THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 353 



fishery is practically inexhaustible; that the habits of the species have not been changed by the 

 fishery, and that so far from making it difficult to obtain bait, the large fishery made, it easier, cap- 

 turing it in great masses and selling it to the fishermen in any desired quantity cheaper than they 

 could obtain it for themselves. 



The absence of the menhaden from the Maine coast has rendered protective legislation useless 

 there, though in New Jersey and other States there is still considerable opposition to the wholesale 

 capture of these fish by the use of steamers. A Congressional committee has recently investigated 

 the subject, and in their report recommend: "First, that the use of purse-seines and pound-nets, 

 fyke or weir, in the waters of the Atlantic outside of low-water mark, be absolutely prohibited 

 within 3 miles of the shore prior to the 1st day of June iu each year south of a line drawn east 

 from the south cape of Chesapeake Bay, and prior to the 1st day of July north of that line, with 

 suitable penalties for any violation of the law in this respect; second, that the use of meshes in 

 such nets of less than 1 inches in size, bar measure, should iu like manner be prohibited at all 

 seasons, so as to prevent the taking of young and immature fish." 



MENHADEN BAIT AS AN ARTICLE OF COMMERCE AND THE CONSIDERATION OF ITS VALUE, BY 



THE HALIFAX COMMISSION OF 1877. 



THE EXPORT OF BAIT TO THE DOMINION. Allusion has been made to the extensive exporta- 

 tion of menhaden for use in the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada. 



The evidence of several witnesses at the Halifax Commission shows that menhaden bait was 

 preferred to any other kind by the Provincial fishermen. It is said that a considerable number of 

 the vessels of the New England fleet fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence were accustomed to 

 carry partial cargoes of salted menhaden to sell in the Straits of Canso. There are, however, no 

 satisfactory statistics of this exporting trade. This is doubtless due to the fact that every mack- 

 erel vessel carries twenty barrels or more of salt slivered fish, and there being no law requiring 

 their entry in the custom-house or. for reporting sales after the return of the vessel, no one has the 

 data upon which to found au estimate. More than 5,000 barrels of slivered menhaden, worth more 

 than $30,000, were carried to Dominion waters during the season of 1878. Many vessels doubt- 

 less expended nil the bait which they carried; many others sold their surplusage to the Provincial 

 mackerelmen. It is probable that these sales amounted to not more than $8,000 or $10,000, and 

 very possibly they are even less extensive. 



THE CLAIM OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. The subject of the alleged trade in menhaden 

 bait was referred to frequently in the course of the proceedings of the Halifax Commission of 1877. 

 The subject was first introduced by the English counsel in the "Case of Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment,"* as follows: 



"The question of bait must now be considered, as some importance may, perhaps, be attached 

 by the United States to the supposed advantages derived in this respect by British subjects. It 

 might appear at first sight that the privilege of resorting to the inshores of the Eastern States to 

 procure bait for mackerel fishing was of practical use. Menhaden are said to be found only in the 

 United States waters, and are used extensively in the mackerel fishing, which is often successfully 

 pursued with this description of bait, especially by its use for feeding and attracting the shoals. 

 It is, however, by no means indispensable; other fish-baits, plentiful in British waters, are quite as 

 successfully used iu this particular kind of fishing business, and very generally in other branches, 

 both of deep sea and inshore fishing, as, for example, fresh herrings, alewives, capelin, sandlaunce, 

 smelts, squids, clams, and other small fishes caught chiefly with seines close in shore. British fish- 



Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, Appendix A, p. 28. 

 SEC V 23 



