BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 461 



the sound have caught as many as 300,000 in one week. The eastern 

 steamers catch more there than ours do here, though all do well. We 

 commenced on May 14, but find the fish almost naked of oil. They yield 

 from 2 to 3 quarts per 1,000, being hardly worth pressing. I opened 

 menhaden repeatedly within the last four weeks. All were completely 

 void of spawn; not a particle was found in them. According to this, 

 these fish must have spawned where they came from, and have been 

 starving on account of the cold season having produced no food for them, 

 or the cold winter having destroyed it. I have requested our captains 

 to make a daily note of the progress of the spawn. According to the 

 high wages paid to the fishermen the season looks very gloomy for profits 

 unless the fish fatten up, but at present it looks bad. The water is as 

 cold as ice, as if the coast was surrounded by icebergs. 

 New York, June 4, 1883. 



The weather has been a great hindrance to catching menhaden thus 

 far this season, but from all accounts they are everywhere. The Church 

 firm is getting its menhaden factory in order, expecting fish there this 

 year, as very large bodies of fish have gone in that direction. Their 

 steamers loaded up on the 0th instant at Nomau's Land as deep as they 

 could swim, but the great bulk of that immense body of fish went East. 

 Our fleet here is doing fairly when the Avegither permits, but although 

 the fish of a new run are unprecedentedly big, they are poor in oil, which 

 is a mystery to all concerned. Our catch at the Barren Island works 

 and the oil yield has been as follows : 



Dates. 



May 10 to 20 



May 21 to 26 



May 27 to June 2 



June 4 lo 9 



June 11 to 16 



Number of 

 fish. 



Average 



viel<l of oil 



per 1,000 ti.-h. 



Gallons. 

 1, 0?5, 000 i 0.75 



710, 300 

 1,706,000 



802, GOO 

 1, 330, 9u0 



0.72 

 0.71 

 1.33 

 1.00 



New York, June 20, 1883. 



Big fat menhaden have appeared again on the coast of Maine. One 

 old steamer in three days caught 300,000, averaging over 12 gallons per 

 thousand, while our fish continue the poorest on record. Menhaden are 

 abundant all over the coast, and our yield of oil here has not exceeded 

 1.71 gallons per thousand. On the coast of Rhode Island and off the 

 eastern end of Long Island there are more fish than there are about 

 here, and their quality is better, yielding about three gallons per thous- 

 and. 



Bluefish are not very pleutiful. Our catch of sharks this year is 

 immense, and the presence of these ferocious animals in such large 

 bodies may account somewhat for the scarcity of bluefish. 



New York, September 14, 1883. 



