158 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Gloucester fishermen insist that although in general use no diminution 

 is appreciable and the catch has greatly increased since 1878. 



V. It is now feared that steam fishing will exhaust the mackerel fish- 

 eries, as some allege it already has the menhaden fisheries. To this it 

 is answered that menhaden fishing was always variable, that the pres- 

 ent absence may be but temporary, and that if permanent it was caused, 

 not by steamers over-fishing, but very likely by great oceanic causes, 

 such as variation in temperature, destruction of their food, &c. It is 

 also declared that all man can do is as nothing compared with the 

 destructive agencies of predacious fish and natural enemies. 



VI. The innovation, if it proves a success, is but another illustration 

 of the advance of man in conquering the earth and bringing all its 

 resources within his control, and if he sees the mackerel fisheries in 

 danger of exhaustion he will find a way to propagate them and replenish 

 the seas. 



THE COTTRITS CARP TRADE. 



[From Deutsche Fischerei-Zeihmg, vol. v, No. 30; Stettin, July 25, 1882.*] 



The Eeport of the Cottbus Chamber of Commerce contains some in- 

 formation relative to the carp trade, and gives the contracts between 

 the large Berlin fish-dealers and the presidents of the Lusatia fishery 

 associations, which were made last year for the first time, and which 

 probably will also in the future form the basis for all business transac- 

 tions in the fish trade, making of course due allowance for the varia- 

 tions in price caused by different circumstances. By the terms of these 

 contracts 33 carp of the first quality were allowed to the hundred-weight, 

 and 34 to 43 of the second quality. In order to make these terms less 

 harsh, many bargains were, in 1881, concluded in the following manner: 

 For a hundred-weight of carp (delivered free at the railroad station), 

 containing 43 to 50 fish, 60 marks ($14.28) were paid; for 3 fish more or 

 less to the hundred-weight, 1 mark (23.8 cents); therefore for a hundred- 

 weight of 40 carp, 61 marks ($14.51); for one of 37 carp, 62 marks 

 ($14.75) ; and, on the other hand, for a hundred-weight of 53 carp, 59 

 marks ($14.04) ; and for a hundred-weight of 50 carp, 58 marks ($13.89). 



The sums paid are calculated according to the average of carp per 

 hundred-weight of the entire quantity of carp sold. The importance 

 of the Cottbus Carp Exchange for the fish trade may be gathered from 

 the fact that nearly 250,000 kilograms of carp are, as a general rule, 

 bespoken by large fish-dealers, and do not enter the general market. 

 The yield of the carp ponds in the Cottbus district alone amounted to 

 75,000 kilograms in 1881. As the lieport of the Chamber of Commerce 

 remarks, tht conditions of sale are just both to the producers and buy- 

 ers, and will in all probability remain in force for a long time. 



* Vom Cottbu8er Karjifeiihatidel. Translated from the German by Herman Jacobson. 



