460 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



New York, aud there was at oue time upward of 15,000,000 mackerel 

 lying around tbe wharves in the vicinity of Fulton Market. Those 

 mackerel were unloaded there just as fast as possible. Men, women, 

 and children came from all parts of the city with baskets and the 

 wagons of licensed venders, and there was no question about the price. 

 They gave a basketful for 5 or 10 cents and would load a man's wagon 

 for 25 cents. For the space of two or three weeks the poorer classts 

 had the benefit of this immense catch of mackerel. They were distrib- 

 uted all through the city. Of course it was the meaus of a large class 

 of people making money — not myself, although I am in the fish business. 

 This glut of fish interfered with my business, so to speak, but for the 

 people generally it was a great blessing, especially for the poorer class. 

 " The single fact, above stated, of itself, in regard to the mackerel 

 fishery, is conclusive. That fishery has been i)rosecuted with all tbe 

 perseverance and ingenuity aud enterprise that the fishermen of our 

 coast are capable of for one hundred years, and yet there is this enor- 

 mous take, which goes to prove that man, as a factor, is of no account 

 in depleting the waters of the ocean. Nature has provided for such an 

 immense reproduction that man cannot, with all the many contrivances 

 for catching fish, have any appreciable effect upon the total amount of 

 fish in the sea. This view I came to from examining into the facts, 

 although I had started iu favor of protective legislation. Of the statis- 

 tics that may be attainable with regard to, for instance, the mackerel 

 fisqeries, of which we have figures going back a hundred years or more, 

 and for codfish and other sea-fishes, you will find that, notwithstanding 

 the immense catch and large consumption both for food aud for other 

 purposes, these same fish in our markets to-day are just as plenty and 

 just as cheap, and I think somewhat cheaper, because of the incieased 

 facilities for catching them." 



The first mackerel catch of the season. — The schooner Ellen 

 M. Adams reached Fulton Market, New York City, April 15, ISSG, 

 with the first catch of native mackerel for the season, the take being 

 28,000 fish, caught off Cape Henry. In Fulton Market the fish sold for 

 15 cents each, the extra large ones bringing 30 cents. 



Bluefish on the coast of Nova Scotia. — Mr. Thomas A. Eich, 

 member of a. wholesale fish-dealing firm iu Boston, Mass., writing on 

 July 10, 1880, stated that they had just received some fresh bluefish 

 taken in a fish-trap at Barrington, Nova Scotia, aud that the shipper 

 reported large quantities on that coast, where they had not before been 

 seen. 



Shark flsiiing at Nantucket. — Mr. Albert A. Garduer, of Nan- 

 tucket, Mass., writing on July 13, 188G, stated that the primary object of 

 shark fishing about Nantucket was sport, the boatmen taking out par- 

 ties for this i)uri)ose. The profit arising from catching the sharks is of 

 a secondary nature. The bait used in fishing is fresh fish, if possible ; 

 otherwise, a piece of salt pork is used. The only portions of the shark 



