BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 157 



On mackerel vessels the mackerel pocket is useful in saving the fish 

 alongside until they can be dressed and stowed down, besides its use in 

 saving the seine from damage by dog-fish. The pocket would be of 

 little use to steamers, for the reason that there is no difficulty in quickly 

 bailing the catch from the seine into the hold." He, too, calls for legis- 

 lation. 



To all these considerations Professor Baird made the following philo- 

 sophic reply : 



" If the menhaden men catch an abundance of mackerel, can they 

 afford to convert them into oil and guano? Will not these fish, how- 

 ever small, bring better prices for canning"? There is a demand, appar- 

 ently, for ten times as many mackerel as are produced. What can the 

 mackerel men do in the matter ? These fisheries are prosecuted more 

 than three miles from shore. Hence neither State nor Federal authority 

 can do anything to prevent any foreigner from coining on the same 

 grounds and fishing in any way he may deem best. When the fish are 

 landed, the State can interfere; and, if it is considered that a wasteful 

 application of the fish is being made, State laws can be enacted. They 

 can say, for instance, that a menhaden man shall not have a mackerel 

 in his possession, just as the same authorities declare that no man shall 

 be found with a trout in his possession during the closed season. The 

 dilemma is that if Massachusetts passes prohibitory laws the fish will 

 be transferred to States not so restricted, and it will be found difficult 

 to produce concurrent action in all the States. The fishermen cannot 

 object to legitimate competition. If the fish are caught and sold for 

 food, so much the better for the country. I do not believe that steam- 

 seining for mackerel will be kept up very long, in view of the compar- 

 atively small returns. The menhaden men, while fishing for mackerel, 

 will, of course, utilize the new mackerel pocket and all the other de- 

 vices." 



The status at the present time thus appears to be about as follows: 



I. It is proposed to catch mackerel by the use of steamers and the 

 various novel appliances whereby all concede that very much larger 

 numbers may be taken. 



II. The rumor that men formerly engaged in making oil and guano 

 from menhaden will convert the mackerel to the same purpose is met 

 with prompt denial, and with the fact that the fish will bring three times 

 as much for food as for oil. 



III. As a safeguard, laws are invoked to prohibit manufacture of 

 mackerel into oil ; to which it is replied that the Federal Government has 

 no jurisdiction, and that the States could hardly be induced to all unite 

 upon a common prohibition, and especially while any foreigner can catch 

 the fish on the high seas and do as he pleases with them. 



IV. It was greatly feared and confidently predicted in 1878 that intro- 

 duction of purse-seines would ruin the mackerel fisheries, but to day the 



