COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 49 



SEASON OF 1905. 



Scup. — A single scup caught off Seal Rock on May first was the 

 herald of the scup season in Rhode Island. Then for over a fortnight 

 a few scup were caught daily until May 16th, when the catch was 

 large enough to be spoken of in terms of barrels. There was a gradual 

 increase in numbers from this time until the first of June, when the 

 "run" actually began, and for a little over two weeks hundreds of 

 barrels of scup were caught daily. A large proportion of these fish 

 were put into pounds to avoid "glutting" the market. Commencing 

 with the eighteenth of June the catches were light, and the fishing 

 season ended about the twenty-fifth of June; although for a few 

 days after that fish were shipped from the pounds. The scup season 

 in 1905 was rather poor, owing partly, perhaps, to the large run of 

 pollock during the middle of May. As will be seen by the appended 

 calendar, the scup were late in arriving. 



Mackerel (Scomber scrombrus). The first appearance was near 

 the mouth of the Sakonnet river, where one specimen was caught 

 on April 2Sth. On May 2d a few were caught in off-shore traps. 

 The first large catch of mackerel was landed at Newport on May 

 14th, and amounted to 335 barrels. June 5th was the commencement 

 of the big run at Newport, which reached its height on June 19th. 

 The period of abundance ended June 28th. 



The "Tinker" mackerel began to arrive on the twenty-fifth of 

 June, and on the sixth and seventh of September the harbor at New- 

 port was full of them. 



Weakfish or Squiteague (Cynoscion regalis). The first appearance 

 of the squiteague off Newport was on June 14th, and at the waning of 

 the scup season there were some good catches in the traps. The 

 culmination period was about June 21st. 



season of 1906. 



Scup. — The first scup was caught off Coggeshall 's Ledge on April 

 20th. From this time until May 1st about a half barrel was caught. 

 On May first the familiar announcement, "scups come," was made 

 by the trappers, and 10 barrels of the fish were brought in. The 

 catches increased rapidly, and the most abundant period was from 

 May 5th to June 4th. The season closed about June 15th. 



