of an illustrated history of the lobster fishery of 
 the United States. Since then my interest in the lobster has never 
 ceased, and every opportunity has been utilized to gain additional 
 information concerning it on my trips to Newfoundland, Labrador 
 and others of the maritime provinces, as well as to Maine and 
 Europe. 
 
 It is not diflflcult, therefore, for me to recognize that conditions 
 relating to the lobster and its protection may vary with location 
 and differences of temperature or environment ; also that there are 
 many problems involved in these questions that are difficult to 
 
 settle satisfactorily — that must be most carefully considered 
 
 especially in view of the fact that, in the final adjustment of these 
 affairs, it will be necessary to have resort to the various State 
 Legislatures to secure desired legislation. 
 
 In regard to securing a uniform close season in the lobster- 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 35 
 
 producing States which may in a measure resemble the close seasons 
 adopted in Canada, but be specially applicable to the mid-summer 
 months, when, by common consent, the length-limit law is mostly 
 violated, I can appreciate the force of what has been said by the 
 distinguished commissioner from Maine ; and it seems that, in this 
 matter, local conditions are entitled to consideration, and may to 
 a large extent control action. 
 
 While we may justly consider that all New England is the play- 
 ground of the United States in summer — the region to which all 
 are glad to go to enjoy the delights of its climate, its fishing, its 
 unparalleled opportunities for boating and for camping in the wilds 
 — we all gladly recognize the fact that Maine in particular is the 
 State to which the minds of thousands turn in pleased anticipation 
 during that season when people are looking forward to their summer 
 vacations. From all over the country people go to Maine in spring 
 or early summer to fish ; later they go there or remain there to 
 enjoy the beauties of nature by sea shore or in the wilderness. 
 But at all times these summer migrants want the products of the 
 sea for food, and no other so much as the lobster. This is 
 especially true of the sea coast residents ; they will not be denied. 
 One can therefore easily appreciate the objections we have been 
 told may be made to a close season on lobster fishing by the Maine 
 Legislature, especially when it is understood that catering to the 
 summer visitant is one of the most important industries of the 
 State. One need not marvel that whatever affects the welfare or 
 wishes of the summer colony may command respectful attention in 
 the Maine Legislature ; it is idle to assume that those constituting 
 it would not have consideration for this element. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that it might be exceedingly difficult if not 
 impossible to secure a close season on lobsters in Maine, even if 
 the Commissioner of Sea and Shore Fisheries of that State deemed 
 it was necessary, considered from the stand-point of the scientific 
 treatment of the lobster, with the hope and purpose of securing its 
 protection from commercial extinction. The words "commercial 
 extinction" are used, despite the fact that official statistics seem 
 to show that there has recently been an increase in the catch of 
 lobsters on the coast of Maine. 
 
 While in my judgment it is possible to maintain the present 
 supply of lobsters in Maine waters, and perhaps to increase their 
 abundance, this cannot be accomplished except by a loyal obe- 
 dience to the laws on the part of the fishermen, such as has 
 never been given. The result of the methods practised there has 
 been the same as elsewhere, a gradual diminution of the lobster 
 
36 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 supply in the sea since the beginning of the fishery ; and all figures 
 that show the contrary, however honestly and capably compiled, 
 are misleading, as I will presently show. 
 
 You have been told how easy it was, before the lobster fishery 
 began on the central coast of Maine — say about 1847 to 1849 — 
 for a boy to pull big specimens of the species from under boulders 
 along the sea shore. At that time the waters of that section 
 swarmed with lobsters ; the supply seemed inexhaustible ; in the 
 inner reaches, among islets and ledges where now it would be of 
 little use to set pots, lobsters could be taken in large numbers fifty 
 years ago. So near were the fishing grounds to where I lived that 
 on one occasion my brother and I hauled our pots in a south- 
 east gale. "Where we could get from five to a dozen lobsters to a 
 pot in those days it would now be difficult to catch one in a dozen 
 pots. Those were the days when smacks from Noank, New Lon- 
 don and elsewhere frequented the harbors of Maine in search of 
 cargoes of lobsters for the markets of Boston and New York, 
 chiefly those of the latter city. Then came the destructive can- 
 neries. We are familiar with the result of the introduction of the 
 canning factory on the coast of Maine. The influence of it was 
 to gradually reduce the number and size of lobsters. Fiaally, the 
 canning of lobsters along the coast of that State was stopped. 
 
