430 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



quarters of the fleet have made losing voyages, and a considerable 

 uumber of these have only from 10 to 100 barrels for their season's 

 work. 



As an illustration of the difficulties and uncertainties attending the 

 Gulf fishery it may be stated that Capt. Eben F. Lewis arrived yester- 

 day, after spending the whole summer in the bay, with only 45 barrels 

 of mackerel. And when my brother came through Causo, August 22, 

 Capt. Solomon Jacobs was reported to have less than 100 barrels. 

 Even these had been taken recently, for Avhen Captain Jacobs was in 

 Canso to refit early in August, after having spent nearly two months 

 cruising in the Gulf, it was reported in the press that his eutire catch 

 to that time amounted to but one trout and a single mackerel. 



Cousideriug that Captain Lewis and Captain Jacobs have for the past 

 five or six years been the " high-line" mackerel fishermen of the United 

 States, and that both of them have made catches and stocks that have 

 never been equalled by any others, it will be easy to see that the failure 

 of the Gulf mackerel fishery is due to causes that may be considered 

 unsurmouutable. A better idea of this subject can, in my opinion, be 

 gained from the foregoing statements than might be obtained from a 

 great mass of data of the ordinary kind. For in the majority of cases 

 it is clearly shown that skill, tact, knowledge of the grounds, and the 

 most determined energy, have utterly failed to accomplish results that 

 might reasonably be looked for where the conditions are at all favorable. 

 It is worthy of remark that, in the mean time, the vessels on our own 

 coast — chiefly in the Gulf of Maine, a few at Block Island — have made 

 exceedingly large catches. I think it would not be an exaggeration to 

 say that 1,500 to 2,000 barrels of mackerel have, in several instances, 

 been taken by a single vessel since the middle of June. And in some 

 cases schooners have left the Gulf of Saint Lawrence almost empty, 

 and ten or twelve days later have arrived in Gloucester with a full fare — 

 300 barrels or upwards — caught ofl' our own shores. 



In this connection I desire to mention that Capt. S. J. Martin, the 

 Fish Commission agent, has done the Gloucester fishermen a very im- 

 portant service by replying to telegrams sent him from ports in the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and by acquainting the skippers of some of the 

 vessels with the state of affairs at home. Feeling assured that the in- 

 formation he sent was reliable they acted upon it, and immediately left 

 the gulf. In some instances that have come under my observation these 

 vessels arrived in Gloucester with full fares, caught in the Gulf of 

 Maine in less than two weeks after getting the news from home. It is 

 difficult to estimate correctly how much good may have been done, for 

 news sent to one skipper might influence the action of a dozen others, 

 who, knowing the first had sent a dispatch of inquiry, would naturally 

 wait to learn and profit by the reply. 



Gloucester, Mass., September 1, 1884. 



