COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 29 



of scup now increased quite rapidly and the price becoming low the 

 usual empounding began about May 21. On June 9th, a catch of 

 40 barrels of large scup was made, although the run of large scup was 

 supposed to have passed. Continued good catches were made until 

 July 1, when the scup season ended, subsequent shipments being made 

 from the pounds. In Table VIII on page 31 of this report will be 

 found a calendar of the scup seasons for the past five years. 



Mackerel {Scomber scombrus). — The mackerel season on our 

 Atlantic Coast, in 1914 began at Chincoteague, Virginia, about 

 April 17. The first caught in local waters were taken at Point 

 Judith on April 25th, three days ahead of the scup, which is quite 

 unusual. May 2nd, the first mackerel were taken in the traps near 

 Newport. The real season opened about May 16, on which date 

 1 ,200 mackerel were brought into Newport. The number of mackerel 

 in this vicinity was greater in 1914 than at any time of which we have 

 record. On June the 12th 2,600 barrels were landed at Newport and 

 because of the continued arrival of quantities of the fish the fishermen 

 resorted to splitting and salting them, working day and night. It 

 is said that this is the " first time on record that mackerel have been 

 split in a regular shipping port." While there were some catches of 

 large fish, the average run was small, but this was more than com- 

 pensated for by the great number and the length of the run which 

 continued throughout the summer, and even in the late fall mackerel 

 were taken as far up in the Bay as East Greenwich. (See Table IX, 

 page 31 for a calendar of the mackerel seasons for the last five 

 years.) 



Squiteague (Cynoscion regalis). — Very few weakfish were caught 

 in the traps off Newport in 1914. Their first appearance was reported 

 on May 27. The best catches were made in the latter part of June. 



Butterfish {Poronotus tricanthus) . — May 1st was the first 

 reported catch of butterfish. No large catches of market-sized ones 

 were made during the season, although large quantities of small ones 

 were present all summer. 



