[345] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 435 



They say that mackerel have not been so plenty off the Maine coast 

 for a number of years. A large fleet of vessels are fishing between 

 Portland and Mount Desert Island, taking mostly large No. 2's, and all 

 very fat. The vessels "fill up" in from ten days to two weeks, some- 

 times bringing in a deck load beside. A good many vessels from dif- 

 ferent parts of the State, and some from Cape Ann, are packing in 

 Portland at $1.25 per barrel. All the packing houses are kept busy, 

 and it is estimated by Mr. E. G. Willard that they have packed over 

 7,000 barrels in the three weeks ending August 23. Of these he has 

 bought and shipped over G,000 barrels to parties in New York. 



The price for 2's three weeks ago was $5, but under the heavy re- 

 ceipts, prices have gradually fallen, until Saturday they were selling at 

 $4.12^, and Mr. Willard thought that Mauday they would reach $4. 



Vessels fishing in the bay have done very poorly, and have mostly 

 returned with " broken trips," or filled up on their way home, off this 

 coast. Mr. Charles A. Dyer gives me the following : Schooner " M. E. 

 Torrey " arrived home about August 1 from a mackerel trip in English 

 waters. She was gone five weeks at an expense for outfit of $470. She 

 brought home 200 barrels of fish that sold at $3 per barrel net, of which 

 the crew took one half. This left a loss to the vessel of $170 in money, 

 beside loss of time and general wear. This represents a fair average, 

 he thinks, of vessels in English waters in 1879. 



During the same time of schooner " M. E. Torrey's" trip the schooner 

 "Alice" landed from American waters 700 barrels of better fish, and 

 stocked $2,500. 



I know of but one Portland vessel in the bay at the present time, and 

 she has not been heard from since June 25, when she had 20 barrels. 

 Very truly, yours, 



E. E. EAELL. 



Prof. Gr. Brown Goode, 



United States Fish Commission, Provincetown, Mass. 



1879. — Mackerel fisheries of the gulf of saint lawrence. 



The following observations on the mackerel fishery in the Gulf of 

 Saint Lawrence are from the report of Collector F. J. Babson and 

 Alfred D. Foster, esq., who visited the provincial inshore fisheries in 

 the United States steamship " Kearsarge" in the summer of 1879 : 



" The principal fishery- followed by the American fishermen in the waters 

 of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence is the mackerel fishery. * * * Previous 

 to the reciprocity treaty of 1854 the mackerel fishery was almost ^vholly 

 in the hands of the Americans, the provincial fishermen confining them- 

 selves entirely to the cod-fishery. This treaty, by opening the markets 

 of the United States to Canadian fish, stimulated this industry, until 

 now Canadian fishermen engage in this fishery on all the coasts of the 

 maritime provinces. The methods of taking mackerel in use by the 

 Canadian and American fishermen differ widely. The Canadians fish 



