44 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



barrel of fish, having been in provincial waters six weeks. On November 

 21, the last one of the mackerel fleet, the schooner Spencer F. Baird, 

 arrived from a six weeks' cruise in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and 

 along the IsTova Scotia shore, her trip being an entire failure, not tak- 

 ing a single mackerel ; they reported much rough weather and the only 

 mackerel seen were a few taken in nets by the Nova Scotia shore fisher- 

 men. The late fall catch off the Nova Scotia shore was almost an entire 

 failure to the native fishermen as well as to American seiners. The full 

 returns have not been received ; enough are at hand, as reported on 

 iirrival, to show a decrease of about 85,000 barrels from that of the New 

 England fleet in 1884. 



Shore herring remained from the last of September to November 8; 

 the catch was the largest for years; with full preparations, more than 

 -double the amount taken could have been secured. The catch about 

 <3ape Ann was as follows : 



Boats from Gloucester were larger and carried more nets than others 

 mentioned. 



Pollock were nearly all taken by gill-nets; aggregate 1,923,500 pounds, 

 against 965,000 pounds the corresponding month last year ; gain during 

 November of nearly one million pounds. 



Much of the time the past month fresh bait has been scarce, resulting 

 in a decrease in the George's Bank and shore catch ; squid have been 

 abundant on La Have and Brown's banks ; fish plentiful ; good fares se- 

 cured, the aggregate receipts of codfish at Gloucester being 2,978,424: 

 pounds, against 2,223,000 in November, 1884. 



Halibut receipts show a large gain. November, 1885, 058,100 pounds, 

 iigainst November, 1884, 108,400 pounds. 



Mackerel landed at Gloucester in November, 1885, 6,564 barrels; while 

 in November, 1884, it was 13,306 barrels. 



Fortune Bay herring fleet will not be so large as last season, num- 

 bering then 22 sail. Schooner Commonwealth, of Gloucester, the first 

 and only one to sail this mouth, left on November 21. The first to sail 

 in 1884 was on November 24. 



The most severe and longest storm for many years, extending the 

 entire length of the coast, began in this section on Saturday p. m., 

 November 21, and continued until Thursday night, November 26. Al- 

 though much of the time the wind blew a gale, very little damage to 

 the fishing vessels or other shipping has been reported. Vessels from 



