194 REPORT OFTJOMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



They are tlie mackerel that are poor iu the spring. They get them in 

 Massachusetts Bay in January. 



The small scup that were here last year now weigh not far short of 

 half a pound ; but there are not so^uany small ones, though I have some 

 very small. 



ViNAL N. Edwards did not meet with many small scup like those 

 seen a year ago, but there are many half-pound scup. He had not seen 

 any mullet this season. There are many young menhaden. As he 

 caught tautog with the hook, about the 1st of July, he had seen the 

 spawn running out. The eggs are about the size of No. 3 shot. A part 

 of the eggs seem to ripen at a time. The Quisset men told me they had 

 not done half as well this year as last. Peter Davis, of Noank, who 

 fished on Naushon, said he had not done half as well. 



I did not find any menhaden with ripe spawn in them this summer, 

 and I examined them carefully. I caught some last Saturday, but they 

 had no spawn in them. We never see any young menhaden till July or 

 August. I have caught them not more than an inch or an inch and a 

 quarter long. 



New Bedford, October 9, 1872. 



Mr. Clarke, fish-dealer, of the firm of Clarke &, Bartlett, says blue- 

 fish are as plenty in market this year as they were last, even if scarcer 

 in the sound. 



Scup have not been very plenty here. Ten years ago a man could 

 load a boat with scup, here in the bay, in a day. 



Fish, generally, are growing more and more scarce every year; and 

 we can see a positive dilference in the numbers between this year and 

 last. The scarcity has been increasing for five years. The little scup 

 that were here last year are not so plenty this year. 



In this vicinity tautog are about run out ; they are not worth fishing 

 for. 



The smacks are about killed oif ; they used to get a load in two weeks, 

 but now they cannot get half a load in three weeks. We depend on 

 traps mostly for fish. In the spring they catch the large tautog and 

 glut the market with them, and after that they have to throw them 

 away. 



The regular retail price for tautog is 10 cents a pound. Cod retail at 

 8 cents, and scup about 8 cents, dressed. 



We have had blue-fish in market all the time this season. 



I think it would be better for the fishermen and all concerned if there 

 were no traps in the world. As long as they can, the trappers will hire 

 men to go before committees of the legislature and swear that fish grow 

 more plenty all the time. The trap-men make all the money, while the 

 smack-men mali^ nothing all summer. I know two smack-men who have 

 not made enough all summer to pay for their bread and butter, and they 

 tried hard, too. There have been no large scup for about four years. 

 Many poor families in this city suffer for the want of bread in conse- 

 quence of the traps. 



We got some pompanos this summer, for which we got 25 cents a 

 pound. They came here last year, first, of any account. 



Mr. William A. Bassett, a dealer in fish, says small scup are more 

 plenty this year than last, (evidently referring to scup that weigh about 

 5 ounces.) 



I think blue-fish have been as plenty as last year, but they are gener- 

 ally small, weighing 2^ to 3 pounds. 



