J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 431 



summer, provides that^^A oil shall be admitted free, but that 

 other oils shall pay a duty of ten per cent. This question is 

 one that would be very easy of solution if it were purely zoo- 

 logical in its character, since, as every one does or should 

 know, the seal and porpoise, as well as the w^hale, are w^arm- 

 blooded mammalia, having nothing in common with the fish 

 any more than has the man who, for the time being, goes 

 into the water for the purpose of bathing. It appears, how- 

 ever, to be the general practice with commercial nations to 

 class all oils obtained from marine objects, whether cetace- 

 ans, birds, or fishes, as fish oil, and on this ground it is pos- 

 sible that the claim of the Newfoundland authorities to have 

 seals recognized as fish will be accepted. /St. Johii's Chron- 

 icle, February 25, 1873. 



GLOUCESTER WINTER HERRING FISHERY. 



According to the Cape Aim Light, the trade from Glou- 

 cester in Newfoundland herring came to a close about the 

 end of March, when the last vessel arrived. The number of 

 Gloucester vessels engaged in the business during the season 

 was eighteen, these beginning the voyage during the closing 

 week of November and early in December. The business 

 was about equal to that of last year, but very much less than 

 that of previous years, the number of vessels at one time 

 in 1863-64 having been thirty-nine. 



One schooner, wnth a crew of seven men, was lost during 

 the season. According to a table given in the article quoted 

 from, the average number of Cape Ann vessels employed 

 since 1856 amounted to twenty-two, and the average loss 

 per year to $8200. 



EMDEN HERRING FISHERY OF 18*72. 



According to the report of the German Flscherei-Verei7i, 

 the vessels engaged in the herring fisheries sent out from 

 the town of Emden into the North Sea, not far from the 

 coast of Scotland and the Shetland Islands, completed their 

 work for the season early in January, and the results, al- 

 though inferior to those of previous years, were considered 

 fairly satisfactory. These vessels, six in number, were occu- 

 pied from the middle of June, each making about four trips, or 

 twenty four in all. The proceeds of the whole amounted to 



