14 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER, OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
It is much to be regretted that there is no machinery employed in the 
United States for securing the statistics of our fisheries, the example of 
Canada and of European nations not having yet been adopted. The only 
sources of knowledge at our command are the reports of the cod and 
mackerel landed at American seaport towns, as made by the Statistical 
Bureau of the Treasury Department, the reports of inspections of mack- 
erel by the States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and 
other incidental mention of local yields, such as the ae production 
at Gloucester, &c., as can be picked up. 


Of all these fish, however, the mullet is perhaps the most important, as being taken 
in larger quantities and occupying a greater number of persons in its manipulation, 
The fish, however, are almost exclusively consumed in the South, a very few being 
sent to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. At present it may be considered as 
even more of a staple than the shad and alewife, which have been diminished very 
materially in later years; the supply of mullet, however, is apparently inexhausti- 
ble, and is repeated from year to year, though sometimes, owing to extreme weather 
and other conditions, the product is less, the condition of the lower classes being af- 
fected accordingly. Indeed, it may be said to occupy the same position that the 
mackerel does in the North; and the increasing yield of this fishery has undoubtedly 
had much to do with the reduced demand for the mackerel. Although as a fresh fish 
it may be considered as inferior to the best quality of mackerel, it is by most persons 
considered superior to it when salted. At Cape Hatteras the mullet fishery is said to 
begin about the middle of July; about Fort Macon in September, and later further 
south, continuing for from one to two months at each station. The fish then come in 
from the sea for the purpose of spawning and enter the fresh water, being similar in 
this respect to the shad and alewife, although not apparently penetrating any con- 
siderable distance from the mouth. Like the herring and cod, they appear to spawn 
on a falling temperature, or when the waters have acquired a certain minimum. 
There is but little system adopted in the fishery, several individuals combining for a 
particular occasion and selecting one of their number as chief. The outfit consists 
simply of two or three six-oared boats, a seine from 75 to 100 yards long, several split- 
ting tables, some barrels, and salt. The fish are split and cleaned, but without re-~ 
moval of the head, and are slashed in the thickest side for the better penetration of 
the salt. The fish are all fat and plump, and are graded by size and not by quality. 
The lower grades are worth from $4 to $5 a barrel; the higher sometimes bring from 
48 to $10. Not more than from seventy to a hundred can be packed in a barrel. As 
many as five hundred barrels of mulfets are taken sometimes at a single haul. The 
entire catch at Fort Macon alone is estimated by Dr. Yarrow at 12,000 barrels. The 
catch of a single county of North Carolina, Carteret, is given at 70,000 barrels. A 
large portion of the fish are bartered in the seaboard counties for agricultural prod- 
ucts, 2 barrels being usually considered equivalent to 15 bushels of corn. They are 
sent by the railway lines all through the interior of the State, where they meet with 
great demand. Mullet roes are also considered a very great delicacy ; a portion of 
them are pickled and the others slightly salted andsmoked. They usually bring from 
25 to 40 cents a dozen, 
With an increased demand and improved maphods of capture and preparation, 
there is no reason why the yield of the mullet fishery should not be fully equaled in 
bulk and value to that of the mackerel, as the fish itself is in countless abundance 
and found for many hundreds of miles along the coast. 
Dr. H. C. Yarrow, U. 8S. A., from whose manuscript notes I have obtained the facts 
referred to above, states that two-thirds of the entire population of the coast of North 
Carolina is employed in this fishery. 
PS aay een 
