58 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



received, the kind, quantity, and value of bait utilized, and the quantity 

 and value of each grade of mackerel taken with each appliance. 



A special feature of the inquiry was the xirovision to obtain complete 

 figures showing, for fresh mackerel, the quantity and value of each 

 standard size of fish taken, and for salt fish the quality and grade of 

 the mackerel packed. While satisfactory figures relating to the differ- 

 ent grades of salt mackerel inspected in Massachusetts are available, 

 no attempts to obtain complete data for the grades of salt mackerel 

 packed in other States or for the various sizes of fish sold in a fresh 

 condition were ever before made. 



Owing to the importance of having statistical data for the mackerel 

 fishery covering each year of the "close- time" law, which took effect in 

 1888 and terminated in 1892, the inquiry was addressed to the years 

 1890, 1891, and 1892, information for the two earlier years having been 

 previously obtained. 



Some supplementary inquiries regarding mackerel were also insti- 

 tuted by the division, by securing the cooperation of fishermen on 

 various parts of the coast in recording observations concerning the 

 mackerel during the fishing season of 1893. For this purpose blank 

 books of convenient size were prepared and distributed. They jiro- 

 vided for a daily record of the number of extra large, large, medium, 

 small, and tinker mackerel taken each day, a statement as to the nature 

 of the weather, direction of the wind, etc. 



In the first week in April, 1893, the writer visited New Jersey for the 

 purpose of engaging for this inquiry the services of the pound-net 

 fishermen on the northern part of the coast of that State. This section 

 is the most southern part of the United States coast on which mackerel 

 are regularly taken in considerable numbers with fixed apparatus. 

 The fishermen who during the previous season had operated pound 

 nets were personally visited and the object of the inquiry explained to 

 them. They entered very heartily into the matter and agreed to record 

 the daily catch as requested. 



Record books of a similar character were placed among the pound- 

 net and trap-net fishermen of the Massachusetts coast. The distribu- 

 tion was accomplished through Mr. F. F. Dimick, local agent at Boston, 

 Mass. Fishermen at a number of points on the Maine 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. Ilis work on this subject continued until the 

 temporary withdrawal of the mackerel from that part of the coast and 

 the ending of the si)awuing season brought the work to a close. 



