BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 233 



essary to set more line at a time, even were it easier to do so, since a 

 single tub of trawl will often bring" up enough fisli to fill a dory. Sev- 

 eral sets of this kind can be made in a daj^ when the weather is fiivor- 

 able. 



Some of the Maine and Swampscott vessels send out only one man in 

 a dory; this usage is called "iishing single dories," and is, of course, 

 practicable only in comparatively moderate weather. 



THE MANNER OF CARING FOR THE FISH. 



As the fish are brought alongside they are pitched into the pens 

 already described. As soon as the dories are discharged and taken on 

 deck, and the vessel is under way, the men begin to dress the fish. The 

 process of dressing differs entirely from that of dressing cod; there 

 are no dressing-tables or dressing-tubs. The men distribute themselves 

 among the pens. Four or five men are engaged in rlpi)ing the fish, this 

 operation being performed by seizing the fish by the eyes or some part 

 of the head with the left hand and ripping them downward from the 

 throat. The remainder of the crew occupy themselves in taking out 

 the livers and roes, which are saved in barrels separately, and in remov- 

 ing the viscera. The fish are washed by pouring buckets of water over 

 them as they lie in the i)ens or on deck, and are packed away in the 

 hold or left on deck, unless, on account of distance Irom the land or 

 mildness of the weather, it is necessary to ice them, in which case two 

 or three men go into the hold and stow the fish away between layers of 

 ice. The fish are iced with greater or less care, according to the length 

 of time expected to elapse before the arrival of the schooner at the mar- 

 ket. All the vessels going to Le Have, George's and Cape Xegro carry 

 from five to six tons of ice each trip. 



PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE FISHERY. 



The vessels of the Gloucester fleet, in the winter of 1880-81, obtained on 

 an average 350,000 pounds of haddock, valued at $6,000. The schooner 

 " Martha C." obtained about 000,000 pounds, stocking $11,500. The 

 "Edith M. Pew" obtained 550,000 pounds, stocking about $11,000. 



Capt. S. J. Martin, of Gloucester, Mass., writes under date of Feb- 

 ruary 12, 1882, that the schooner " Martha C." arrived yesterday with 

 90,000 pounds of haddock ; she was gone eight days. Schooner " Josie 

 M. Calderwood," 85,000 iwunds, gone seven days. Schooner " H. A. Dun- 

 can," 80,000 pounds, gone seven days. Four vessels left Gloucester on 

 Saturday and were back on Wednesday, each with 40,000 pounds had- 

 dock, liaving fished one day-and-a-half. That is good and quick work. 



"Schooner 'Mystic,' Capt. John McKennon, has stocked the year 

 ending February 8, 1882, $21,003. He claims high line of the shore 

 haddocking fleet, and so far as Ave know this is the largest stock ever 

 reported in this fishery. The crew shared $780.06. In 1880 he stocked 



