468 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Beyond those limits we have found no fish. A comparison of a fishing 

 chart of 1878 with one of 1883 shows great changes for so short a time. 

 During the spring large schools of red snappers come inshore — perhaps 

 after small fishes — but they swim at the surface, and cannot be taken 

 with hook and line. The Key West grouper fishermen have been able 

 to catch but few fish of late. They say that their grounds, which ex- 

 tend from Key West to Cedar Keys, are worn out. As other and 

 improved means are adopted to secure fish, there will no doubt prove 

 to be a sufficient supply for a long time, but when we find them disap- 

 pearing so fast before our comparatively small fishery we are inclined 

 to look farther into the future than we otherwise would. 



Should the Albatross come this way I will take pleasure in doing 

 anything that I can to forward the exploration, and, if my personal 

 services would be acceptable, can direct her to all of the fishing 

 grounds, &c. 



1 will undertake to do something at once in regard to the collection 

 of porpoises. Xearly every day at sea they play about the smacks and 

 could be easily harpooned. I do not think that there are any harpoons 

 in the city, but will look around to-morrow. There are seemingly at 

 least three kinds of porpoises, besides the so-called black fish, sperm- 

 whale, and finback whale. The larger porpoise, uniform brown, lives 

 in the bays and at sea, sometimes straggling a mile or so up fresh- 

 water rivers. The two smaller kinds, one plain brown and the other 

 mottled with white, live exclusively at sea, I think. 



Whales seldom come inside of 40 fathoms of water, but black fish are 

 seen within a half mile of the beach. 



Pensacola, Fla., May 5, 1883. 



12© — PROPOSED LIMITATION OF ."»» fcrvil ADEN FISHING TO JILV 



1, AND OF MACKEREL FISHING TO JIM! 15 OCCURRENCE OF 



HERRING. 



By W. A. ABBE. 



[From letters to Prof. S. F. Bainl.] 



It seems to me that an easy way to settle the dispute between the 

 shore fishermen, or the amateur fishermen on the Jersey coast, and our 

 menhaden fisheruieu is to pass a general law refusing to grant fishing 

 or coasting licenses to menhaden fishermen before July 1 of each year. 

 This would allow the fish to settle on their feeding grounds, and I am 

 confident that they would return to the Maine coast. 



New Bedford, Mass., September 7, 1882. 



I have recently conversed with a good many owners and fishermen 

 from Booth Bay to Portland, and have been surprised to find such a 

 general sentiment in favor of a law restricting the catching of mackerel 

 before June 15. I am assured also that the same sentiment exists at 



