FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 121 



During the period 1S95 to 1897 menhaden were scarce in the Gulf, but abundant 

 again in 189S, about 7,000,000 pounds being taken along the Maine coast. In 1902 

 the Maine catch fell to only about 300,000 pounds. In 1903, however, they were 

 again reported as very abundant north of Cape Cod, especially in Boston Harbor; 

 but from 1904 to 1921 menhaden were rare north of Cape Cod, and some years a 

 few schools were seined in Massachusetts and on the Maine coast while during 

 other summers very few were seen. After 20 years of scarcity, however, they 

 reappeared in great abundance in the southwest part of the Gulf in the summer 

 of 1922, and by the first week in August many schools had been seen along the outer 

 shore of Cape Cod. Eighteen steamers fished successfully for some weeks in Massa- 

 chusetts Bay, and menhaden were reported as plentiful at least as far north as 

 Boothbay Harbor, where about 2,500 barrels were frozen. The fact that upwards 

 of 1,500,000 pounds were landed by the larger fishing vessels besides what the small 

 boats brought in will give some idea of their abundance in the Gulf during the 

 summer in question, but no large schools were reported east of Boothbay Harbor. 



The appearance of menhaden in such abundance in the Gulf after so many 

 years' absence prompted the Bureau of Fisheries to send the steamer Halcyon to 

 Massachusetts Bay in August for an investigation of this phenomenon. A 

 preliminary examination of the towings revealed the presence of much greater 

 quantities of diatoms than is usual at that season, showing that the fish found a 

 better pasture in Massachusetts Bay than in any summer since 1912, but this 

 evidence hardly warrants the definite conclusion that it was an unusually rich 

 food supply that attracted them past Cape Cod. 



The menhaden is a summer fish with us, all reports agreeing that in its years 

 of plenty it appears about mid-May in Massachusetts Bay and during the last 

 weeks of May or the first part of June off the Maine coast, and that more and more 

 continue to appear for a month after the first fish arrive. Pogies are most abundant 

 during July, August, and in early September, after which few are seen. Most of 

 them depart from the coast of Maine by the middle of October, and from the Massa- 

 chusetts Bay region by early November, while by the middle of that month it 

 would be unusual to find a single menhaden along these shores. 



The universal belief among fishermen that the seasonal appearance and dis- 

 appearance of menhaden in the Gulf of Maine result from a definite migration from 

 the south around Cape Cod in the spring and a return journey in the autumn 

 is probably well founded, for, unlike the herring, it is a warm-water fish, and our 

 study of the temperature of the Gulf of Maine corroborates earlier observations to 

 the effect that it never appears in spring until the coastwise water has warmed to 

 50° or more, or in abundance until the temperature is several degrees higher than 

 this, which is in accord with Bean's (1903) experience that menhaden will not 

 survive in an aquarium if the water chills below 50°. No doubt it is the falling 

 temperature of autumn that forces the menhaden to leave the bays of northern 

 New England. 



It is generally believed that the Gulf of Maine fish round Cape Cod and travel 

 westward in then autumn migrations 26 as far as the eastern end of Long Island, 



'« Smith, 1896, p. 299. 



