BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 37 



not eat, but will Dot save tbem. They find them in their nets among 

 the herring, and until I came and promised to buy them, they would 

 not save one. Xow they all understand that I will buy them, and I 

 liope to pick up a few barrels of nice ones. One boat's crew came in 

 yesterday and reported a large school of mackerel in one of the coves 

 on the outside ; but there are no seines here that will answer for taking 

 mackerel, and so nothing was done about it. I think there will be one 

 mackerel seine and boat here another year, though they tell us that 

 there have been no piackerel seen about here before for several years, 

 and that they cannot be relied upon. But I am satisfied that there are 

 good mackerel about here now. I found at St. John's, Kewfouudland, 

 that the reports from all sources about the island regarding the fish 

 crop for the present season were very discouraging. One of the largest 

 dealers told me he could see nothing but starvation in prospect for many 

 •of the outports. He said they exported from St. John's alone last year 

 1,000,000 quintals of dry cod, and that the crop last year was only two- 

 thirds of a catch, and he feared this year's crop would fall far below 

 that ,• and the dealers were all very gloomy. And in passing along the 

 <;oast from St. John's to this place on the steamer we called at nineteen 

 diifereut harbors, and on the Labrador coast at six harbors, and with 

 only one exception they all reported no fish. " The poorest fishing ever 

 known in this harbor," was the universal complaint, and certainly they 

 looked as if they were telling the truth, for there was hardly anything 

 about the stages or flakes to indicate what they were used for. We took 

 •on at one harbor 125 tierces of salmon and at another 450 cases (four 

 dozen each) of canned lobsters, and should judge that the catch of 

 salmon and lobsters all along the coast had been fair, but I am told that 

 it is never large. The herring have also been very scarce and smaller 

 than usual in size, but at this point, and within G miles of this, there 

 has been a good, fair catch of herring within a few days, size large and 

 quality excellent, better to eat fresh than mackerel at this season of the 

 year. I have spoken so far only of the boat-fishing. That is what they 

 «all their shore-fishing. There are probably 1,000 sail of vessels owned in 

 j^ewfoundland and Labrador, principally on the east and the west coast 

 of Newfoundland, that are engaged exclusively in the cod fishery, and 

 from June 15 to October 15 their fishing ground is along the coast 

 of Labrador. From this fleet there have been as yet no reliable reports; 

 only rumors. But in every harbor we stopped at there was a "rumor 

 from the fleet up the coast that they were doing very poorly," and I 

 have heard here within a day or two that up to July 15 the fleet had 

 done but very little ; and as all agree that the best of the season is gone 

 when August begins, it looks very gloomy for the cod fishing of iSTew- 

 foundland. In addition to the boats used about the shore for cod fish- 

 .ing, I find in general use the Yankee invention, traps and seines, and 

 most of the fish taken this season have been taken in seines, regular 

 purse-seines, though not near so large as our mackerel seines, and they 



