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66 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Jan. 6
There is a great deal of complaint on the part of
fishermen on the headwaters of our rivers that they
are unable to catch many of these fish, which too fre-
quently never reach their natural spawning grounds
at the headwaters of streams, and therefore never re-
produce, because of the great multiplicity of pounds,
fikes and other apparatus set near the mouths of the
rivers. This must in time result in the practical ex-
termination of these varieties of fish.
The commissioners in view of this evil recommend
that the setting of pounds and fikes be regulated so
that the fish may at least be able to reach their spawn-
ing ground in numbers sufficient to insure the future
suply of fish and the profitable continuation of the
fish business.
STATE GAME WARDEN.
The game Jaws of the State are being enforced. The
number of laws enacted for protection of fish and game,
and the multitude of local laws, which vary in each
county, confuse the public and often cause trouble to
those who have every desire to obey the law. An ef-
fort should be made as far as circumstances will permit
to make the game laws more uniform throughout the
State.
My attention was called by representatives of the
Game and Fish Protective Association last summer to
the wholesale, wanton and wasteful destination of fish
too small for market in the upper waters of the Chesa-
peake Bay.
The State Game Warden and his deputies are un-
able to stop such violations or apprehend the offenders,
situated as they are on the water
The Board of Public Works considered the policy
of detailing a portion of the State Fishery Force to
patrol that part of the bay and stop the notorious
violations of the law ; but all the boats which could be
placed in commission were too busily engaged in pre-
venting violations of the oyster law to permit the ser-
vices of even a single boat to be diverted from the
work for which the oyster navy was primarily organ-
ized and is maintained. It is for your Honorable
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