BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 429 



My brotlier tells me tbat the scliools of fish about the northern part 

 of Prince Edward Island, that were taken near the last of July, were 

 composed largely of lnu^ring, comparatively few ma(;kerel being mixed 

 with them. There were enough, however, to tempt the eager fisher- 

 men to set their apparatus and to take the risk of having their seines 

 torn on the bottom. The mackerel, both there and about the southern 

 part of the island, were generally in such shallow water that they could 

 not be caught in seiues, since the latter would catch on the rocky bot- 

 tom. And it often happened that the fishermen had the mortifying ex- 

 perience of seeing their seine torn to shreds and the mackerel they had 

 surrounded making their escape through the holes, On one occasion 

 Capt. Solomon Jacobs set his seine in the shallow water oft" George- 

 town. It caught foul of the bottom, was. torn all to pieces, and even 

 the purse rings were stripped oft". Another source of annoyance was 

 the horse mackerel, which were very abundant, and which often inter- 

 fered to hinder the fishermen from making good hauls. On a certain 

 occasion Capt. John Y. McFarland had sounded out a spot of clear 

 bottom where he could shoot his net without fear of having it torn on 

 the rocks. Watching his opportunity he at length got a chance to set 

 his seine around a fine school of mackerel. While it was being pursed 

 up he saw the fish passing into the net beneath the boat's bottom. But 

 the sequel proved that the smaller fish were being driven by horse 

 mackerel which had also entered the seine,, and when they found them- 

 selves enclosed by a circle of twine, they made a desperate rush, tear- 

 ing their way through the net in all directions, not only injuring the ap- 

 paratus very seriously, but at the same time causing the escape of the 

 mackerel that otherwise would have been captured. 



Besides all this, the mackerel did not "show up" well in the Gulf, 

 and, as a rule, could not be seen for longer than five minutes at a time. 

 In consequence, the fishermen had scarcely time to get into their boats 

 and leave their vessel's side, after seeing a school of mackerel, before 

 the fish disappeared and perhaps not to be seen again. 



The mackerel that were about the North Cape of Prince Edward 

 Island, early in August, apparently moved down the north side of the 

 island. These were followed by a fleet as far as East Point. It was 

 supposed that schools of the same body of fish were seen, at a later 

 date, August 15 to 20, in Saint George's Bay, oft" Cape Jack, at the 

 northern entrance of the Strait of Canso, and even in the strait itself. 

 These fish, of which only momentary glimpses were obtained, were sup- 

 posed, and doubtless correctly, to be making their way out of the Gulf. 

 But whether or not they were the same mackerel that had been ob- 

 served a short time previously off North Cape, is, of course, impossible 

 to determine, though this is the opinion of many of the fishermen. 



To sum i\\) the results attained, up to this date, we have the following: 

 Of the fleet that went to the gulf, some fifteen or twenty vessels have 

 obtained fares ranging from 300 to 600 barrels of mackerel j three- 



