ce which is not above
fifteen miles from Point Comfort. If we had been furnished with
salt to have saved it, we might have taken as much fish as would
have served us that whole year.

The mention of carp will interest those who believe carp to have been
introduced into Virginia much later. The jewfish is common in more
southern waters but there may well have been some strays in the
Chesapeake. Although croakers, one of the bay's most abundant fish in
modern times, are not mentioned, it would not be unreasonable to assume
that they were included under "drummers." So with spot, a member of the
drum family bearing a superficial resemblance to a bass or perch. The
term "spot," as applied to a Virginia fish does not seem to have become
current till the late 19th century.

An event of special interest to statisticians occurred in 1612. The
first attempt made in the New World to require certain fish catches to
be reported was among the regulations propounded by Governor Thomas
Dale. The penalty for violation would shock today's delinquent record
keepers:

All fishermen, dressers of sturgeon, or such like appointed to fish
or to cure the said sturgeon for the use of the Colony, shall give
a just and true account of all such fish as they shall take by day
or night, of whatsoever kind, the same to bring unto the Governor.
As also all such kegs of sturgeon or caviar as they shall prepare
and cure upon peril for the first time offending herein of losing
his ears, and for the second time to be condemned a year to the
galleys, and for the third time offending to be condemned to the
galleys for three years.

The years of trial and error fishing had brought their return in
increased knowledge, according to John Rolfe in 1616:

About two years since, Sir Thomas Dale ... found out two seasons in
the year to catch fish, namely, the spring and the fall. He himself
took no small pains in the trial and at one haul with a seine
caught five thousand three hundred of them, as big as cod. The
least of the residue or kind of salmon trout, two foot long, yet he
durst not adventure on the main school for breaking his net.
Likewise, two men with axes and such like weapons have taken and
killed near the shore and brought home forty [fish] as great as cod
in two or three hours space....

There was a hint that the Virginia Company was interfering with free
ocean