THE MACKEREL FISHERY 263 



the year. But any year it may happen that conditions are 

 just right for the fishermen plenty of mackerel to be found, 

 favorable weather, good markets, and ease in taking the fish. 

 When such a season exists the captain and crew make good 

 wages and the vessel owners may have a share large enough 

 to pay for the first cost of the vessel. Although the state 

 of the mackerel fishery is now in a depressed condition it 

 does not signify that the fishery will cease ; it may be only 

 the ebb-tide of a prosperity that has had periodical fluctua- 

 tions since the beginning of the fishery ninety years ago. 



When considered from its economic point of view the 

 mackerel fishery since the Civil War may be separated easily 

 into two periods. The first twenty years were years of con- 

 tinued prosperity. The prosperous state of the mackerel 

 fishery had its beginning in 1845, after a decade of depres- 

 sion. There was a short period of depression from 1855 

 to 1860, but not serious. The prosperity of the fishery 

 culminated during the Civil War when the country's catch 

 of mackerel exceeded $6,000,000 in value in a single year. 

 Between 1845 and 1885 the number of barrels of salt 

 mackerel annually marketed never fell below 100,000 bar- 

 rels. During twelve of these years, at least, the number 

 was in excess of 300,000 barrels. The lowest catch of the 

 New England fleet from 1867 to 1885 was 117,096 barrels, 

 in the year 1877. The greatest catch of salt mackerel was 

 in 1884, there being 478,076 barrels, the largest quantity 

 ever caught in a year in the history of the fishery. Dur- 

 ing the first twenty years after the war, the quantity of 

 the catch varied from year to year, as is usual with this 

 industry. But the average held up well, it being about 

 215,000 barrels yearly. The total catch from 1867 to 1885 

 inclusive was 4,071,705 barrels of salt mackerel. 1 



Beginning with the year 1886 and continuing to the pres- 

 ent day the mackerel fishery shows a remarkable and in- 



i Compiled from the Boston Fish Bureau Reports. 



