290 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



While these exceedingly poor returns were being obtained by the 

 gill-net fishermen near the shore, herring occurred, as has been pre- 

 viously mentioned, in extraordinary abundance in the deeper waters at 

 some distance from the land, and many were captured in purse-seines 

 at night ; the schools of these fish having been mistaken for mackerel. 

 These captures of herring in purse-seines, though not especially im- 

 portant in themselves, are nevertheless interesting in so far as they 

 demonstrate the adaptability of purse-seines to the capture of herring 

 as well as other species which school at the surface, and suggest the 

 feasibility of their profitable employment in European waters. It is 

 well known that one of the most important as well as the most valuable 

 fishery of Europe is that for herring, which have heretofore been taken 

 at sea exclusively by the use of gill-nets ; but the advantage of using 

 purse-seines in the European herring fishery cannot be doubted when 

 we take into consideration the large catches made by our mackerel fish- 

 ermen during the present fall, and this, too, without any special effort 

 having been made. Indeed, it is a fact that whenever the fishermen 

 were assured that the fish they saw at night were herring, they invaria- 

 bly desisted from the pursuit. 



The following are a few of the many captures of herring in purse- 

 seines : 



October 1. — The schooner A. E. Crittenden, arrived in Gloucester with 

 150 barrels of large spawn-herring which she caught in a purse-seine, 

 the night before, eight miles southeast of Thatcher's Island. 



According to the report of the Boston Fish Bureau, one of the mack- 

 erel fleet arrived at Boston on Thursday, October 5, with 200 barrels of 

 fresh herring, caught in a purse-seine between Boston and Minot's 

 Ledge light-house. 



On October 6, the following vessels arrived at Gloucester with fresh 

 herring caught with purse-seines the previous night: 



The Florence E. Nightingale, of Swampscott, with 50 barrels ; the A. C. 

 Newhall, of Gloucester, with 60 barrels ; Magellan Cloud, of Gloucester, 

 with 120 barrels. October 7, the schooner Rushlight, of Gloucester, ar- 

 rived with 80 barrels of herring caught the previous night five miles east 

 of Thatcher's Island. 



More instances might bo cited of the capture of herring by mackerel- 

 schooners ; but this, doubtless, is sufficient to show what might be ac- 

 complished in the herring fishery by the use of purse-seines. 



The price of herring in our markets, however, is rarely high enongh 

 to offer any inducement for the purse-seiners to engage in this branch 

 of the fishery ; and, as previously stated, no attempt would be made to 

 surround the schools if the fishermen. knew they were composed of her- 

 ring. I have been assured that in some instances, herring, after hav- 

 ing been inclosed in the seine, have been allowed to escape, in order 

 that the fishermen might not lose their time, which would, perhaps, be 

 more profitably employed. 



