44 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



very fast, and if the present style of fishing is pursued will in a few years become extremely scarce, 

 if not almost extinct. Of course, in the present stage of investigation there may be a doubt whether 

 the fish are driven from their old haunts by the fishing-gear, or whether their abundance is so far 

 affected by overfishing as to offer no inducement to fishermen to resort to the "old grounds" in 

 pursuit of them. 1 incline to the opinion that both causes have their influence, but I think that 

 the latter has emphatically the greater. The inshore grounds, George's Bank, Brown's Bank, Seal 

 Island Ground, La Have, and Western Bank having been fished over, about in the order named, 

 and the halibut on them reduced from plenty to comparative scarcity, the fishermen, who were 

 not then acquainted with the deep-water fisheries, had to resort to other fishing grounds. In the 

 mean time Capt. John McKenzie made a successful trip to Scatari. His vessel lay in Menadou 

 Harbor, and he set his trawls in the narrow strait that divides Scatari Island from the mainland. 

 In this manner he obtained about 60,000 pounds of halibut. This trip I have not the exact date 

 of, but think it was in July, 1861. Since that time there have been a few fares taken in the sum- 

 mer at Flint Island and about Scatari, but as the appearance of halibut in that locality is somewhat 

 uncertain, it has never been a favorite fishing ground for large numbers of vessels. Many of the 

 fishermen doubted the practicability of bringing fresh halibut from the Grand Bank in good con- 

 dition, even after they were aware that those fish could be obtained there in large quantities. To 

 Capt. George Miner, of the schooner Hattie M. Lyons, belongs the honor of being the pioneer of 

 the fresh-halibut fisheries to the Grand Bank.* 



At first the vessels resorted to the " Eastern Shoal Water," between the parallels of 44 

 and 45 N. latitude and the meridians of 49 30' to 50 30' W. longitude, where they found 

 halibut in large numbers, but after one or two years' fishing iu this locality there was a marked 

 decrease iu the abundance of these fish, in some cases amounting even to extreme scarcity, and 

 the result was that the fishermen were obliged to seek for new fields. Some new grounds were 

 found by accident or, at least, their discovery was owing to peculiar circumstances, in which there 

 was a certain amount of chance, while the finding of others was due solely to the enterprise of the 

 fishermen. Ainoug the latter were Saint Peter's Bank, Miquelou Beach, and Pass Island, in 

 Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. Halibut were never, to my knowledge, found on Saint Peter's Bank 

 so numerous as at many other places, but as they were of superior quality and the fisheries on 

 that bank held out better than on many others, it was resorted to for several years, but finally had 

 to succumb to the fate of other fishing grounds. Halibut followed the capelin iu on Miquelou 

 Beach about the 1st of June, and at first were found there in immense numbers close to the shore, 

 and iu water so shallow that frequently they could be seeu biting the hooks. On one occasion, in 

 1868, the schooner William T. Merchant, Capt. Nelson A. McKeuney, of Gloucester, caught 40,000 

 pounds there at one set of her trawls. She got a full fare (103,450 pounds of halibut) in a few 

 days, and several other vessels, ainong which was the Carrie S. Dagle, met with good success. 

 Halibut were not nearly so plenty at the Beach the next summer, and after the second season it 

 has not been profitable to fish there, although occasionally a vessel has got one or two fair catches, 



* First fresh-halibut trip from the Grand Bank; the biggeM trip yet. We have recorded some pretty big trips the 

 present season, but the schooner Hattie M. Lyons, Capt. George Miner, which arrived 1'rom the Grand Bank on Tues- 

 day, eclipses all others iu this respect. She was absent but four weeks, and brought in about 75,000 pounds of halibut 

 and 6,000 weight of codfish, and will stock some $4,000. The crew will make fYmn s]?n to $200 apiece. The fish wen- 

 caught on the eastern part of the Bank, and are the first fresh halibut ever brought from that locality. She was a 

 fortnight on her outward passage, and was but five days catching the trip. The Hattie M. Lyons is owned by D. C. 

 Babsou & Co. and Captain Miner, who has the honor of making the biggest trip ever brought into this port. (Capo 

 Ann Advertiser, June 15, 1866.) 



The gross stock of the H. M. Lyons, whose arrival we reported last week, was $3,624. (Cape Aim Advertiser, 

 Jane 3-2, 1866.) 



