144 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
the present destruction effected by man is but child’s play compared with 
nature’s work in that direction. Many states from time to time have enacted 
restrictive legislation with a view to preserving them, but estimation of the 
beneficial effect of these regulations is generally discredited, at least so far as 
concerns the present extent of the draft on these resources. 
For the purpose of protecting the spawning mackerel in their spring migra- 
tion the United States, in 1887, indirectly restricted their capture for a period 
of five years, beginning March 1, 1888. The enactment interdicted not the 
fishing itself, but the importation of the fish, and applied to those caught on 
the high seas by foreign fishermen as well as to the catch by American citizens. 
It provided that ‘‘ for the period of five years from and after the first day of March, 
1888, no mackerel, other than what is known as Spanish mackerel, caught between 
the first day of March and the first day of June, inclusive of each year, shall be 
imported into the United States or landed upon its shores: Provided, however, 
That nothing in this act shall be held to apply to mackerel caught with hook 
and line from boats, and landed in said boats, or in traps and weirs connected 
with the shore.” 
This enactment was intended especially to prohibit the capture of mackerel 
during the period noted by means of purse seins operated from American ves- 
sels. The following summary, from an able article on this subject by Dr. H. M. 
Smith,” shows the extent of this fishery during the three years immediately 
preceding the period to which this enactment applied and during the six years 
following: 
STATEMENT SHOWING THE EXTENT OF THE AMERICAN PURSE-SEINE FISHERY FOR FRESH MACKEREL 
FROM Marcu 1 TO May 31, INCLUSIVE, DURING A SERIES OF YEARS. 
Year.@ a Fresh mackerel landed. 
Number. Number. Value. 
1885 175 31, 250, 000 $273, 500 
1886 150 2,739, 370 78, 507 
1887 105 3, 500, 000 86, 805 
1893 60 200, 190 21,000 
1894 50 160, 550 10, 919 
1895 38 121,050 14, 261 
1896 39 317, 000 41, 790 
1897 84 1, 491, 255 107, 242 
1898 44 102, 545 19, 764 
@No fishing in 1888-1892, according to law. 
From this summary it appears that practically no beneficial effect can be 
attributed to the enactment, the average annual yield in the three years pre- 
ceding its enforcement being 12,496,457 fish, or 87,114 per vessel, while the 
average during the six years following the closed period was only 398,765 mack- 
@ The southern spring mackerel fishery, Bulletin United States Fish Commission, vol. xvm1, p. 270. 
