BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 267 



it quickly), but I could not get away from them, and was glad to flud 

 they were weakflsli. I took about 20 tons of them and carried thera at 

 once to Fulton Market, New York, and sold them for edible tish. At 

 the same time two other steamers made hauls of the same and sold 

 theirs in the same way. 



I have been engaged in menhaden fishing for thirteen jeavs and 

 for six years have been master of a steamer iu that business, and in my 

 judgment, during that time, not one fish of one thousand of those which 

 have been rendered into fertilizers was an edible tish, unless the menha- 

 den themselves are called such. 



2. Assuming that menhaden are the chief food of the bluefish, and iu 

 part of the weakfish, bonito, cod, and bass, do our steamers render those 

 edible fish scarce by driving off or catching up the menhaden "? 



That is a question which every one engaged in the busmess is inter- 

 ested in asking. 



I am entirely satisfied with the position taken by Professors Baird, 

 Huxley, Goode, and others, that all the menhaden that man has ever 

 caught in any one year have been but as a drop in the bucket compared 

 to those which are annually destroyed by the bluefish and sharks, and 

 their other natural enemies. 



Some years, when with a sail- gear, I have found less fish than in 

 other years, but since I have been in a steamer, my cruising has been 

 more extended and I can't say that I have seen less fish in any one year 

 than in another. During the season of 1881 I cruised from Cape Hen- 

 lopen to Montauk Point, and in my judgment as many fish came on to 

 coast in the spring as I ever saw iu a spring before, and although the 

 fish were in different localities from what they sometimes are, I think 

 I saw as many menhaden that season as ever before. 



2. Does the cruising of our steamers drive the menhaden from any 

 part of the coast f I believe it does not. 



Although it is true that menhaden do oftentimes seem to be shy, and 

 do not show up as well as at others, and although you may by rowing 

 ahead of or around a small school cause them to sink below the surface, 

 and that they will then change their position before showing uj) again, and 

 although when you make a stab at one side of a school it may turn just 

 far enough to clear your seine and then pursue its course ; yet it is my 

 opinion, and so far as I know it is the universal opinion of fishermey, 

 that when a large body of fish is coming upon the coast, or is located 

 upon the coast, or at sea, there is no such thing as stoi:)ping them or 

 varying their course by nets or boats or steamers or by any other means 

 that we know of. 



We cannot explain the movements of the menhaden. 



During most of the season of 1881 they were on the coast of Kew Jersey, 

 and most of the fishing fleet were there, but the menhaden did not leave. 

 It is said that edible tish were scarce on the coast during 1881, but it 



