FART III. 



THE MACKEREL FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY G. BUOTVN GOODS AND J. W. COLLINS. 



1. THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY. 



The purse-seine has come into general use since 1850, and with its introduction the methods 

 of the mackerel fishery have been totally revolutionized. The most extensive changes, however, 

 have taken place since 1870, for it is only during the last ten years that the use of the purse-seine 

 has been at all universal. As late as 1878 a few vessels have fished with the old apparatus in the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and also a few on the coast of New England. Such changes in the manner 

 of fishing for mackerel have brought about also a change in the fishing grounds. Vessels fishing 

 in the old style were most successful in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but the purse-seine can be 

 used to very much better advantage along our own shores between Cape Hatteras and the Bay of 

 Fundy. 



The mackerel fleet in 1879 and 1880 was owned almost entirely by Massachusetts and Maine, 

 a, very few vessels from New Hampshire and Connecticut also participating. The distribution of 

 the vessels in the mackerel fleet, their tonnage, and the number of men employed are shown below 

 in the tables prepared by Mr. E. Edward Earll. 



1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



In the spring, from March to the 1st of June, the mackerel seiners cruise between the capes 

 of the Chesapeake and the South Shoal of Nantncket. The mackerel are first encountered off 

 Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, from 20 to 50 miles from the laud, and gradually move northward, 

 followed by the fleet. When off (he coasts of New Jersey, Long Island, and Block Island, the fish 

 usually draw closer in to the land, frequently approaching within 1 or 2 miles of the shore. During 

 the summer and fall months the principal seining ground for mackerel is in the Gulf of Maine, 

 from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod; the immediate vicinity of Mount Desert Rock, Matiuicns 

 Eock, Monhegan Island, Cape Elizabeth, Boone Island, and Massachusetts Bay being favorite locali- 

 ties. Good catches of mackerel are frequently made in summer on George's Bank, and, within the 

 past few years, near Block Island. Though mackerel have at times been taken in seines in the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence, so little, comparatively, has been done in this locality that it can scarcely 

 be classed among the grounds generally resorted to by the mackerel seiners. In a large majority 

 of cases the mackerel schooners which have gone to the gulf within the last six or seven years have 

 met with decided failures, and in 1880 several returned home from there without a single barrel 



of fish. 



2. THE FISHEEMEN. 



The mackerel fleet contains a larger percentage of American-born fishermen than any other. 

 The 113 mackerel vessels from Gloucester in 1879. were manned by l,-l.j8 men, of whom si'I were 



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