Show I AGAINST SEINING GrINST I The Utah County Commissioner i States His Views of the Case i I have read a number of communications communi-cations in your paper on fishing and note that with one exception they all agree in favor of seining Permit me to present for your consideration a few arguments and facts on the other side of this very important question I have been commissioner of Utah county far i the two years Use past and am therefore < there-fore in a position to undeistar fairly the workings of the fish business 5n Utah lake There id but a very limited number of fish tae n from the waters of Utah lake other than those taken with the sein and let l me here Hay that so far as I can lear al that has been published in favor of seining has come I from those directly interestel in the I profits of the busings and they claim that all opposition to seining comes from the sporting fraternity who want I the waters of Utah Jake entirely for I S their pleasure The s infl are the I only ones who can take from the lake I l I the common fish jnd they will claim I and I agree with thorn that the common com-mon fish has been reduced j0 per cert in the last twentyfive years but at the same time it is just as certain that the trout have been reduced hZi percent per-cent not altogether by the sein but no one can successfully Jispiue the fact that they have taken their full I I share of them The seiners say that if you stop the sins that the poor people I peo-ple will be deprived of thi cnmon j fish that is very true and tie question ques-tion resolves itself into this Will the I I poor people be Jeprivod temporarily I lof I the common ush and In lime have II an ample supply of boMi game and common fish or continue the ute of the acid and in a very slot tme be i permanently deprived of both except in a very limited quantify aurl at a high price so high in facr that they will become a luxury to the pew people I peo-ple There is not an old settler 1 the land who knows anything ubmr this subject who will not say ther vas an1 I abijndant supply of both tjvut and common fish within 1he easy reach of both poor and ricn and that for over twenty years the supply has been I gradually reduced in our ike I and j the price correspondingly advanced until un-til today trout that was once within reasonable reach of the poor has now I become so advanced in price that they are a luxury to the rich I is a fact i that our system of irrigation is the greatest source of the fry destruction but after they have once found their way into the lake there can be no question but that the sein is the most deadly enemy known to both our game and common fish There is an ample supply of food in our fresh water lakes for ten thousand times as many game fish as are now I there and in view of all the history of the past wisdom would certainly suggest that for the best Interests of the future our lake be given a reason gven able rest and our fish be given an opportunity to recuperate from the slaughter of the last twentyfive yes Seiners protest that in making their hauls they throw back into the waters the game fish they have gathered However solemnly they may wage this claim I know that i is not true and they never will do it so long as they I are permitted to ply their business in I our waters unless there is a government I govern-ment agent or some one whom they j fear present and watching each haul and the only way in my opinion that they will ever be compelled to comnly with the law in this regard is for some one vested with authority under the law to be present at each haul made and carefully watch all that is done and see that the law is complied with To do this means a man to each of the eighteen seins now running In Utah lake an expense the taxpayers I think will not feal disposed to meet and which cannot be met in any consistent con-sistent and just manner except by a tax upon each sein sufficient to cover the cost I have been accused of permitting men living in Provo to use unlawful seins and in regard to that I will say that eVer sein used in Utah lake is deficient In some particular S M C NEWELL Fish and Game Commissioner of Utah County |