 It was first limited by law in 1879, and the time each year during 
 which canning could be prosecuted was reduced from time to time, 
 until this form of packing could be carried on only from April 1 
 to July 15, the balance of the year being close season, so far as 
 the canneries were concerned. In this respect the regulations 
 were similar to those now in force in Canadian waters, but they 
 did not avail to delay perceptibly the decadence of the lobster. 
 In 1879 and 1880 I visited nearly every harbor and cove along 
 the coast of Maine, and interviewed hundreds of lobster fisher 
 men. Already there were complaints of a scarcity of lobsters, for, 
 notwithstanding a large increase in gear, the catch per man was 
 not so much as formerly. All this is a matter of history. Still, 
 the yield of the Maine fishery in 1880 was 14,234,182 pounds of 
 lobsters; at present it is only a little in excess of 10,000,000 
 pounds, although in the mean time the material increase in the 
 price of the lobster has caused an enormous increase in apparatus 
 employed, and also a considerable increase in the numbers of the 
 fishermen. 
 
 The distinguished commissioner from Maine finds that during 
 the past three or four years there has been a gradual increase in 
 the yield of the lobster fishery of Maine, as shown by carefully 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 37 
 
 compiled statistics that have been gathered by his deputies. This 
 would seem to indicate that there has been an increase in the 
 abundance of the lobster. If not, why this increase in the catch? 
 It is not necessary to seek far to find the cause. 
 
 The recent remarkable advance in the price of the lobster, 
 especially accentuated in the winter, has led to the employment of 
 a larger number of men and a still larger number of pots for the 
 capture of lobsters. Also, whereas the lobster fishery was for- 
 merly pursued only six or seven months in a year — possibly eight 
 months in extreme cases — it has gradually become customary in 
 these recent years for the fishermen to pursue their industry 
 throughout the year, thus fishing about forty per cent, of time 
 longer than they used to. -Besides this, the winter fishery has led 
 to the exploitation of new grounds. Now the boats sometimes go 
 out ten or fifteen miles from the land to fish, and fully investigate 
 fishing grounds that they did not venture to visit five or six years ago. 
 Thiia the area of available bottom resorted to has been doubled. 
 
 1 this has led to a slight increase in the Maine catch from 
 year to year for the past four years, because more and more of the 
 hardy fishermen have taken up winter fishing each year recently. 
 But, so far as showing any actual increase in the general abun- 
 dance of the lobster, the contrary is true ; for, as already stated, 
 there is a pronounced scarcity of lobsters on many of the in-shore 
 grounds, where they were formerly present in large numbers. 
 
 It is possible that measures which have been taken by Maine, 
 and that may be taken as a result of this conference, may arrest 
 decadence, or possibly cause an increase ; but you will not wonder 
 that one who, like myself, has watched with concern the gradual 
 decimation of the lobster for more than a half-century, will con- 
 tinue to feel some anxiety for the ultimate result until he sees 
 results that are unquestionably reassuring. 
 
 Those of us who have given attention to these matters know 
 that along the great coast line of Maine, which, with its indenta- 
 tions and islands, is more than two thousand miles in length, the 
 lobster is still caught in large numbers, as compared with the prod- 
 uct of any other section of the United States. They are now 
 taken to supply the demands of the live-lobster trade. Trains 
 going out of Maine, or steamers departing from its harbors for 
 Boston, carry many lobsters. And, despite the fact that every^ 
 thing has been done that has seemed practicable in the way of 
 enforcing the law, under the efficient administration of Commis- 
 sioner Nickerson, the fact still remains, and it is indisputable, 
 that literally millions of you'ng lobsters, which have not yet 
 
38 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 attained maturity and been able to reproduce tiiemselves, are 
 either consumed at the coast hotels during the summer months, or 
 else, at any time of year when the fishery is prosecuted, they may 
 be transported into or through New Hampshire or Massachusetts 
 to New York, Rhode Island or Connecticut. Carloads that were 
 passing through Boston have come under our observation. They 
 were billed for New York, and, of course, could not be inter- 
 rupted because of the interstate laws ; otherwise, it is very prob- 
 able that our courts would have had something to do with them, 
 much to the satisfaction, I am sure, of our friend the commissioner 
 of sea and shore fisheries in Maine. 
 
 Now, this, understand, does not argue one bit that the adminis- 
 tration of the law in Maine is not effective, so far as it is possible 
 to make it effective. "We have the same conditions here in Massa- 
 chusetts. It is true we have only a few paid men to enforce the 
 fish and game laws over the entire State. For this sea coast of 
 ours, extending from the Rhode Island line to the New Hampshire 
 line, we have possibly, at the maximum, five or six men who not 
 only have to enforce the fishery laws, including the lobster laws, 
 but all the laws pertaining to inland fish and game in the coast- 
 bordering counties, and even farther inland. It is a bigger con- 
 tract than one might think, for our men must work in pairs or in 
 gangs of three or four. They move rapidly, going from place to 
 place continuously, and labor night and day in order to accomplish 
 the purposes for which they are appointed. But, although they 
 get convictions here and there, and occasionally because of those 
 convictions some violator may consider it advisable to abandon 
 the enterprise in which he is engaged, still this work of violation 
 goes on ; and it will go on unless we have additional laws, as long 
 as temptation is held out to men who, at the best, earn but a 
 meagre living. 
 
