44 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



made fisli more plenty, such an answer could not be drawn from liim 

 very easily. Of the summer fish, ttee blue-fish and scup are the jmnci- 

 pal to be relied upon. Very few tautog- are caught here. Blue-fish are 

 scarcer, as a uniform thing, on the north side of the island than they 

 have been. I fish on the north side of the island, from Great Point to 

 Muskeget. 



Mr. Phinney. I have seen more fish this year than in any two years 

 before. 



Mr. Chapin. There have been more than twice as many fish in the 

 ba.y this year as there were last. 



Mr. PiiiNNEY. I think they swim very low this year. 



Mr. Snow. I catch them lower than usual. I think they are after the 

 bottom bait. 



Mr. PriiNNEY. We find them with eels in them, and every thing that 

 lives at the bottom. 



Mr. Andrews. I fish both ways. Twenty years ago we could catch 

 enough at the top. 



Mr. Snow. Twenty years ago there were no nets belonging to Nan- 

 tucket peoi)le, but they came here from Cape Cod and fished. 



Question. Might we say that, upon the whole, the blue-fish are more 

 plenty this year than last; but that, in consequence of their swimming 

 lower than usual, they cannot be caught with hooks? 



Mr. PiiiNNEY responded affirmatively, others not answering. 



Mr. Burgess. I should like to see some one go from Tuckernuck to 

 the Point and get ten fish a day; whereas ten years ago you might get 

 a hundred. I don't know the cause of the decrease ; I think it is the 

 nets. I have seen acres and acres along Great Point, but they would 

 not bite. 



Mr. Andrews. I think that is about the time they are spawning. I 

 have seen them when they would not take the hook anyhow, ]>erhai)s 

 for an hour, and then they would bite. 



Mr. Phinney. We find" plenty of spawn in the blue-fish this year; 

 but not so many as we did at first; about the 10th of June we found it 

 most plenty. We find now more males, generally, than females. 



Mr. Burgess. The roe of the female is yellow ; that of the male is 

 white. I do not know where blue-fish spawn ; I never saw any of the 

 eggs floating on the water. I think the females deposit their spawn, 

 and then the nnile deposits his on top of it. I am very much opposed 

 to nets of all kinds; I think they are a general loss and disadvantage. 



Mr. Snow. I don't know what the fish are going to bring this year. 

 Last year they sold for about $8 and $10 a barrel, I do not send any 

 fresh fish, but salt them. We send the salted blue-fish to New York 

 and Baltimore. A barrel holds 200 pounds, which would make them 

 worth about four to five cents a pound. 



Mr. Burgess. I think the scup, on the whole, are more plenty this 

 year than last, but they are small ; we do not get large ones, as Ave used 

 to. The small ones are just as full of spawn. We find scuj), not more 

 than two or three inches long, with spawn in them. It appears to be 

 perfect. Blue-fish a foot long will spawn. I got some to-daj' that I 

 think were a foot long, and they had spawn in them. I think it is 

 wrong to this whole community to have pounds. 



Mr. Snow. I think the blue-fish have used up the bait, and are going 

 away to seek it. There used to be herring and menhaden plenty, but 

 they are gone now. We do not find as many menhaden and herring in 

 the blue-fish as we did in June. 



