NOTES ON THE IRISH MACKEREL FISHERIES. 359 



country. America could confer no greater boon upon Ireland than in reducing the 

 tariff on Irish-cured mackerel. 



The autumn schools begin to appear on the coast about the end of July, and are soon 

 to be met with all around the British islands and in the North Sea as far as Norway. 

 They are at first of small size; some of the schools, which as a rule make their way up 

 into the large bays and creeks, being little larger than sprats. Those about a foot 

 long are taken in great numbers on hook and line. The size of the fish gradually 

 improves, and mackerel up to 2 pounds weight and 18 inches long may be met with in 

 August. The small fish are still met with. All that I have examined were sexually 

 immature. It is possible that the larger fish are those which spawned in the spring, 

 but I have failed to find any remains in the ovaries. 



As September advances the fish cease to accept bait, and net fishing is once more 

 universal. Seines are largely used, the American purse seine having become common. 

 Gill nets are also used. The season lasts much longer than the spring fishing. In 

 some cases it has gone on right through the winter; and this, combined with the facts 

 that it is carried on chiefly by local fishermen, and not by all the strangers who con- 

 gregate in the spring season, renders it a greater benefit to the country. The fresh- 

 mackerel business necessitates concentration to insure ice and transport, while the 

 pickled-mackerel trade, which is chiefly the autumn fishery, is not so limited and con- 

 sequently is prosecuted far and wide along the coast. 



It is evident that these two fisheries are a severe strain on the supply, and the 

 questions naturally arise, How long can they last? and, Ought restrictions be placed 

 on them? The one is a killing of spawning fish, but is, however, the most important 

 herring fishery; the other is the killing of fish sexually immature. The one is valu- 

 able owing to the very high prices which are to be obtained in the spring; the other, 

 though prices are not more than one-quarter as good, is valuable from its wide dis- 

 tribution on the coast and the length of the season when it can be prosecuted. In 

 America, where the mackerel fishing has been prosecuted for over 200 years, we find 

 enactments as early as 1670 prohibiting the capture of spring mackerel on account of 

 being spawning fish. In a few years later the law was repealed. In Ireland the 

 great development of the spring mackerel fishery dates back to only 30 years ago, 

 and the autumn fishing to 1887. Prior to those dates the fishery was so insignificant 

 as not to be worth mentioning in the old fishery reports. The questions which were 

 discussed on the American coast centuries ago are before us now. For the answer 

 fuller knowledge is necessary, both as to the life-history of the fish and the distribution 

 of the species. It is the one problem, and can be tackled on both sides of the wide 

 Atlantic. 



There are a few points of difference to be noted between the American and Irish 

 fisheries. In the American spring fishery the mackerel school on the surface and can 

 be seen and taken by seines. With us this is not the case until the autumn ; very 

 often the best nights for fishing are when there is no sign whatever of the fish. In the 

 American spring fishery the fishing hook and line has been largely used. With us the 

 mackerel can not be caught with bait until summer. Baiting the water, so common 

 in America, has not been found of much use on the Irish coast. In America the spring 

 and autumn fishing are continuous. On the Irish coast there is a distinct blank 

 time between the two fishings. 