 One source of trouble is that our lobster fishery, to a large 
 extent, is passing into the hands of a foreign-born population. 
 Those men and others, perhaps, consider first the cent or the 
 dollar available at the present moment. If they could even trust 
 each other, so that an agreement could be reached by which every 
 one would throw his illegal lobsters into the sea, and take his 
 chances of catching them again, much might be accomplished. 
 But, with few honorable exceptions, where American fishermen 
 have gotten together and made an agreement not to violate the 
 law, the laws are ignored as much as if they were not on the 
 statute books, excepting when our deputies appear on the scene 
 put Somebody into court, and temporarily frighten him into an 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 39 
 
 observance of law. We also have the difficulties which all com- 
 missioners may find. We may arrest a man, whose fine, if he is 
 penalized to the full extent of the law, would amount to enough 
 to keep him in fear of the law for a while. The courts, in their 
 clemency, generally put the fine at a low figure. No doubt they 
 do what to them seems best ; but the next day the man is again 
 afloat, probably pursuing the even tenor of his way in renewed 
 violation of the law. 
 
 Such are the conditions we face. And it has appeared to us 
 that there is really no way of controlling this disregard and defi- 
 ance of law except it be that some uniform method be adopted, 
 whereby no fisherman can pursue the lobster industry unless he 
 has a permit from the State ; and that a penalty for the violation 
 of law shall be that the commissioners, of whatever State it may 
 be, shall be empowered to temporarily revoke that permit, so that 
 a convicted man shall not be permitted, under a penalty of $100, 
 nnnve or less, to pursue the lobster industry for a year. It may 
 s I that this is rather drastic; it doubtless will seem so to 
 many ; but the question we face to-day throughout the whole belt 
 of the New England sea coast States and New York — which is 
 practically the entire line of the lobster-producing States — is the 
 ultimate commercial extinction of the lobster. It is just as sure 
 to come as the sun is to rise and set, unless we can secure effective 
 protection. 
 
 Now, let us take a hurried glance at other States. The com- 
 missioners of New Hampshire concede unequivocally what is known 
 to many, that there has been a distinct and unqualified diminu- 
 tion of the lobster on the coast of their State. The same is 
 unquestionably . true of Massachusetts, as I may show in detail 
 hereafter. Mr. Southwick gives us figures of the shipments from 
 Newport, presumably to prove that there has been an increase in 
 the plentifulness of the lobster in Ehode Island waters. Bat I 
 trust he will pardon me for claiming that those figures prove noth- 
 ing, since many lobsters that are shipped to Newport from other 
 States and from the British Provinces are reshipped from there to 
 New York, and to that extent increase the Newport shipments. 
 Besides, a large percentage of the catch of south-eastern Massa- 
 chusetts are lobsters too short to be of legal size in this State, but 
 large enough to be legal in Rhode Island. Practically all of these 
 are surreptitiously run to Newport, generally being taken across 
 the State line in boats at night. These help to swell the shipments 
 from Newport, which seem to me to afford no basis upon which to 
 estimate even approximately the catch of Rhode Island fishermen. 
 
40 PKOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 Commissioner Boardman, while claiming that more lobsters are 
 caught in Ehode Island now than formerly, concedes that this 
 alleged increase in the catch is due to the employment of more 
 fishermen, and that, consequently, the catch per man is smaller, 
 •a clear admission of a growing scarcity of the lobster in that 
 State. Although this fact is not susceptible of proof from any 
 data supplied by the State, for no statistics of the lobster fish- 
 ery are collected, those well informed of the industry know of 
 the decrease of the lobster in Ehode Island waters. 
 
 My distinguished friend, Mr. Southwick, has attempted to prove 
 in his able paper that man can have little influence on the abun- 
 dance of the lobster, and to support his theory has compared the 
 lobster with the sea fishes. It is not necessary to repeat now all that 
 was said in the discussion of that paper. I will only repeat that 
 it seems to me there is no just and instructive comparison between 
 the cod, for instance, which yields from one million to ten millions 
 of eggs annually, and the lobster of to-day, which may have an 
 average of only five or six thousand eggs in the same period of 
 time. Then, too, the cod has been fished for since time immemo- 
 rial — since the discovery of America on this side of the Atlantic 
 — without causing apparent diminution in its general abundance, 
 while the lobster has invariably suffered great decimation as a 
 result of man's operations. Why, even Professor Huxley, the dis- 
 tinguished apostle of the theory that man's influence on most of 
 the free-swimming ocean fishes is nil, concedes that some species, 
 especially those which are non-migratory and confined to limited 
 areas, are liable to serious depletion through over-fishing. I have 
 personally discussed these questions with him, and have heard him 
 state his views publicly. In an address at the opening of the Fisli- 
 eries' Congress in London, in 1883, at which I was present, he said : 
 "I have no doubt whatever that some fisheries maybe exhausted." 
 
