FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



333 



abundance and ready availability of food, tem- 

 perature, and salinity of the sea water all act 

 upon the young fish to make their existence pre- 

 carious; a favorable environment depends on a 

 happy combination of all these. 



Importance. — The mackerel is a delicious fish, 

 but it does not keep so well as some other fishes 

 that have less oil in their tissues. When mackerel 

 are rather plentiful they are one of the four most 

 valuable fishes of our Gulf commercially, sur- 

 passed in dollar value only by the haddock, cod, 

 and rosefish, as appears from the following table 

 of landings in New England for the years 1943- 

 1947. 



When the fishery fails, as it does periodically 

 through periods of several years (p. 331), the value 

 of the catch decreases accordingly, and to a point 

 where it is only a negligible fraction of the total 

 yield and value of the Gulf of Maine fishery. 



Note.— The total value of the catch landed in Maine, New Hampshire, 

 and Massachusetts, including fish from grounds outside the Gulf of Maine, 

 as well as from within the Gulf, may be determined by multiplying the 

 values by the figures in parentheses. 



Most of the mackerel were caught formerly 

 with hook and line, ground bait being thrown out 

 to lure the fish close enough to the vessel. 70 But 

 this way of fishing was gradually given up about 

 1870, when the use of the purse seine became 

 general. And practically the entire catch of 

 mackerel of the past 70 years has been made with 

 purse seines, with pound nets, weirs and floating 

 traps coming second, and gill nets a poor third. 

 In 1943, for example, when the total Gulf of 

 Maine catch was between 53 and 54 million 

 pounds, about 80 percent was taken in purse 

 seines; between 12 and 13 percent in pound nets, 

 weirs, and floating traps; and between 3 and 4 

 percent (between 1 and 2 million pounds) in 

 gill nets (anchored or drifting), but only 1,700 

 pounds on hand lines. Otter trawlers, too, 



'• See Qoode and Collins, Fish. Ind. U. S., Sect. 5, vol. 1, 1887, pp. 275-294, 

 for an excellent account of the hook and line fishery. 



bring in scattering mackerel from the offshore 

 banks: 2,400 pounds, for example, in the year 

 in question. 



Many anglers, also, troll or bait-fish for mackerel 

 all along the coast from Cape Cod to Penobscot 

 Bay; as far as Mount Desert if mackerel are on 

 the coast that far east. In good years it is not 

 unusual for 3 or 4 anglers fishing from a party 

 boat to bring in one or two hundred fish. And in 

 summers when young tinkers are plentiful inshore 

 many of them are caught from the wharves in 

 various harbors. If one chooses to troll, an 

 ordinary pickerel spinner, No. 3, serves well, 

 especially if tipped with a small piece of pork 

 rind or with mackerel skin; a small metal jig 

 similarly adorned, or any small bright spoon. 

 Mackerel will also take a bright artificial fly, 

 and bite greedily on a white piece of clam, a 

 piece of mackerel belly, or on a sea worm (Nereis) , 

 especially if attracted by ground bait. 



Chub mackerel Pneumatophorus colias 

 (Gmelin) 1789 7l 



Hardhead; Bullsete 



Jordan and Evermann, 189&-1900, p. 866, Scomber colias 

 Gmelin. 



Description. — The hardhead (by which name 

 it is commonly known to fishermen) resembles 

 the common mackerel so closely that we need 

 mention only the points of difference. Most 

 important of these, anatomically, is the fact that 

 the hardhead has a well-developed swim bladder 

 connected with the esophagus, which the mackerel 

 lacks. But it is not necessary to open the fish 

 to identify it for there is a characteristic color 

 difference between the two, the mackerel being 

 silvery-sided below the mid line, whereas the 

 lower part of the sides of the hardhead (otherwise 

 colored somewhat like the mackerel) are mottled 

 with small dusky blotches, and the chub has a 

 larger eye than the mackerel. Less obvious 

 differences are that the dorsal fins are closer 

 together in the chub and that there are only 9 

 or 10 spines in its first dorsal fin instead of 11 

 or more, which is the usual count in the mackerel. 



'i This genus is separated from Scomber by having a well developed swim 

 bladder which the true mackerel lacks (see Starks, Science, N. Ser., vol. 54 

 1921, p. 223). 



