1 6 4 A M ERIC AN FISHES. 



It seems probable that the natural northern limit of the species in the 

 Western Atlantic is not far from the Straits of Belle Isle. Prof. Packard, 

 who visited this region in 1866, recorded that a few Mackerel were taken 

 in August in Salmon Bay and Red Bay, but that the Straits of Belle Isle 

 is evidently the northern limits of the genus, while Fortin, one of the 

 best Canadian authorities on fisheries, in his annual report for 1864, 

 stated that in summer they appear in some places, such as Little Mecattina, 

 on the adjoining coast, latitude 50J4 north, and even sometimes enter 

 tlie Straits of Belle Isle. 



The Mackerel, then, would appear to be a shoredoving fish, not ad- 

 dicted to wide wanderings in the ocean, and with range limited in the 

 Western Atlantic between latitudes 35 and 56 ; in the Eastern Atlantic 

 between 36 and 71 . 



The migrations of the Mackerel, the causes of their appearance and 

 disappearance at certain seasons at different points along the coast, the 

 causes of their relative abundance and scarcity in different years, have 

 previously been discussed by numerous writers. The subject has received 

 special attention on account of the disputes between our own and the 

 Canadian Government concerning the value to our fishermen of the right 

 to participate in the mackerel fisheries in the Provincial waters. 



Notwithstanding the great amount of paper which has been covered 

 with theories to explain the various mooted questions, it cannot be said 

 that the habits of the Mackerel are understood at all better than those of 

 other fishes which have not attracted so much attention. The most volu- 

 minous writer upon this subject has been Prof. Henry Youle Hind, who 

 devotes many pages of his book, "The Effect of the Fishery Clauses of 

 the Treaty of Washington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of British 

 North America," to the attempt to prove that the Mackerel which have 

 been at certain seasons in the past so abundant in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence and on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia remain there throughout 

 the year, hibernating in deep waters not very remote from the shore. I 

 have attempted to show the weakness of his arguments in an essay pub- 

 lished in the Fifth Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of 

 Fisheries for the year 1877, pp. 50-70. It is by no means demonstrated 

 that certain schools of Mackerel do not remain throughout the year in 

 waters adjacent to the coast of Canada, but the weight of evidence at 

 present seems to rest with those who believe that the Mackerel are given. 



