29(5 HISTOllY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



tern for that purpose. The mackerel caught in this manner are always carried fresh to the shore, 

 and are intended chiefly for the supply of the markets of the large cities. They are packed in 

 barrels, and may or may not be gibbed through the gills before reaching shore. A vessel setting 

 a long string of nets may catch as much as 50 barrels of mackerel in a night, but ordinarily not 

 more than 5 or 10 barrels, frequently less. The barrels are carried on deck, and the fish are 

 put in them as soon as they are removed from the nets. When the weather is warm the barrels 

 are filled with ice-water. Besides the mackerel caught, considerable quantities of shad and ale- 

 wives are taken in these nets. On an excursion made by one of the authors from Portland in 

 1873, besides 6 barrels of mackerel there were caught with a small string of uets about 40 fine 

 shad, averaging 2 pounds each, and 300 or 400 of that species of alewivcs known to the Portland 

 fishermen by the names of "kyack," "cat-thresher," "saw-belly," or "blue-back," probably iden- 

 tical with the glut-herring (Clupea cestivalis) of the Chesapeake basin, the summer alewives occa- 

 sionally taken in New England rivers. On this occasion the mackerel were feeding extensively 

 on various entomostraca, with which the water was filled, and which imparted to it a vivid phos- 

 phorescence all night long. The presence of these animals, and of others more minute, causes the 

 water and the nets to "fire" in such a manner as often to render them so visible to the fish that 

 they successfully avoid contact with the twine. 



The mackerel caught at Proviucetowu in gill nets are brought in by the boats, and shipped 

 by the fishermen to Boston in vessels devoted specially to this business, the owners of which 

 receive a percentage upon the amount of their sales. 



The crew of a Maine mackerel-dragger consists generally of two to four men, the vessels being 

 usually owned by the fishermen. 



2. HISTORY OF MACKEREL GILL-NETTING. 



The custom of dragging for mackerel, though practiced for centuries in Europe,* appears to 

 have been first used in this country at Provincetowu about the year 1841, where it is still prose- 

 cuted to a considerable extent in addition to the stationary gill net fishery which has been 



* For convenience of c<nni>;iri.son the following description of drift-net fishing for mackerel on the coast of Eng- 

 land is quoted from Yarrell's British Fishes: 



"The most common mode of fishing for mackerel, and the way in which the greatest numbers are taken, is by 

 drift-nets. The drift-net is '20 feet deep by 120 feet long; well corked at the top, but without lead at the bottom. 

 They are made of small h'ue twine, which is tanned of a reddish brown color to preserve it from the action of the salt 

 water, and it is thereby rendered much more durable. 



"The size of tins mesh is about2i iuches, or rather larger. Twelve, fifteen, and sometimes eighteen of these nets 

 are attached lengthways by tying along a thick rope, called the drift-rope, and the cuds of each net to each other. 

 When arranged for depositing in the sea, a large buoy attached to the end of tlie drift rope is thrown overboard, the 

 vessel is put before the wind, and, as she sails along, the rope with the nets thus attached is passed over the stern 

 into the water till the whole of the uets are thus thrown out. The nets thus deposited hang suspended in the water 

 perpendicularly, 20 feet deep from the drift-rope and extending from three-quarters of a mile to a mile, or even a mile 

 and a half, depending on the number of uets belonging to the party or company engaged in fishing together. When 

 the whole of the nets are thus handed out, the drift-rope is shifted from the stern to the bow of the vessel, and she 

 lides by it as at anchor. The benefit gained by the boats hanging at the end of the drift-rope is that the net is kept 

 strained in a straight Hue, which, without this pull upou it, would not be the case. The nets are 'shot' in the evening, 

 and sometimes hauled once during the night; at others, allowed to remain iu the water all night. The fish roving 

 in the dark through the water hang iu the meshes of the nets, which are large enough to admit them beyond the gill- 

 covers and pectoral fins, but not large enough to ,*llow the thickest part of the body to pass through. In the morning 

 early preparations are uuide for hauling the nets. A capstan on the deck is manned, about which two turns of 

 drift-rope are taken: one man stands forward to untie the upper edge of each net from the drift-rope, which is called 

 casting off th' j lashings; others haul the net iu with the fish caught, to which one side of the vessel is devoted; the 

 other side is occupied willi the drift-rope, which is wound iu b^ the men at the capstan." (The History of British 

 Fishes, first edition, 1831), vol. 1, pp. r>ii, 1-J7.J 



