REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 75 



meager plauts, but there seems to be no reason to doubt that it is only a question of 

 time when it will become one of the most pi'omineut economic fishery products of 

 the region, as well as a favorite object of capture by sportsmen. 



The largest quantities of striped bass are taken for market in San Francisco Bay 

 with seines and gill nets. The fish are found in greatest numbers between October 

 1 and P^'ebruary 1~>, but occur in some abundance at all seasons. Their average 

 weight is 8 or 10 pounds, but fish weighing 40 pounds are not scarce. The estima- 

 tion in which they are held may be judged from the market value. In 1888 the 

 ruling price in San Francisco was $1 a pound; in 1892, owing to an increased pro- 

 duction, it had dropped to 12J^ cents. The catch in the latter year was about 43,000 

 pounds, for which the fishermen received $.5,350. The aggregate yield to date may 

 be estimated at nearly 100,000 pounds, with a value at first hands of about $18,000. 

 The transportation of striped bass to the Pacific being undertaken conjointly with 

 that of a number of other fishes, it is probable that the proportional cost of intro- 

 duction was not more than a few hundred dollars. 



THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



Tlie cliief interest ceuteriug in this fishery during the year 1892-93 

 depended on the great activity which at times characterized the opera- 

 tions of the fleet on the New England shore in 1892 and on the renewal 

 of the southern fishery in the spring of 1893. 



The fishing season which terminated in the fall of 1892 was, on the 

 whole, the most successful since 1888. The number of vessels constitut- 

 ing the fleet was about 200. The catch of salt mackerel was reported 

 to be about 47,000 barrels, against 38,000 barrels the previous year. 

 The quantity of fresh mackerel taken was about 40,000 barrels. The 

 total value of the catch was about $1,000,000. Early in the season a 

 large body of fish was found on the Nova Scotia shore, and some profit- 

 able fares were landed from that region. Later, fish were found in 

 comparative abundance on the Maine coast, where the largest i)art of 

 the season's catch was obtained. In August the flsh disappeared from 

 that section and were absent during the whole of the following month. 

 Some good-sized fares were afterwards landed from Block Island. A 

 small fleet entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence j 15 vessels are reported 

 to have taken about 2,200 barrels of salt mackerel in tliat body of water. 



After a lapse of five years the southern spring mackerel fishery was 

 resumed in 1893 and constituted one of the most interesting features of 

 the New England fishing industry during that year. The law which 

 prevented the prosecution of this fishery between 1888 and 1892, inclu- 

 sive, was one of the very few legislative measures affecting the fisheries 

 which had been enacted by the United States Congress, and as such it 

 attracted much attention. The full text of the so-called close-time 

 mackerel law was as follows : 



An act relating to tlio importing and landing of mackerel caught during the spawning season. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That for the period of five years from and after the first day of 

 March, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, no mackerel, other than what is known 

 as Spanish mackerel, caught between the first day of March and the first day of .Juno, 

 inclusive, of each year, shall be imported into the United States or landed upon 

 its shores: Provided, however, That nothiug in this act shall be held to applj^ to 



