BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 311 



NOTES OIV TOE HALIBUT FISHERIES OF 1S81-'S2. 



By CAPT. J. W. COLLINS. 



The importance of the fishery for fresh halibut, the apparently rapid 

 diminution of the species wherever it has been sought, causing thereby 

 more changes in this industry than are noticeable in the other food- 

 fisheries, seems to make it desirable that a record of the leading events 

 connected with this business (so far at least as relates to the abundance 

 of fish on certain grounds) should be kept. Two events of a remarka- 

 ble character, and which seem worthy of special mention, have occurred 

 during the seasons of 1881-'82. These are (1) the discovery of a new 

 fishing ground, and (2) the occurrence, at a season when it was least to 

 be expected, of halibut in almost unequalled numbers in a well-known 

 and long-frequented region. The following account of the events al- 

 luded to is based on such facts as could be gathered from the halibut 

 fishermen during my stay at Gloucester this summer (1882), and though 

 not at all exhaustive may possibly prove of some interest. 



As a rule, during most of the season of 1881, and particularly in the 

 fall, halibut were scarce on the more frequented fishing grounds along 

 the edge of the outer banks. Consequently the inducement was great 

 for the skippers to seek new and untried fields, where, perhaps, fish 

 might be found in undisturbed abundance. With this end in view, 

 Capt. George H. Johnson, of the schooner Augusta A. Johnson, in the 

 autumn of 1881, crossed the Grand Bank and fished in the deep water 

 on its eastern slope, where, so far as I know, no systematic research 

 had previously been made.* Anchoring in 110 fathoms — latitude 43° 

 55' north, longitude 49° 08' west — he found halibut abundant, and 

 made large catches on trawls set to the eastward of his vessel and in 

 somewhat deeper water. In six days' fishing he secured a fare of be- 

 tween 50,000 and 60,000 pounds of halibut, most of which were large 

 "gray" fish.t The same schooner on her next trip — this time com- 

 manded by another man — revisited the new ground, but the winter 



* I was told by an acquaintance several years ago that a vessel had looked for hali- 

 but along the eastern edge of the Grand Bank as early as 1877, but had failed to find 

 any, the skipper reporting that the bottom declined so suddenly that it was imprac- 

 ticable to attempt to anchor or set trawls. The late researches have shown that the 

 statement was entirely wrong, and give reason to doubt the probability of the vessel 

 having visited the deep water on the east side of the Bank. 



tit is somewhat remarkable that when halibut are found on grounds not previ- 

 ously fished a large percentage of the catch are generally "gray" fish, and with rare 

 exceptions these are above the average size. Instances are somewhat uncommon 

 where medium sized " white " halibut have predominated on newly tried fields, but 

 such instauces have, however, occasionally occurred. After several years' fishing in 

 one locality the quality of the halibut generally improves, the fish being of smaller 

 size and in finer condition. 