 Mr. Southwick says: "He [man] has multiplied the appliances 
 for catching twenty-fold in fifty years, and the catch has increased ; 
 but what relation the increased catch bears to the increased fishing 
 has not been calculated, to our knowledge." 
 
 His assertion of an increase is, I am sorry to say, pure assump- 
 tion, for there are no data to prove the fact. Although we may 
 not be able to cite authorized statistics covering so long a period 
 of the lobster fishery, it is easy to cite them for a considerable 
 period of years. Massachusetts has annually gathered statistics 
 of the lobster fishery for some time. We find by these that there 
 has been a marked diminution in the catch per pot, as well as a 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 41 
 
 remarkable decline in the total catch. In fourteen years — from 
 1888 to 1902, inclusive — the catch fell off from 1,740,850 to 
 670,245, and the catch per pot from 81 to 32 lobsters for the 
 season. If this does not prove that there has been a diminution 
 of the lobster, what does it show ? 
 
 The theory that eels destroy numbers bf lobster eggs, except the 
 mother lobsters are confined in cars or held in some restricted 
 space where they are practically helpless, is untenable. I believe 
 incidents of this kind are exceedingly rare, if, indeed, they occur 
 at all. We know of fishermen having put egg-bearing lobsters 
 into a pot, where they were so closely packed that they could not 
 move about easily, and then left them where eels were plentiful, 
 for the express purpose of having the latter eat the eggs off the 
 finlets. But I never knew, in my lifetime's experience, of any- 
 thing of this kind happening to a female lobster that had unre- 
 stricted liberty in the water. 
 
 I regret that neither Rhode Island nor Connecticut have any 
 statistics of the lobster fishery available. Statements made off- 
 hand, without any basis of ascertained fact, are liable to be 
 misleading, especially if they are avowedly made in the interest 
 of a class whose welfare might be supposed to be dependent upon 
 this or that representation. For this reason I fail to place much 
 reliance in the alleged increase of lobsters in Connecticut, where 
 the most recent inquiries of the United States Bureau of Fisheries 
 would seem to show the opposite. 
 
 But, even granting that the catch was larger this year than 
 before, there appear to be reasons why this could have occurred, 
 even if there was an actual diminution in the lobster supply. The 
 increase in apparatus and the greater facility with which the gear 
 can be handled because of the use of gasoline motors, as well as 
 the increased certainty of the boats getting to and from the fishing 
 grounds, are sufficient to explain any increase of catch, as I have 
 already pointed out, even if we leave out of the question the 
 important concessions made by New York. 
 
 We have reason to believe that there has been a decline in the 
 abundance of the lobster in the waters of both Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut, and that any temporary increase in the catch in either 
 of the States, unless perchance the drain can be met by artificial 
 propagation, will only result in an acceleration of the decadence, 
 which, it seems to me, has been going on ever since I can remem- 
 ber. This decadence has been general along the entire Atlantic 
 coast, and in some cases it has been rapid, almost startlingly so. 
 
42 PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 In 1887, when I was at Seldom-come-by harbor, at Fogo Island, 
 off the east coast of Newfoundland, an old fisherman came along- 
 side of the " Grampus " with a lot of large lobsters that he had 
 gaffed from beneath the boulders along the shore just outside of 
 the seawash. Mr. Fred. A. Lucas of Washington, who was with 
 me at the time, as a scientist from the United States National 
 Museum, was in the same region last year on official business, and 
 he informs me that where the incident I have related occurred the 
 lobster is now very scarce. Who will doubt the agency of the 
 cannery and the multitudinous lobster pot in causing this change? 
 On the same cruise we touched at the Magdalen Islands, where we 
 learned that there was a general complaint of the scarcity of lob- 
 sters, as a result of only a few years' fishery. But Professor 
 Prince, the eminent Canadian writer on these subjects, has dis- 
 cussed this matter ably and thoroughly, as you have heard, so that 
 we are not left in doubt as to the result of man's operations on the 
 lobster in the waters of the Dominion. 
 
 To sum the whole matter up briefly, it appears to us that there 
 has been a noticeable — sometimes a startling — decrease in the 
 abundance of the lobster, and also a decrease in its size and repro- 
 ductive capacity, wherever it has become an object of commercial 
 pursuit. Fish culture might do much more than is now possible 
 to restore the species, if the reproductive possibilities had not been 
 brought so low. In this State we have a startling example of the 
 decline in this particular. The United States Bureau of Fisheries 
 finds it increasingly difficult each year to get a supply of egg-bear- 
 ing lobsters, despite the fact that new regions are exploited, steam 
 launches cruise along the shores for collecting purposes, and men 
 are stationed at different points to gather in every available breed- 
 ing lobster. The full market price or more is paid by the govern- 
 ment, but the number of lobsters secured is small, and constantly 
 growing fewer. It is, therefore, plain that in the matter of collect- 
 ing egg-beariug lobsters the available field is apparently being 
 worked to its limit, except for possibly a month or two in the late 
 fall. I can understand that the gathering of egg-bearing lobsters 
 may be deemed very important in other States ; and it is undoubt- 
 edly important, providing, of course, the federal government is 
 not doing all that can be done. 
 
