168 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



erel, got a large number of tunny fish (also called horse mackerel and 

 albicores) into the seine. These fish tore the seine very badly, but they 

 succeeded in taking about 500, of an average weight of 35 pounds each, 

 and brought them into market and sold them at from 10 to 25 cents each. 

 The Moilie Adams also brought in about 8 barrels of this fish. The 

 tunny is not a popular fish ; the flesb, however, resembles lean pork, 

 witb a fine mackerel taste, and the time will probably come when it will 

 form a more important feature of marketable fish. 



" The inevitable results of such an excessive oversupply of fish be- 

 gan to be manifested on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The 

 fish began to spoil before they could be disposed of, and Inspector Ham- 

 ilton was kept busy in condemning such as were unfit to sell. Over 

 300,000 were dumped on the pier, their ultimate destination being Bar- 

 ren Island, where they will be converted into fertilizers." 



After disposing of this large amount of fish, the fleet, on going to sea, 

 encountered a severe gale on April 29. Some twenty seine boats were 

 lost. As yet only one vessel has reported loss of life. The schooner 

 Xepouset, of Boston, lost her seine boat and four men. 



Cod and halibut. — The George's Bank cod and halibut fleet have 

 found fish abundant, landing good fares as compared with the corres- 

 ponding month of last year. The catch of codfish was a little more 

 than double; of halibut, three times the quantity. 



Shore fisheries. — The shore catch of codfish, almost entirely from 

 Ipswich Bay, was taken by gill nets and trawls. The fish were mostly 

 caught from 2 to 8 miles from the shore, between IS'ewburyport and 

 Portsmouth. The amount lauded was as follows : At Gloucester, from 

 gill nets, 144,000 pounds, and from trawls, 211,000 pounds; at Rock- 

 port and Portsmouth, from trawls, 175,000 pounds, and from gill-nets, 

 525,000 pounds. 



With the exception of a few scattering sail, the Ipswich Bay cod- 

 fishery closes from the last of April until late in the fall. A few sail 

 from Provincetown have fished for cod and halibut on Nantucket Shoals. 

 Ten miles southeast of the fishing rips they found halibut more plentiful 

 than for many years; three sail landed at Gloucester 17,000 pounds. 

 These fish were noticed as being exceptionally fine, large, and thick ; 

 would average something over 100 pounds each, some weighing near 

 300 pounds; were over two-thirds white. 



The Bank halibut fleet.— These vessels fished during January, 

 February, and March on the southern edge of the Grand Banks. Dur- 

 ing the past month the catch was mostly made in what the fishermen 

 call the "gulley," lying between Bauquereau and Grand Banks, in 175 

 to 225 fathoms of water, landing 012,000 pounds, the catch on Grand 

 Banks alone being 131,000 pounds. Vessels mostly arrived with good 

 fares, which brought them fair prices. 



Weirs and traps.— The close of the month fiuds this branch of the 

 business just gettiug under way. Provincetown Harbor, between that 



