BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 193 



Vol. Vff, Ifo. I». Wai^hiiijj^oia, 1>. C. Sept. 1 1, 1886. 



59.-VOIL':\« MAC'KEKKB- Ket^TROVED BY SITIAIir..:TI£.«iHE» SEIIVES. 



By U. I». CIIADWICK. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.J 



Tlic destruction of 3"ouii^ mackerel alonjj^ our coa^t by the use of fine- 

 uie-sh seines is enormous. I liad lon]^ knoAvn tliat great quantities of 

 youn-;- mackerel were destroyed by the lishermen, but I did not think 

 that the amount was so great until I had given the subject an investi- 

 gation. The number of mackerel vessels has very much diminished in 

 the last twenty years. 



The present method of our fishermen in seining mackerel is such that 

 while taking over 500,000 barrels of good sizable fish, it causes a total de- 

 struction of over 1,000,000 barrels of young fish that have grown to one- 

 third the usual size of fully matured fish. Could this number of fish be 

 protected and cauglit when full grown, the amount would be 3,000,000 

 barrels; and at the })resent price of jSTo. 1 mack^^rel ($15 per barrel) the 

 amount of $45,000,000 worth of food-fish is no small item to our people. 

 The hay crop of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts 

 is 3,150,000 tons. This crop Las a market value of $37,800,000. Kow, 

 if the farmers should destroy the hay crop annually, the effect upon 

 agriculture in these States would be disastrous; and yet the present 

 method of seining mackerel destroys $45,000,000 worth of food fish, and 

 scarcely a voice is raise<l against it. 



Mackerel vessels carry from two to four seines each. I have known 

 a single seine to destroy a hundred and fifty barrels of young mackerel 

 in a day in the taking of thirty barrels of marketable fish. If one seine 

 does injury to this amount in a single day, what must be the effect of 

 using the seines of a mackerel fleet of four hundred vessels for ninety 

 days? The ocean is large, and mackerel are prolific. The spawn of a 

 single mackerel is neaxly 500,000. Were it not for these two facts, the 

 end of mackerel fishing would soon be reached. As it is, the catch of 

 No. 1 fish is small, there being scarcely any in the market, and these 

 few selling at an exorbitant price. This condition is caused by the de- 

 struction of the young fish. 



The subject is one that seems to call for immediate attention. Our 

 fishing laws, as regards the coast fisheries, are in a bad condition, and 

 need a thorough investigation ; while all our regulations concerning 

 ocean fishing should be well known and the grounds for their existence 

 should be tborougbly understood. 



Bradford, Mass., J^dy 16, 1886. 



Bull. U. S. F. C, 86 13 



