316 



grounds which we can now possibly obtain, and the right also to 

 tax their fish to the extent of entire prohibition. In other words, we 

 could once catch fish where wc pleased, and impose what duty we 

 pleased on the produce of the colonial fisheries; but, as the direct 

 result of the convention of 1818, we offer to rehnquish the latter right 

 without condition, to get back, to make good, the former one. 



Statistics of the cod and mcLcTcerel fisheries of Maine, New Hampshire, Mas- 

 sackmctts, and Connecticut, June 1, 1850, a^ derived at the Census Office, 

 Washington. 



o 



* The return of the herring fishery of Maine is 29,685 boxes of smoked, of the Talue of $11,626. 



f Note. 



(a) 1,250 barrels of herrings returned from Dukes county. 



The Statistics of 1840 show that in Maine the catch of codfish was 

 106,062 quintals more than in 1850. In Massachusetts the difference 

 was still greater, the quantity in the former year being 389,715 quin- 

 tals ; in the latter, only 215,170. 



The returns of 1840 give the catch of mackerel in Maine at 54,171 

 barrels ; and in Massachusetts at 1 24,755 barrels. By comparing these 

 figures with the above table, it will be seen that the quantity was much 

 diminished in the former State in 1850, and much increased the same 

 year in the latter. 



The aggregate decrease in the produce of the cod-fishery in Maine, 

 New Hampshire, and Massachusetts is very large — the table for 1850 

 showing the catch to have been 407,814 quintals, while in 1840 it was 

 697,128 quintals. 



