[5] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 95 



2. — Migrations. 



The migrations of the mackerel, the causes of their appearance and 

 disappearance at certain seasons at different points along the coast, the 

 causes of their relative abundance and scarcity in different years, have 

 already been discussed by numerous writers. The subject has received 

 special attention on account of the disputes between our own and the 

 Canadian Government concerning the value to our fishermen of the right 

 to participate in the mackerel fisheries in the Provincial waters. 



Notwithstanding the great amount of paper which has been covered 

 with theories to explain the various mooted questions, it cannot be said 

 that the habits of the mackerel are understood at all better than those 

 of other fishes which have not attracted so much attention. The most 

 voluminous writer upon this subject has been Prof. Henry Youle Hind, 

 who devotes many pages of his book, " The Effect of the Fishery Clauses 

 of the Treaty of Washington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of British 

 North America," to the attempt to prove that the mackerel which have 

 been at certain seasons in the past so abundant in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence and on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, remain there through- 

 out the year, hibernating in deep waters not very remote from the 

 shore.* I have attempted to show the weakness of his argument in an 



*Mr. Barnet Phillips, in the New York Times, December 31, 1880, thus criticises the 

 theory of Mr. Hind, while referring to Mr, William H. Rideing's essay entitled "First 

 Families of the Atlantic" : 



"In an article entitled ' First Families of the Atlantic,' to be found in the January- 

 number of Harper's Magazine, certain assertions are advanced in regard to the habits 

 of the mackerel which are entirely of an ex parte character and might unintentionally 

 act injuriously to our interests in case future disputes arose between the Provinces 

 and the United States on the fishery question. The writer states that, 'seeking a soft 

 muddy or sandy bed at the approach of winter, it [the mackerel] buries itself therein, 

 first drawing a scale or film over each eye.' In a prior paragraph of this same article 

 the possibility of the hibernation of the mackerel is advanced. Now, exactly these 

 two arguments were presented by Professor Hind, who wished to prove that the 

 mackerel was a local fish, in favor of the Provinces, which assertions were entirely 

 refuted by Prof. Spencer F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 by Prof. G. Brown Goode. The great argument used by the Provincial fish experts 

 was to show that the mackerel belonged to their waters, and the ideas of hibernation 

 were therefore represented. If this had been granted, our case would have had, 

 as far as mackerel go, little to rest upon. As to hibernation of the mackerel there 

 are innumerable reasons to suppose that nothing of the kind exists. In fact, hi- 

 bernation is one of those ichthyological questions which require very long research 

 to know anything about. It does seem that sturgeon in Russian waters, and 

 carp in cold temperatures, take to the mud, and may, perhaps, do something Like 

 hibernation, but this habit has no precedent in sea-fish. It may happen that a few 

 individuals of the scomber family have been inclosed in the winter season in the waters 

 of the Newfoundland coast. Such cases have undoubtedly happened, for on page 62 

 of the late report of the United States Commission, the statement is made that in a 

 river of Nova Scotia where a school of mackerel had been detained, the fish were 

 speared out of the mud. Returning to the numbing efl"ects of cold weather on sea-fish, 

 in order to show how unusual it must be, the American turbot is taken with hooks iu 



