CHAPTER XIV 



THE MACKEREL FISHERY IN RECENT YEARS 



For the last forty years no branch of our fisheries has 

 occupied so public a position as that held by the mackerel 

 fishery. This prominence is due largely to legislation, both 

 domestic and foreign, that has been enacted in reference 

 to the fishery. The industry does not possess one tenth 

 the value that it had twenty-five years ago. Yet it holds 

 the attention still, not only for what it has been but also for 

 the possibilities that it possesses. The mackerel is the 

 mysterious fish of the sea. Its habits have been closely and 

 scientifically studied ; its yearly haunts have been noted and 

 visited by fishermen for generations; experts have been 

 detailed by the National Government to examine into its 

 methods of propagation with the hope of increasing arti- 

 ficially the number of the fish in the sea; many devices 

 for its capture have been invented, from the fish-pole, the 

 gaff and the jig of earlier times to the wholesale methods 

 of nets and seines ; improvement in craft structure and mo- 

 tive power have gone along with improved methods of 

 capture; ice-houses now take the place of the well-boats of 

 ante-bellum days, while the speed of schooners has been 

 increased by sharpening and deepening the hull, by spread- 

 ing more sail, and by employing auxiliary motor power. 



Because the mackerel is the mysterious fish of the sea is 

 the reason for many of the changes in the methods employed 

 in taking the fish. Fishermen must be prepared for any 

 emergency. With them, the race is in most cases with the 

 swift. The uncertainty of appearance of the schools of 



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