178 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Mackerel come in very slowly. What are received have been caught 

 180 miles east by south from Thatcher's Island. Most of them are 

 mixed with small ones. The schooner Charles E. Warren arrived yes- 

 terday with 100 barrels of large mackerel. The captain told me that 

 he caught 800 barrels from which he selected these, throwing overboard 

 the other 700 barrels. The rest of the fleet is doing much the same 

 way. Three hundred sail of mackerel catchers will destroy a great 

 many fish. Last year, to the 4th of August, 9G,000 barrels of mackerel 

 had been landed; this year, only 20,000 barrels. The small mackerel 

 are very plenty on George's Bank. There are a few large mackerel in 

 our harbor which are caught close to the bottom, are very fat and very 

 large. It takes only one hundred of them to fill a barrel. Mackerel 

 sold yesterday at $14 a barrel, including the barrel; last year at this 

 time they brought $7 a barrel, including the barrel. 



The cod fishermen on George's Bank are doing well whenever they 

 can get squid for bait. The captain of the schooner Lettie Hawes says 

 he never saw squid so abundant as this year. They were in large 

 schools all of last week. The captain says that pollock have never 

 before staid so late as this year. The squid keep them here. 



Porgies are plenty in the weirs at Hyannis, Chatham, and Portsmouth. 

 A salmon was caught in a trap in the harbor which weighed 9i pounds. 

 One bluefish was caught in a mackerel-net last week in the harbor. 



Gloucester, Mass., August 5, 1883. 



During the past week mackerel fishing has been better This morn- 

 ing I found that 15 mackerel vessels had arrived in the harbor, three of 

 them from the Bay of Saint Lawrence with 320 barrels of fish each The 

 other 12 had been fishing on the coast and had obtained 200 barrels 

 each. The prospect for mackerel in the Bay of Saint Lawrence is good. 

 Those caught along the shore are mostly from the eastern part of Cashe's 

 Bank, where they seem to be plenty though they do not come to the 

 surface. Those caught were seen from two to five fathoms below the 

 surface of the water. Captain King told me to-day that he has never 

 seen so many birds before in the Bay of Fundy, such as sea-geese, gan- 

 net, and hagdowns. Sharks and swordfish are also plenty. 



One schooner from the Grand Banks arrived yesterday with 290,000 

 pounds of salt cod having been absent three months. The schooner 

 Amelia S. Cole arrived yesterday with 280,000 pounds of salt cod taken 

 with hand lines on Banquereau, having been absent 11 weeks. The 

 schooner Otis P. Lord brought in 50,000 pounds of cod from George's 

 Bank, having been absent fifteen days. Little, if anything, has been 

 caught in traps during the past week. Mr. Bates caught a sturgeon in 

 his trap last Thursday which weighed 1G5 pounds. Of course mackerel 

 have been very plenty and one was shot in the Squam Biver. 



Gloucester, Mass., August 12, 1883. 



