454 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Large catch of pollock. — Capt. S. J. Martin, iu a letter date'l 

 Gloucester, Mass., November 11, 18S5, wrote : 



The vessels using cod gill-nets, 32 in number, are doing well catch- 

 ing pollock. The most pollock ever received at Gloucester have been 

 landed during the last four weeks. They have been of very large size, 

 averaging 22 pounds. I think these pollock have been on the ground 

 a hundred years, or perhaps ii great while longer, yet nobody knew it 

 until the cod gill-nets were used. There will be 400 men getting a living 

 by catching pollock and cod iu gill-nets. The pollock of large size will 

 not bite a hook. That has been tried this fall to everybody's satisfaction. 

 I have not seen one pollock of that size taken with a hook. The hand- 

 liners gave it up in disgust. 



Shad, pollock, bill-fish, etc., at Cape Cod. — Under date of 

 January 2, 18S6, Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, who had just returned from a 

 trip on Cape Cod, reports, from Wood's Holl, Mass., as follows : 



Messrs. C. K. Sullivan and S. D. Rich, of the Xorth western Weir 

 Company, at North Truro, caught in their traps this fall SQ white shad 

 and about 200 hickory shad {Clupea mediocris). Capt. Thomas Smith, 

 of the East Harbor Weir Comj)any, said they caught 60 white shad and 

 about 100 hickory shad. The seven weirs at North Truro each took 

 similar or relative numbers. What they called deep sea shad were the 

 common white shad {Clupea sapid isslnia). Some of the men say they 

 catch about the same number every fall in November, while others say 

 they never caught them before at this season. All the traps are set in 

 40 feet of water at high tide, and are about a mile from shore. Some of 

 these shad brought in the market as much as $1 apiece, as they were 

 large and fat. Going over to Provincetown, the fish-trap men there said 

 they caught about the same number of shad as at Truro. They say 

 that eighteen or twenty years ago shad were very abundant in the fall, 

 and large numbers were caught in the weirs and salted, selling for a 

 good price during the winter, but not bringing much fresh, but that 

 recently few have been taken, yet always more in f^ill than spring. 



There was a good run of small pollock about 12 to 14 inches long, 

 some of the traps taking as high as 200 barrels at a haul. Mr. C. K. 

 Sullivan sent 75 sugar-barrels of them to Boston at one time and got $o 

 a barrel. They had had the weir full every day for about two weeks, 

 and had turned them all out, until one man shipped 5 barrels to try the 

 mai ket, and received -S7 per barrel. After that these fish were marketed, 

 bat they were striking off the const then, so that comparatively few 

 more were taken. 



There was also a good run of bill-lish, some of the weirs being so full 

 that the nets were let down on the bottom to turn the lish out. This 

 Mas during the last of November, the run lasting about two weeks. As 

 many as 500 barrels were thought to be on hand at one time. They 

 were larger than usual, and wouhl not go through the mesh of the net. 



