PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES. 11 



There is a plienomenou that lias happened this year not conimouly 

 observed by fishermen before. The Saughkonet and all the other fish- 

 ermen — I come in contact with all — report to me that they saw the 

 small scup in vast quantities about the time they Avere taking up their 

 nets ; they described tliem as being from half an inch long up to three 

 inches. That Avas about the 1st of June. Still later they were reported 

 to be further up the bays ; and in July Mr. Arnold, of West Greenwich, 

 told me that the river up there seemed to be full of them. 



From the middle to the last of May the heart-seines are put down at 

 different points along higher up the baj^s ; some of tliem may have been 

 put in about the 1st of May, but they do not begin fishing much until 

 a little later. I have a heart-seine now at Dutch Island Harbor, in the 

 AVestBay.- 



Flat-fish are caught about here in the winter. 



Captain Calhoun stated to me that he saw the first scup caught here, 

 which was placed on exhibition at the United States Hotel. There is a 

 tradition that they first occurred here about 1793, and the sheep's-head 

 disappeared here about that time. There have been more sheep's-head 

 caught here this seas^ju than I have ever known. I have seen a dozen 

 in the umrket at once. 



Scup have been much more abundant this year than at any time 

 during the last five or six years; still, not so plenty as at some former 

 periods. 



The blue-fish have not shown themselves very plenty yet this year ; 

 they have been rather scarce. There have not been so many as last 

 year, up to the present time. • 



I think the squeteague have been as plenty as ever before ; they have 

 been very plenty indeed. 



About tlie time that the blue-fish come, the scup disappear. 



There is no doubt but that the great majority of the fish are destroyed 

 while in their spawn or small fry. 



In May the spawn of the scup is found in different degrees of devel- 

 opment ; while some are quite ready to spawn, others have it developed 

 but little. Some have no spawn in them. I saw six cleaned in the 

 month of ^lay, of which only one had spawn ; there might have been 

 the same number taken, and every one had spawn in it. 



We catch in our traps and pounds the scup in largest quantity; next 

 come the sea-bass; then, squeteague; then, blue-fish; and then the 

 flat-fish, called the brail, the pucker-mouth, and the flounder ; then, 

 tautog. »* 



The great bulk of the fish caught in the pounds goes to IS'ew York. 



I have known scup sold as low as fift}^ cents a barrel, five or six years 

 ago. They sometimes sell fish for just what they can get, because they 

 cannot be kept long enough to get them to market. Sea-bass bring 

 about the same price as scup generally — about five cents a pound. Sque- 

 teague bring four cents ; blue-fish, five cents ; flat-fish, from two to three 

 cents — many have been sold for two cents each. Very few fish are salted 

 here, except the herring. 



Menhaden are second to scup in number of pounds caught ; they are 

 used for oil and bait. One gang caught 1,500 barrels of menhaden last 

 week. There are three or four oil-w^orks on this island. This season is 

 reported to be the best for many years for menhaden. For bait they are 

 sold for a dollar a barrel, and sometimes a dollar and a half. When 

 sold for njauure, they bring about thirty cents a barrel. The purse-nets 

 supply the oil-works generally with menhaden. 



