BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 89 

 MOVEMENTS AIVD CATCII OF MACKEREL.. 



By S. J. MABTiN. 



[Letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



This year I have watched closely the movements of mackerel and 

 made frequent inquiry about them of the fishermen as they daily arrive 

 from their trips. It seems to be a very general opinion among the 

 most experienced masters of the mackerel vessels that mackerel very 

 seldom school in deep water; that is, in water over fifty fathoms in depth. 

 They are rarely taken in water fifty fathoms deep, but so far this year 

 they have been most abundant in from thirty to forty-five fathoms. 

 About the 12th of June they were taken together with shad in Boston 

 Bay in shoal water, but in no great abundance. Captain Melanson, m 

 schooner Crest of the Wave, got 28 barrels of mackerel on the above 

 date off Highland Light, and with the mackerel he took 8 barrels of 

 shad. These were caught in 35 fathoms of water. Other vessels 

 caught more or less of these mackerel as they moved eastward. They 

 appeared to move quite close inshore until they reached the vicinity of 

 Portland, about the 20th of June, when they disappeared. Since that 

 date no quantity has been taken within 15 miles of the coast and but 

 few within 40 miles. Trap-fishing for mackerel, as well as drag-net 

 fishing, has been very unprofitable. This is very different from last year 

 and the year before, when the trappers and netters made a good year's 

 work, and the harbors were full of mackerel from the middle of June 

 until late in July. The market boats last year found plenty of mackerel 

 throughout July in Boston Bay, so that they could make short trips; 

 but this year they have been obliged to go farther to the eastward, get- 

 ting fare from Cashe's to the head of the Bay of Fundy. Where last year 

 these vessels could make three trips a week they now seldom make more 

 than one or two. More fresh mackerel have been taken to Portland this 

 year than usual, that port being very much ne arer the fishing grounds 

 than Boston or Gloucester. In Portland these fresh fish are sold by the 

 pound from the vessel, while in Boston and other ports they are sold by 

 count. 



The main body of the mackerel does not appear to have come inshore, 

 but, coming from the southward, they have crossed South Channel, and 

 have been very abundant on George's Banks, being seen by the cod 

 fishermen in great schools, both in the northwest and southeast parts of 

 the Banks, ever since the middle of June, in water from 35 to 50 fath- 

 oms deep. The fish that were schooling on the southeast part of George's 

 seem to have struck across towards the Nova Scotia shore, where they 

 were taken in abundance by the trap-fishermen at Barrington, Tar- 

 mouth, and other places. None of these have been taken by the trap- 

 pers since about the 8th of July. Where they have gone to is a mystery 

 to the fishermen. They were big fish, about two-thirds large, as is 



