;^6 APPENDIX. 



Fishermen at a number of points on the Elaine and Virginia coasts were 

 also communicated with by mail, and asked to record their mackerel catch. 



" While it is not probable that all the fishermen receiving the blanks 

 will keep the records requested, there seems no reason to doubt that some 

 valuable information will thus be obtained. 



"In conjunction with his other duties Mr. E. F. Locke carried on an 

 examination of the spawning condition of the mackerel taken in the vicinity 

 of Gloucester. His work on this subject continued until the temporary with- 

 drawal of the mackerel from that part of the coast, and the ending of the 

 spawning season brought the work to a close." 



Commissioner's Report, 1894, p. 91. — "The investigations respecting the 

 habits and abundance of the mackerel, and the fisheries to which this important 

 species gives rise, were continued again this year upon the same general plan 

 as in 1893, but on a more elaborate scale and during a greater part of the 

 season. The schooner Grampus and the steamer Fish Haick were both 

 utilised in connection with this inquiry, and several land parties were 

 employed to study the subject from the standpoint of the in-shore fisheries 

 along the entire coast covered by the range of the species. The information 

 sought to be obtained from this series of observations was desired for the use 

 of the Joint International Commission, as elsewhere explained ; and the 

 practical importance to the American fishermen of reaching a more complete 

 and definite understanding of all the circumstances connected with the 

 natural history of the mackerel, in relation to the several methods employed 

 for their capture, has long been acknowledged. 



" Until this work was started by the Fish Commission a few years ago most 

 of the facts at hand were such as bad been obtained incidentally, and it is only 

 within a year or two that the matter has been taken hold of in the systematic 

 and comprehensive manner which it deserves. The mackerel fishery has long 

 been the subject of a vigorous controversy, both domestic and international. 

 Each year the same phases are repeated ; the fish first appear off our coast above 

 Cape Hatteras, whence they spread rather rapidly toward the north and east as 

 far as Labrador, giving rise to one of the most active and persistent fisheries 

 of the world. Their abundance, within the scope of observation of the 

 fishermen, varies from year to year, and at times the fluctuations are very 

 great ; periods of plenty, of greater or less duration, being followed by others 

 of scant supply, bringing consternation to those whose fortunes are mainly 

 linked with this species. 



"The improvement of methods for the capture of mackerel has kept pace 

 with the steady development in other lines of industry, until it would appear 

 as though the limit of perfection had practically been reached. One of the 

 most important questions of the day is whether, as some affirm, the modern 

 devices are proving too destructive and are causing a depletion, in view of the 

 lessened catch during several years past. To those who are at all acquainted 

 .with the history and character of the mackerel fishery, it will be evident 

 that this question cannot be answered off-hand, and that the published 



