426 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



3. Has the use of the purse-seiue iu the past, in your opiuiou, had auy 

 itiueiK 

 coast ? 



iutiuence on the size or fatness of mackerel caught off the New England 



B. — Migrations and Movements. 



4. At what date and in what locality did you first see mackerel in 

 the sprmg of 1887 ? Was this earlier or later than usual °? 



5. At what date and in what locality did you catch the first mackerel? 



6. At what date and in what locality (approximately^ were the first 

 mackerel taken by the Southern fleet ? 



7. At what date did the mackerel disaj^pear in the fall *? Was this 

 earlier or later than usual ? 



8. At what date and where did you last see mackerel during the sea- 

 son? 



9. When the mackerel appeared in the spring, did they come (or show 

 up) in a single large school or in many smaller ones ? Were the schools 

 first seen the largest ? 



10. By what route did they come in to the coast, and what direction 

 did they take subsequently 1 



11. When going northward iu spring what was their greatest and 

 average daily speed, and in what kind of weather did they travel fast- 

 est? 



12. During their northern migrations in the spring of 1887, at what 

 date and at what distance from the shore did the main body of mack- 

 erel i)a8s the i^rincipal headlands, as follows: Cape Hatteras, Cape 

 Henry, Cape May, Sandy Hook, Montauk, Nantucket, Cape Sable, Gape 

 Canso, Cape Breton, and Cape North, Cape Breton? 



13. What were the favorite localities of the mackerel oft' the New En- 

 gland coast and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence this season ? 



14. How far from the shore have they been' seen? 



15. How close to the shore and in how shallow water ? 



16. What percentage of the mackerel caught with purse-seines on the 

 coast of the United States between the 1st of June and the close of the 

 season were taken within 3 miles of laud, and what percentage of the 

 mackerel caught by Canadian vessels and boats fishing with purse- 

 seines in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence were caught within 3 miles of land? 



17. Are the movements of the fish affected by the presence of other 

 fish preying on them? 



18. Are the movements of the fish afl'ected by the temperature, winds, 

 or currents, or by the operations of fishermen usiiig purse-seines ? 



19. How far south have you known our common mackerel to occur ? 



C. — Abundance, etc. 



20. Have mackerel increased or decreased in abundance since 1880 ? 



21. Does their cai)ture with i^urse-seines aflect their abundance? 