 It seems to us that it should be feasible to secure the continu- 
 ance of the lobster by artificial propagation. But there we are 
 confronted with the fact that, notwithstanding all that has been 
 done along that line, we see a continuous decadence, year after 
 year ; also a decline in the eggs it is possible to gather, and this 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 43 
 
 is, perhaps, the most disturbing feature of it all. There is no 
 guess-work about either of these facts. What are we going to do 
 about them? "We have no pet theory, although we have been 
 accused of having such. But the conditions that confront us 
 to-day have confronted New Jersey, New Yorlt, Connecticut and 
 Ehode Island, and may sooner or later present themselves to our 
 friends in Maine. 
 
 If this premise is correct, it seems desirable and opportune that 
 we should determine what it is still possible to do to improve the 
 conditions we now have. I hope to see some remedy provided, 
 which will at least aid in securing a continuance of the abundance 
 of this species, and possibly an increase, thereby insuring the suc- 
 cess of the industry of which the lobster is the object. 
 
 Our Canadian friends have, in my judgment, acted more wisely 
 than we. They are fortunate in a way in having their affairs under 
 the control of one legislative body. We have many legislative 
 bodies to deal with. Besides that, certain authority is vested in 
 tiio Department of Marine and Fisheries that has not been accorded 
 
 any commission of any State, or even to the federal government ; 
 nor do we think that it is reasonable to suppose it would be 
 accorded. In certain parts of their territory, as was seen by those 
 who were present yesterday, fishing is allowed only three months 
 in the year; in other parts, a longer time. But always the regula- 
 tions established by Canada, as you notice, have one object in 
 view, the preservation of the lobster. 
 
 This system has apparently worked very satisfactorily, and there 
 are reasons for believing that the threatened decimation has been 
 arrested, as a result of the regulations applied ; while these with 
 fish culture or the impounding of egg-bearing lobsters may possibly 
 bring an increase in the supply available for commerce, an out- 
 come for which we all can earnestly hope. 
 
 We are confronted with exactly the same thing, and the question 
 that we have to ask ourselves is. What is best to be done? Shall 
 we allow matters to drift on as they have drifted for the past fifty 
 years, or for the past twenty years? We know that there has 
 been legislation. Massachusetts has endeavored to protect the 
 lobster in various ways in that manner. It has enacted laws from 
 time to time for the protection of the lobster. But those who are 
 disposed to violate those laws — and there are many sucb — have 
 generally found the means to do it; and, unless there can be some- 
 thing accomplished more effective than anything heretofore done, 
 it seems as certain as anything on earth can be that the day is 
 within measurable distance when our lobster industry, at least 
 
44 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 such as we have at the present time, will be a matter of history. 
 I think there is no more certain way of emphasizing this than to 
 say that there has been a graclual diminution in the abundance of 
 the lobster for a long time. It has not been a fluctuation of 
 abundance and scarcity, as is generally found with the migratory 
 species of fish, which may be present this summer in unusual 
 abundance and scarce next year. But this diminution of the lob- 
 ster in Massachusetts waters, so far as statistics show, has been 
 continuous, and as forceful and certain as the movements of an 
 ice floe. If that decadence continues, and we have never seen any 
 reason yet to doubt its continuance, the outcome is certain. 
 
 Down in the Buzzards Bay region, more particularly about Cutty- 
 hunk, where the fishermen have the reputation of utiiizing everything 
 in the shape of a lobster that comes from the sea, the decadence 
 has been something startling ; and conditions have reached a point 
 on that part of the coast line of this State where the reproductive 
 possibilities of the animal have been reduced to such a degree that 
 it seems as if the lobsters are soon to be exterminated, or nearly so. 
 But notwithstanding this, and while we may not anticipate that any 
 such control as has been accorded to the Department of Fisheries 
 and Marine of Canada will be given the State commissioners, let 
 us take into serious consideration the condition of the lobster fish- 
 ery as we find it, the extreme value of the lobster as an article of 
 food, and do our best in uniting upon some propositions for the 
 betterment of the industry which we all can heartily approve of, 
 and recommend to our respective State Legislatures for enactment 
 into law. If we do this, we shall at least acquit ourselves of the 
 responsibility that rests upon us, and can feel that we have not 
 failed in our duty, whatever the subsequent result may be. 
 
 This ended the forenoon session, and the convention 
 adjourned at 12.15 p.m., to meet at 2 p.m. 
 
