DECADENCE OF DEEP-SEA FISHERIES 287 



tons mark only once. Beginning with 1870, there was a 

 revival of the fisheries which reached a climax in 1873, 

 when 109,519 tons were employed. The total tonnage fell 

 off immediately to 78,290 tons in 1874, but kept above the 

 70,000 tons mark until 1890, averaging 87,000 tons yearly. 1 



The tonnage in 1890 was 68,367 tons. For the next seven 

 years there was little change. In 1898, there was a de- 

 cline to 52,327 tons, and in 1899 to 50,679 tons, the lowest 

 tonnage employed in the cod and mackerel fisheries of 

 the country since the close of our last war with Great 

 Britain in 1816. Since 1899, there has been a yearly in- 

 crease to the 61,439 tons for 1906. 



The tonnage employed in the cod and mackerel fish- 

 eries is made up of enrolled vessels, and licensed vessels 

 under twenty tons. The fluctuations in the total tonnage 

 from year to year have been principally in the class of 

 enrolled vessels, that is, those that engage in the deep-sea 

 fisheries. The year of greatest tonnage for enrolled ves- 

 sels was 1873, when 1,558 vessels had a total of 99,542 

 tons. In 1899, the 545 vessels of this class aggregated 

 42,901 tons, the lowest tonnage on record. From 1867 

 to 1887, inclusive, the number employed was always above 

 a thousand vessels. Since that time the number never 

 has been above 968. The number of enrolled vessels em- 

 ployed in the cod and mackerel fisheries in 1906 was 560 

 vessels. The average tonnage of vessels of this class is 

 a little above eighty tons. 



Taking the last forty-four years as a whole it is easily 

 seen that there are two well-defined periods. The first, 

 from 1866 to 1885, is one of general prosperity in the 

 amount of tonnage employed in the cod and mackerel 

 fisheries. Yet even this better period is considerably 

 below that period of greatest prosperity which had its be- 

 ginning in the year 1845 and extended through 1865. The 



i Compiled from An. Reports, Commissioner of Navigation. 



