[47] 



HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



137 



"The season for the first appearance of mackerel on those parts of 

 our coasts where they are usually taken is from the 20th April to the 1st 

 of May, according as the season is more or less forward ; at which time 

 they strike on the shore soundings off the capes of the Chesapeake and 

 Delaware. Between the latter place and Egg Harbors they are usually 

 plentiful for 15 or 20 days within a few leagues of the land, and mack- 

 erel vessels, which are on the ground seasonably, meet in general with 

 good success, if the weather i^rove to be favorable; after which the 

 mackerel move to the northeast, scattering over a large space of ground, 

 from near the shore to the soundings inside the Gulf Stream, and ex- 

 tending down the coast off Long Island and Block Island to Nantucket, 

 which they reach early in Juue. Sometimes they collect more in bodies 

 off Long or Block Islands, and are plentiful for a few days, after which 

 they i)roceed north through the South Channel and between the Vine- 

 yard Islands into Massachusetts Bay. They reach that bay from the 20th 



of June to the 1st of July and continue there until late in November. 



******* 



"It occasionally happens that late in the year fishermen will reap a 

 rich harvest, when the whole previous season had been comparatively 

 unproductive. Thus it was in the autumn of 1831, in October of that 

 year, the mackerel struck in very near to Cape Ann. Large fleets of 

 vessels collected in such close order as to be coutinually coming in con- 

 tact. The sea beiug smooth, and great quantities of the bait thrown 

 out, the fish gathered in vast numbers, and some vessels took nearly one 

 hundred barrels iu a single day. At the same time they were very 

 abundant off Cape Cod and on Jeffrie's Ledge; and it was computed 

 more than 70,000 baiTcls were taken in a single week." 



TABLE SHOWma COASTWISE MOVEMENTS OF THE MACKEREL. 



The following table, compiled in 1877, chiefly from the records of the 

 United States Fish Commission, may be of interest, since it shows in a 

 general way the dates of appearance, greatest abundance, disappear- 

 ance, and spawning at several jjoints along the coast. 



MACKEREL. 



Daks of a})pearanc€, greatcut abundance, departure, andspaivning, principalli/ from recordn 

 of the United States Fish Commission. 



Locality. 



Appearance. 



Greatest 

 abundance. 



Departure. 



Spawning. 



Cape Hal teras 



Capes of Delaware . . 

 BaT-negat and Sandy 



Hook. 

 Ea^thaiupton, N. T . . 



rrovidt'nce, E. I 



Aprill5-20....| 



Mayl I Mav»-12 . 



May 15-30 



April July, ITovem- 



her. 

 May to Sep- June September 1 5, 



Kan.sbon 



Wood's Holl, Ma<i8. 



tember. 

 May 2. 

 May 9. 



Waquoit, 1871 ; AprU 19 



May 19 



Autumn I In bays in spring. 



June, on soundings. 



November. 



I Spawn runs abundantly. May 2. 



October Spawn runs abundantly, May 10. 



