REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 13 



valued at $1,4^*^^ as coiiiptuvd with '299,4'^() pounds, Valued at $20,246, 

 tile previous your. 



The products landed at Boston and (iloucester, Mass., and Port- 

 land, Me., by tishin«2: vessels each year are taken principally from 

 fishiniij ojrounds lyin«; off the coast of the United States. In the 

 calendar year 1919, 71.72 per cent of the quantity and 70.04 per 

 cent of tlie vahie of the catch dischar<;ed at these ports by American 

 and Canadian lishin<2: vessels were taken from these f^rounds; 2.98 

 per cent of the quantity and 4.01 per cent of the value, consistin*^ 

 lar«i:ely of herrin<r, were taken from grounds off the coast of New- 

 fountlland; and 25.33 per cent of the quantity and 24.74 per cent 

 of the value from ^rrounds off the Canadian Provinces. Newfound- 

 land herrint? constituted 1.78 per cent of the quantity and 2.51 per 

 cent of the value of the products brouj^ht in durin<^ the year. The 

 herrino; Avere taken on the treaty coast of Newfoundland, and the 

 cod, haddock, hake, halibut, and other species from that region were 

 obtained from fishing banks on the high seas. All fish caught by 

 American fishing vessels oft' the coast of the Canadian Provinces were 

 from offshore fishing grounds. 



Supremacy in the New England fisheries is usually assumed by the 

 cod, with the haddock ranking second. In 1919, however, the had- 

 dock took first place, with 82,710,185 pounds, valued at $2,793,938. 

 The yield of cod was 05,374,420 pounds, valued at $2,583,181. The 

 next most important of the ground fish is the halibut, of wdiich 

 2,114,001 pounds, valued at $387,191, were taken. Pollock showed 

 a marked decrease from 1918 ; only 18,751,907 pounds, valued at $380,- 

 515, were secured, as against 20,500,020 pounds, worth $902,085, in 

 the previous year. A noteworthy advance in production, indicating 

 a growing demand, was in the catch of flounders, the increase over 

 the previous year being over 77 per cent in quantity and 108 per cent 

 in value. The total catch of mackerel was 53,992 barrels, a decline 

 of more than 15,000 barrels from 1918. The catch of salt mackerel 

 was only 7,000 barrels compared w^ith over 13,000 barrels the year 

 before. The total quantity of mackerel landed at the three ports 

 was 5,713,196 pounds, valued at $547,242, of which 4,314.770 pounds, 

 worth $427,104, were fresh. Both purse-seine and gill-net vessels 

 in the southern mackerel fishery in 1920 had one of the best seasons 

 on record. The fish caught weighed from 1^ to 3i pounds, averaging 

 about 2 pounds, and sold from 8 to 22 cents per pound, according to 

 market conditions. In May there was a large body of mackerel off 

 South Shoal Lightship, and the receipts at Boston "landed by vessels 

 were larger than for the same month in any recent year. The catch on 

 the Cape Shore was disappointing; the weather was foggy, and the 

 fish were well offshore, wild, and hard to catch. The total yield of 

 mackerel up to July 1 was 60,842 barrels fresh and 3,357 barrels 

 salted, compared with 38,787 barrels fresh and 6,452 barrels salted 

 the previous year. 



\'ESSEL FISHERIES OF SEATTLE. 



The fishing fleet at Seattle, Wasli., landed 070 trips during the 

 year 1919, consisting of 13,651,020 pounds of fresh fish, having a 

 value to the fishermen of $1,530,284, from fishing grounds along the 



51700°— 21 2 