 Upon the reassembling of the convention, at 2.15 p.m., 
 representative fishermen and dealers were invited to state 
 their views concerning the matters under discussion, or to 
 make such statements of fact as might seem to them helpful 
 to the convention in reaching correct conclusions. Capt. 
 Robert E. Conwell of Provincetown, an e.K-member of the 
 Legislature, an owner of a fleet of fishing vessels and an 
 operator of a weir or pound net, was the first speaker. He 
 said : — 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 45 
 
 Of course you know that the Provincetown lobster fishery is a 
 little different from the fishery of other places. At Provincetown 
 we catch all large sea lobsters. Our people put their slats 2 inches 
 to 2^ inches apart. During the months of June and July there is 
 a school of lobsters which comes along there which are all males, 
 and in the latter part of June we get a mixture of female lobsters. 
 A year ago this month, in September, I drew in seven pots. 
 There were 15 lobsters, and 11 of them were egg-bearing. Our 
 lobster fishermen claim they catch no short lobsters, on account of 
 the size of the traps. Last year the lobstery fishery on Cape Cod 
 never was better. This has been an off year, owing to the 
 abundance of crabs, which came in and covered up the bait in 
 the pots. 
 
 The lobster fishing is nothing to what it used to be. We, as 
 trap fishermen, catch some small lobsters about 5 inches or 6 
 inches long in the pound nets. We fish in water from 3 to 7 
 fathoms deep, and even 15 or 16 fathoms deep, sometimes. 
 
 I think all good, honest lobster fishermen would not object to a 
 license law, and I believe the fishermen as a whole are as honest 
 as we ar.e. 
 
 Mr. R. C. Harvey, of the wholesale Boston firm of lob- 
 ster dealers of John G. Cox & Co., spoke as follows : — 
 
 I do not know that there is anything that I can say. I think 
 there is one idea that Massachusetts people have in mind that is a 
 little too strong, and that is, that the lobster is disappearing too 
 fast. I do not believe that the lobsters are very much scarcer 
 than they were ten years ago. The size is the same, too. It 
 takes about 65 lobsters, on an average, to make 100 pounds in 
 weight. I think the law in its present stage, if it could be en- 
 forced, is all right, but the unfortunate part of it is, that it cannot 
 be enforced. It is my candid opinion that the lobsters caught at 
 the beaches are never put back into the water. Outside of 
 Plymouth, I do not see that they live up strictly to the law. I 
 think there is one thing that would be a great help, if the govern- 
 ment would.do it, and that is, to buy the seed lobsters the year 
 round. Of course they come and take the lobsters from our place 
 in the months of May and June. That is the time we buy the 
 foreign fish. The government does not buy any seed lobsters 
 during other months, and my opinion is, that that is just the time 
 •they should buy them. 
 
 If it could be brought about so the fishermen could get their 
 
46 PKOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 licenses comparatively easy, I do not see any reason why there 
 should be objections. I do think that the slat law would be an 
 improvement, if the slats were put far enough apart so that a 
 small lobster could get out. 
 
 Mr. A. L. Young, a wholesale lobster dealer of Boston,, 
 said : — 
 
 I do not know as there is a great deal I can say to you, but I 
 have been very much interested in the talk here, and specially 
 interested in the remarks of our Canadian friends from over the- 
 line. I do not believe the lobsters are growing scarcer. It is my 
 impression there are more lobsters sold in this market to-day than 
 there were in the preceding year.* It is true that lobsters are 
 higher and seem scarcer, but that is accounted for because the 
 demand for lobsters is growing every year. Twenty years ago 
 we thought we were doing pretty well if we sent lobsters into New 
 York State ; now lobsters are shipped every day as far west as 
 Denver and as far south as New Orleans. Now, the fact is, if 
 lobsters available to the market are increasing some — and I 
 think they are — they do not increase in proportion to the- 
 demand ; if there could be some way to increase the supply of 
 lobsters in proportion to the demand, I do not believe there would 
 be any trouble. . . . "What we want is the same law in all the- 
 States. 
 
 Western Nova Scotia is the section from which the live lobsters 
 are chiefly shipped to this market. The short lobsters, for which 
 they get from three to four and five cents now, in three years 
 would bring them fifteen, sixteen and eighteen cents in this mar- 
 ket. That would be the only way I know of that the conditions 
 could be benefited at present. I refer to the general supply that 
 comes to the Boston market from Nova Scotia, Maine, etc. 
 
