[27] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 117 



the spawn of the year before, while those which are called tinkers are 

 from the blinks of the year previous, being the two-year-old fish; and 

 those that are called second-size are from the tinkers of the year before, 

 when they grow up and mix with the bigger ones, I don't know how 

 they live, or much about them. This is my opinion about these matters. 

 Ton will find fishermen tell you they think that mackerel are six or 

 seven years in getting their growth." 



Mackerel, when full-grown, are from 17 to 18 inches in length; some- 

 times they attain a larger size. Captain Collins has caught individuals 

 measuring twenty-two inches. In August, 1880, a school of mackerel 

 was taken in the vicinity of Plymouth; they weighed from three to 

 three and a half pounds each, and were from 19 to 19i inches long. 

 They were regarded as extraordinarily large, and a barrel of them were 

 sent to the Fishery Exhibition at Berlin as an illustration of the perfec- 

 tion to which the mackerel attains in this country. Although the size 

 just mentioned is unusual at present, in past years many thousands of 

 barrels have been taken nearly, if not quite, as large. The size varies 

 from year to year, sometimes very few barrels which can be rated as 

 No. I's being found in our waters. A No. 1 mackerel, according to the 

 Massachusetts inspection laws, measures 13 inches from the tip of the 

 snout to the crotch or fork of the caudal fin. The average length from 

 year to year for the whole coast is probably not far from 12 inches in 

 length, and a weight of twelve to sixteen ounces. The following quo- 

 tations from writers of two centuries ago are interesting, since they 

 show that large mackerel were known to the early colonists of New 

 England : 



"The mackerel, of which there is choicefull plenty all summer long; 

 in the spring they are ordinarily 18 inches long; afterwards there is 

 none taken but what are smaller." — Joselyn, 1675. 



"The Makarels are the baite for the Basse, & these have been chased 

 into the shallow waters, where so many thousands have shott them- 

 selves a shore with the surfe of the Sea that whole hogges-heads have 

 been taken up on the Sands ; & for length they excell any of other parts : 

 they have bin measured 18. & 19. inches in length & seaven breadth: 

 & are taken with a drayee, (as boats use to pass to & froe at Sea on 

 business,) in very greate quantities all along the Coaste. 



"The Fish is good, salted; for store against the winter, as well as 

 fresh, & to be accounted a good commodity."* 



7. — Enemies. 



Captain Collins writes: "The gaunet is one of the most destructive 

 enemies of the mackerel. I have often seen these birds so heavily 

 weighted with these fish that they were unable to rise on the approach, 

 of the vessel until they had disgorged from two to four good sized mack- 



*• New England's Fish, John Smith, 1622. U. S. F. C. Rep., 153. 



