252 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Halibut. — The vessels fishing on George's Banks are doing well. 

 There are thirty-one vessels engaged in halibut fishing. Gloncester has 

 a large fleet in the business. Fresh halibut sold last week at 3^ cents 

 per pound. 



Mackerel. — Ninety sail of the mackerel fleet are ofi" Chatham, where 

 large mackerel, full of spawn, are caught. Five hundred barrels of 

 mackerel that were caught in weirs were shipped from Nova Scotia 

 last week. The mackerel that are caught at Nova Scotia are also large. 

 The first mackerel caught in weirs at Nova Scotia last year was on May 

 20 against May 16, this year. Most of the vessels of the southern mack- 

 erel fleet are at home. They did not make large catches. The 340 

 barrels of herring caught in traps last week were sold to the fisihermen 

 for bait. 



Menhaden. — The following extract is from the Boston Daily Adver- 

 tiser, of Friday morning, May 23, 1884 : 



"A correspondent says that Mount Hope Bay and Taunton Eiver 

 have been visited by a tremendous mass of menhaden, the like of v.hich 

 has not been reported for a long time. They came unexpectedly, as 

 few had been noticed till recently. This irruption of menhaden may, 

 perhaps, account for the sudden departure of the scup. They abound 

 all over the bay, but generally move in immense schools, one of which 

 was playing around the piers of the iron railway bridge, and made the 

 river below the bridge, in some places, almost solid. Captain Springer, 

 an old fisherman employed at the draw, estimated the school at the 

 bridge to contain 1,0U0 barrels at least. Capt. C. C. Winslow, who 

 passed up from below with the fishing schooner Peuekese, reports that 

 Seconet Eiver, below the Stone Bridge and Gould Island, is almost 

 solid with menhaden." 



Gloucester, Mass., May 24, 1884. 



Salmon. — A salmon weighing 21^ pounds was caught in a trap at 

 Kettle Island on May 21. 

 Gloucester, Mass., May 24, 1884. 



Monthly Summary. — During the month of May there were one 

 hundred and sixty-two arrivals from George's Banks, landing 2,724,000 

 pounds of salt codfish, and 82,000 i)ounds of halibut ; thirteen arrivals 

 from Western Bank, landing 1,120,000 pounds of salt codfish and 

 69,420 i^ouuds of fresh halibut ; twenty-six arrivals from the Banks, land- 

 ing 594,000 pounds of halibut ; and twenty arrivals with 436,000 pounds 

 of shore fish, one-fourth each of cod, haddock, hake, and cusk. There 

 were also the following arrivals : Twenty-six arrivals with 1,055,000 

 pounds of pollock f twenty-eight arrivals with 3,780 barrels of salt 

 mackerel. 



There were 392 barrels of herring and 132,000 pounds of haddock 

 caught in trajjs in the harbor last month. The pollock were caught 

 with seine off Chatham. In May of last year 500,000 pounds of cod- 