 During the last ten years, perhaps, there has been a great, 
 increase in the number of lobster pounds on the Maine coast, and 
 
 * It is possible that the supply of lobsters in the Boston market is not less at this 
 time than formerly, for the simple reason that the area in south-western NoTa 
 Scotia, whence live lobsters are received in Boston, is continuously enlarging, s» 
 that the increased supply received from foreign waters is sufficieht to make up 
 for any shrinkage in the available domestic yield of the lobster fishery. It is per- 
 fectly natural for a lobster dealer, who does not look beyond the questions of sup- 
 ply and demand, quite regardless of where the goods are obtained from, to feel that^ 
 as long as the material is in sight to trade with, there is no diminution in the supply. 
 Such a belief can no doubt be honestly held, especially if one is so deeply absorbed 
 in bis business that he has no time to take any more than a superficial view of con- 
 ditions, the cause or causes which have led to them, and their probable result. 
 
 Author. 
 
PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 47 
 
 that calls for hundreds of thousands of lobsters to supply them. 
 Those are held in storage in the pounds until they have grown 
 large enough to be marketable, or are needed for market. 
 
 Q. Is it not true, Mr. Young, that the area from which live 
 lobsters are taken for the Boston market from Nova Scotia has 
 increased materially in recent years ? 
 
 A. It has, I think, in this way. Years ago there were four or 
 five fishermen out of a little cove, and they would get plenty of 
 lobsters. Now, perhaps, there are twice as many men that go 
 three or four miles off shore, and catch those lobsters before they 
 come in. 
 
 Mr. Anthony Atwood of Plymouth, a local lobster dealer, 
 spoke as follows : — 
 
 I hardly know what to say in regard to this, as I have not heard 
 any of this discussion ; but as you have asked a question and Mr. 
 Young answered it in regard to the supply and demand, it seems 
 to me the supply has diminished in Massachusetts waters. . . . 
 I do not know whether it is because of better enforcement of the 
 law, or because the lobster has been caught up ; but it seems to 
 me that if by some means you could strictly enforce the 10 J- inch 
 law, whether by having a license law or any other law which 
 could be made effective, we could keep up a better supply than 
 we have to-day. ... I think the fishermen would all be in favor 
 of a license law. The fishermen are generally in favor of the con- 
 tinuance of the lOJ-inch law. They are also in favor of the pro- 
 tection of the female lobster. 
 
 The last speaker was Mr. Thomas L. Davis of Salem, 
 Mass., a member of the Legislature, who for several years 
 has exhibited considerable interest in questions relating to 
 the lobster. He said : — 
 
 Of course I do not know what has been said, for I arrived a few 
 moments ago. As the chairman well knows, I was the author of 
 the bill this year that met with the approbation of the fishermen of 
 the north shore, and that was a change of the law so that all lob- 
 sters taken under lOJ inches in length would be legal. I had gone 
 through the question so far as I was able, and for years we have 
 fought the lobster question relative to legal length. I came to the 
 conclusion, in studying the question, that by preserving the propa- 
 
48 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 gating lobster the result would be that there would be no diminution 
 •of the lobsters whatsoever. I think that lobsters below 7 inches 
 might not be desirable to catch. I say to you that the fishermen 
 of my district are largely in favor of the proposition that I offered 
 this year, and, while there may be some few dissenters that might 
 want the law retained as at present, they are in favor of the Fish 
 and Game Commission purchasing egg-bearing lobsters all the year 
 round. 
 
 The demand for lobsters is greater than it was in the past. I 
 remember that a few years ago lobsters were very, very plentiful. 
 Lobsters were not in demand thirty years ago as they are to-day ; 
 the demand has increased. It is very true that lobster fishermen 
 are working out some distance from shore, and I understood from 
 the fishermen that the possibility was that the sewage now being 
 emptied into the harbors might have some effect upon the lobsters 
 eoming in shore. I believe the lobster fishermen are, as a rule, as 
 honest in their line of trade as anybody else. The question of 
 license is a new one to me. I never heard it discussed, but it 
 seems rather preposterous to license a man to fish. I do not be- 
 lieve in a close season, as there are so many thousands of dollars 
 invested in the lobster industry. , 
 
 After Mr. Davis had finislied speaking, Mr. Geer of Con- 
 necticut moved that the convention go into executive ses- 
 sion, for the purpose of arriving at a definite basis for the 
 reconnnendation of uniform laws to the various State Legis- 
 latures for the more efficient protection of the lobster. At 
 3.22 P.M. the convention went into executive session. In 
 accordance with a vote of the convention, a committee, of 
 which the chairman of the convention was unanimously 
 requested to act as ex officio chairman, was appointed to 
 recommend some form of law or laws to the convention for 
 its consideration. Meanwhile, pending the completion of 
 the committee's work, a recess of the convention was taken. 
 
 The committee was constituted as follows : Mr. Collins of 
 Massachusetts, ex officio chairman ; Mr. Nickerson of Maine, 
 Mr. Geer of Connecticut, Mr. Wood of New York, Mr. 
 Boardman of Rhode Island and Dr. Field. 
 
