274 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



had a fair catch, and remained there during the month. The herring 

 fleet numbered one hundred and fifty sail, mostlj^ small vessels, aver- 

 aging three men and six nets each, vessels having from three to twelve 

 nets according to size and number of crew. The average catch has been 

 100 barrels to a vessel, or total to September 30, 15,000 barrels. The fish 

 have remained off Wood Island much longer than usual. At the close of 

 the month fishermen were watching for them off Cape Ann, but with 

 the exception of a few scattering fish none had been caught. On Sep- 

 tember 22 and 23, 1885, 1,800 barrels of shore herring were taken iu 

 Gloucester Harbor. A few days more will probably find the fish and 

 fleet around the shores of Cape Ann. The herring are of good size and 

 quality and full of roe. 



Codfish, halibut, and mackerel, the leading salt-water food-fish, all 

 show a large decrease in receipts as compared with September, 1885. 

 Receipts of codfish at Gloucester from George's and Brown's Banks 

 show a falling off of 1,095,000 pounds; this is accounted for from ves- 

 sels having fished more on Western Bank, where fish and squid were 

 plentiful, vessels securing good fares landing 1,511,000 pounds, against 

 none from there during September, 1885. The fish from the latter bank 

 ■were of larger size and better quality than for a number of years. 



The total receipts of cod at Gloucester during the month were 2,800,000 

 pounds less than for the corresponding month last year. The extreme 

 low prices have prevented any cargoes coming in foreign bottoms, against 

 seven cargoes of over 2,000,000 pounds in September, 1885. Off the jSTew 

 England coast codfish have been more abundant than of late vears. 

 The shore catch are considered better fish and bring higher prices than 

 those from any other fishing grounds except George's Bank. Some ex- 

 tra large fish were found quite near the coast; one weighing 65 pounds 

 was taken only 3 miles from Eastern Point light, Gloucester Harbor, by 

 Capt. Jewett Wilcox, of Chicago, a summer visitor. 



The Grand Banks codfish fleet have nearly all returned to homo ports, 

 having secured full fares and met with no serious losses. 



Bait has been plentiful on the fishing banks. On Western Bank 

 squid have been very abundant, vessels taking all they wanted, often 

 leaving port without any bait, depending entirely on catching plenty 

 on the fishing grounds, in which they were not disappointed. Weirs 

 and traps at nearly all points located between New Castle, N. H., and 

 Maine ports as far as Southwest Harbor, have at all times had an 

 abundance of herring bait. At Cape Cod the weirs have had a light 

 catch of any kind of fish during most of the month. The traps in Glou- 

 cester Harbor have taken but few herring or mackerel. 



Halibut have continued scarce. The receipts show a large decrease 

 from those of the corresponding month last year. Vessels that went to 

 Iceland for halibut are returning with only partial fares, caused more 

 from having liad unfavorable weather for fishing than from a scarcity 

 of fish. 



Hake, haddock, and cusk have been found fairly abundant, the catch 

 off the eastern coast having been an average one. 



