[127] history of the mackerel fishery. 217 



42. — The products of the north American mackerel fishery 



FOR 1880. (With tables.) 



From the earliest settlement of the country the mackerel fisheries 

 have been extensively i)rosecutecl by a larjie number of people living 

 along the New England coast as well as by many of the inhabitants of 

 the British Provinces. The catch has varied greatly from time to time, 

 and seasons of extreme plenty have often been followed by those of 

 remarkable scarcity. Various theories have been advanced to account 

 for this fluctuation. Many have been inclined to attribute it to over- 

 fishing or to the apparatus employed in the fishery, while others claim 

 that the movements of the fish are afl'ected by natural causes, such as 

 temperature, currents, the presence or absence of food, and the like, 

 over which man has little or no .control. Whatever the causes that 

 influence the movements of the fish, the fact of great variation in the 

 abundance of the species from time to time remains. 



In 1804, according to the returns of the various fish inspectors, 8,079 

 barrels of mackerel were packed in Massachusetts, while in 1814, only 

 1,349 barrels were put up. In 1831 the quantity was increased to 383,058, 

 this being the largest amount ever inspected in the State. A ])eriod of 

 scarcity followed, and between 1839 and 1845 the inspection returns 

 show an average of only 07,074 barrels annually. About 1800 the fish 

 were again abundant, and for eight years the quantity packed averaged 

 240,877 barrels. This period of plenty was in turn followed by one of 

 scarcity, which culminated in 1877, at which time only 105,017 barrels 

 were inspected, and the fishery was jiractically a failure, resnlting in 

 great loss both to fishermen and capitalists. Fortunately this condition 

 of affairs is at an end, and the fishery is again in a prosperous condi- 

 tion; the catch of the New England fishermen at ])resent, if we include 

 the fish sold fresh, being larger than at any time since the origin of the 

 fishery. 



In 1880 the Kew England mackerel fishermen met with niarked success, 

 though those of the British Provinces were not so fortunate. By the mid- 

 dle of March a number of the Maine and Massachusetts vessels sailed 

 for the South to engage in the spring fishery, and by the 20th of the 

 following month the last of the fleet, which consisted of 04 sail, averag- 

 ing 05.00 tons each, were under way. The season opened with a haul 

 of 25,000 mackerel taken off" the Virginia capes on the 2d of April. 

 These were carried to New York where they met with a ready sale at 

 good figures. From that time mackerel were taken frequently, the fleet 

 working northward with the fish as the season advanced, reaching Long 

 Island about the last of April, and Cai)e Cod a few weeks later. The 

 season was not a very satisfactory one for the Southern fleet, as the catch 

 was small, and the fish were of poor quality, a majority of the vessels en- 

 gaged making comparatively light stocks, while many of them scarcely 

 paid expenses. As the summer approached, the fishing imi)rovcd greatly, 

 the fish increasing both in number and quality, and the Southern fleet 