 As a result of the labors of the committee, the folio winsf 
 recommendations were reported to and adopted by the con- 
 vention : — 
 
PKOTECTION OF LOBSTEES. 49 
 
 1. We recommend that a law be enacted to limit lobster catch- 
 ing to men having permits from the State ; that the penalty for 
 catching lobsters without a permit shall not be less than $100; 
 and that a person convicted of violating the laws for the protec- 
 tion of lobsters shall have his permit revoked, and that no other 
 shall be issued to him for a year thereafter. 
 
 2. We recommend that it is desirable, if possible, to secure uni- 
 form or nearly uniform laws for the protection of the lobster in the 
 New England States and New York, more especially so far as the 
 length of the legalized lobster is concerned. 
 
 3. We recommend the general adoption of the law relating to 
 lobster meat now embraced in the statutes of Maine. 
 
 It may be possible that some members of the convention 
 may find occasion for slight differentiation of phraseology 
 in presenting this last recommendation to their respective 
 Legislatures, but it seems to the writer that the language of 
 the Maine law is forcible and effective. It is as follows : — 
 
 All lobsters or parts of lobsters sold for use in this State or for 
 export therefrom must be sold and delivered in the shell, under a 
 penalty of twenty dollars for each offence ; and whoever ships, 
 buys, sells, gives away or exposes for sale lobster meat after the 
 same shall have been taken from the shell, shall be liable to a 
 penalty of one dollar for each pound of meat so bought, sold, 
 exposed for sale, given away or shipped. Any person or corpo- 
 ration in the business of a common carrier of merchandise who 
 shall knowingly carry or transport from place to place lobster 
 meat after the same shall have been taken from the shell, shall be 
 liable to a penalty of fifty dollars upon each conviction thereof. 
 All lobster meat so illegally bought, shipped, sold, given away, 
 exposed for sale or transported shall be liable for seizure, and 
 may be confiscated. Nothing contained herein shall be held to 
 prohibit the sale of lobsters that are legally canned. 
 
 Each of the tliree foregoing recommendations was sub- 
 mitted by itself, and was separately adopted by the conven- 
 tion. It Avas not found practicable for the committee to 
 agree on any other recommendations for laws which should 
 equally apply to all the lobster-producing States. In regard 
 to the plan advanced by Dr. Field, the convention was 
 impressed with the idea that the experimentation had not 
 
50 PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 
 
 been carried far enough to take the matter beyond the plane 
 of theoretic speculation, and therefore it was scarcely safe 
 at this time to risk an entire change of the system of lobster 
 protection. At 5.30 p.m. the convention adjourned, " sub:- 
 ject to the call of the chairman," and went to dinner at 
 Young's Hotel, after which many of those in attendance 
 returned to their homes. 
 
 On September 25 we had the pleasure of taking Messrs. 
 K^ickerson, Wood, Venning, Bertram and Field on a brief 
 cruise down Boston harbor, on the launch "Scoter," in 
 order that they might observe the working of the launch, 
 and study her fitness for coast patrol duty ; and, also, that 
 some members of the party who had never previously been 
 in Boston might see the lower harbor, as well as our near-by 
 lobster-fishing grounds. We returned to lunch at 2 p.m., 
 and had the gratification of knowing that our guests were 
 much pleased with the trip, as well as much impressed with 
 the beauties of Boston harbor. 
 
 Inasmuch as authority has been given to print this report 
 with the balance of the appropriation made for holding the 
 convention, it is not possible at this time to state with exact- 
 ness what part of the $200 appropriated will be used. This 
 will, however, appear in the Auditor's report in due season, 
 and we trust it will there be seen that the money was dis- 
 bursed judiciously, and to the honor of the Commonwealth. 
 In summing up the results of the convention, it appears 
 to the writer that a distinct advance has been made in the 
 efi"ort to protect the lobster from further decimation. The 
 fact that representative men from the various lobster-pro- 
 ducing States and Canada should come together, and, with 
 the best feeling possible, exchange views and information 
 in an efi'ort to secure some uniform action in the several 
 States, is a step far ahead of anything yet done in the same 
 direction in this country. It introduces a new system of 
 surmounting the difficulties met with in the various States 
 regarding the lobster fishery, and Massachusetts has occasion 
 for satisfaction that the first attempt of this kind should have 
 been inaugurated in her chief city. We venture to express 
 the hope that the laws recommended by the convention will 
 
PEOTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 51 
 
 be enacted by the Legislatures of the various States con- 
 cerned ; and, with this end in view, so far as Massachusetts 
 is concerned, the Commission on Fisheries and Game of this 
 State has earnestly recommended in its annual report for 1903 
 the passage of a permit law, and also a lobster-meat law 
 similar to that of Maine. If these can be secured, they will 
 undoubtedly have an important influence in securing a better 
 protection of the lobster — a result to be earnestly desired. 
 In conclusion, I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness 
 to Dr. Field and to Mrs. Drowns for the assistance they 
 have rendered. 
 
 J. W. COLLINS.