44 FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
MACKEREL. 
The total catch of fresh mackerel taken by the American fishing 
fleet in 1920 was 79,799 barrels, compared with 53,992 barrels in 
1919, an increase of 25,807 barrels. The total catch of salted mack- 
erel was 4,897 barrels, compared with 7,007 barrels the previous 
year, a decrease of 2,110 barrels. The quantity of mackerel landed 
at Boston, Gloucester, and Portland by the fishing fleet during the 
year was 7,293,721 pounds, valued at $763,094, of which 6,284,529 
pounds, valued at $671,310, were fresh, and 1,009,192 pounds, 
valued at $91,784, were salted. These were all landed by American 
fishing vessels. There was an increase in the total catch of mackerel 
landed at these ports of 1,580,525 pounds in quantity and $215,852 
in value over the previous year. 
The season of 1920 was one of the best on record in the southern 
mackerel fishery for both the purse-seine and gill-net vessels. The 
fleet numbered about 50 seiers and 125 netters. The first fare, 
consisting of 3,600 pounds of large mackerel, was landed by a 
Gloucester vessel, April 14, at Cape May. Some of the best stocks 
made by the seiners in the southern fishery were from $9,153 to 
$26,449, the crews sharing from $197 to $649. The mackerel caught 
weighed from 14 to 34 pounds cach, averaging about 2 pounds each, 
and sold from 8 to 22 cents per pound, according to market condi- 
tions. The schooner Helen G. McLean, from Nova Scotia, engaged 
in the southern mackerel fishery, and is said to be the only Canadian 
vessel to engage in this fishery for 25 years. The first arrival at 
Boston was a fare of 35,000 pounds of large and medium fresh 
mackerel on May 14, caught 35 miles south by west of Block Island, 
and sold at 18 cents per pound. In May there was a large body of 
mackerel off South Shoal Lightship, and the receipts at Boston 
landed by vessels were larger than for the same month in any recent 
year. The catch of mackerel on the Cape Shore was disappointing; 
the weather was foggy and the fish were well offshore, wild, and 
hard to catch. The first fares landed at Boston from this locality 
arrived on June 7. The fresh mackerel sold at 12 cents per pound 
and the salted mackerel at $17 to $17.50 per barrel. Later arrivals 
of fresh mackerel sold from 10 to 104 cents per pound. The Cape 
Shore fleet consisted of 30 vessels, which landed 1,290,000 pounds of 
fresh mackerel and 3,217 barrels of salt mackerel, compared with 32 
vessels, and 2,119,000 pounds of fresh and 6,275 barrels of salt 
mackerel the previous year. The total catch of mackerel up to 
July 1 was 60,842 barrels fresh and 3,357 barrels salted, compared 
with 38,787 barrels fresh and 6,452 barrels salted the previous year. 
SWORDFISH. 
The catch of swordfish amounted to 2,531,669 pounds, valued at 
$494,202. The number of vessels engaged in this fishery was 62, 
or 6 more than in the previous year, and there was a large increase 
in the catch. 
FLOUNDERS. 
The catch of flounders in the vessel fisheries amounted to 3,637,774 
pounds, valued at $166,895, an increase of 1,185,918 pounds, or 
48.36 per cent, in quantity, and $63,845, or 61.95 per cent, in value. 
