102 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
localities, which are no longer good grounds for halibut, might be men- 
tioned, but it may suffice to say that at present the only place where 
halibut are found abundant near the shore is on the west coast of New- 
foundland. 
THE MACKEREL FISHING-GROUNDS. 
The principal fishing-grounds for mackerel (Scomber scombrus) are 
along the coast of the United States north of Cape Hatteras and in the 
' Bay and Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The ordinary range of the mackerel 
onthe American coast is between the parallels of 35° and 52° N. latitude. 
Instances have been recorded of their appearance north and south of 
these limits, but all the evidence goes to show that their presence in 
those waters is exceptional. The extent of the fishing-grounds on which 
mackerel are commonly caught is considerably less than that first men- 
tioned, since they are rarely taken south of the thirty-seventh or north 
of the fiftieth parallel of north latitude, and the best obtainable evidence 
shows that the average southern limit of the first catches in the spring 
is about 38° 00’ N. latitude.* ‘ 
The most northern localities where mackerel have been found abun- 
dant by fishermen who were seeking them (this is by no means a com- 
mon occurrence) are the Seven Islands, 50° 05’, and Mingan Islands, 
50° 14’ N. latitude, both of these groups of islands being situated near 
the coast of Lower Labrador. 
Mackerel appear on the coast of the United States early in April— 
very rarely in March—and until the middle or last of May the fishing- 
ground for them is along the coast from off the capes of the Delaware to 
the South Shoal of Nantucket, advancing northwardly with the season 
and at varying distances, say from 3 to 60 miles, from the land. From 
June to September the best grounds for these fish are off the coast of 
Maine. Sometimes they are caught in the bays, some distance inside 
of the outer islands, but more generally from 5 to 70 miles offshore. 
Large schools of mackerel frequently appear on George’s Bank in the 
summer, and it is not uncommon for that to-be one of the favorite 
grounds for these fish during a large part of the season. When the au- 
tumn migration of the mackerel takes place, which is generally in Octo- 
ber, and continues sometimes through November, they begin to move 
southward; the fishing-grounds, of course, change (the vessels follow- 

*The journal of schooner Alice, of Swan’s Island, Maine, records the fact that the 
first mackerel in 1879 were caught in 37° 50’ N. latitude and 74° 03’ W. longitude, 
The first catch of the Alice in 1878 was in 38° 38’ N. latitude. 
The journal of schooner Augusta E. Herrick, of Swan’s Island, records first mack- 
erel taken in 1879 in 37° 57’ N. latitude and 74° 22’ W. longitude. 
First mackerel taken by schooner John 8S. MeQuin, of Gloucester, in 1879, in 37° 427 
N. and 74° 13' W. P 
First fish by Charles Haskell, 1879, in 38° 08’ N., 73° 57’ W. 
First fish by schooner Albert H. Harding, 1879, in 33° 08’ N., 74° 30’ W. 
First fish caught by schooner John Somes, in 1833, was in 33° 21/ N. and 74° 12’ W. 
