250 REPORT O^COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



catch in one day in 1871 was 500 pounds, and the average at Edgar- 

 town and Hyanuis not more than 100 pounds. 



On the Carolina coast the best season for fishing is about at slack 

 water, including the last of the ebj? and young flood. At full tide the 

 success is much less. 



Eefercnce has already been made to the number of blue-fish taken in 

 Vineyard Sound during the season of 1871, these amounting to not far 

 from a million offish. At Hyaunis alone, notwithstanding the decided 

 diminution in number, as many as 100,000 fish, representing a weight 

 of half a million pounds, were taken up to the 18th of September, and 

 shipped by the cars to New York. 



Of the winter fishing for blue-fish on the coast of North Carolina, the 

 principal range, according to Dr. Yarrow, United States Army, extends 

 from Nag's Head to Cape Lookout, the north bank near Nag's Head 

 being a favorite locality. The fishing season there lasts about five or 

 six weeks, from about the middle of November to the end of December; 

 and in 1871 there were one hundred and fifty crews engaged. At this 

 time the fish appear to come in direct from the sea, and, after spending 

 some time there, they pass out again to sea in a southerly direction, this 

 being possibly the time at Avhich they come in to spawn, although Dr. 

 Yarrow was unable to detect the i)resence of any spawn. 



These fish are all large, some of them weighing 18 to 20 pounds, 

 although their average, as already remarked, is about 10. They are 

 captured by gill-nets made of No. G cotton-twine, 200 yards long and 

 about 50 meshes deep, the mesh itself being 3 inches. 



They are also captured, in less number, however, by means of the 

 hook baited and thrown in the usual manner. Their first appearance is 

 indicated by schools of menhaden, in pursuit of which they display so 

 great eagerness as sometimes to run themselves upon the shore. When 

 a school is seen to approach, the nets are let oft' from the boats about 

 half a mile from the shore, so that the fish are gilled as they come in. 

 The fish are generally of about the same size, and large, no young ones 

 being found in their company. 



A full outfit costs from seventy-five to one hundred dollars, and the 

 boat's crew share the profits, which are sometimes very large ; as in a 

 good season the fish will bring about six cents per pound. As many as 

 4,000 fish have been taken out at a single haul, but this is unusual. 

 A fair average is about 3,000 fish to a crew for a season. Allowing 

 2,000 as an average for the 150 crews, and we have 300,000 fisli, which, 

 at an average often pounds each, will give 3,000,000 pounds, amount- 

 ing, at 5 cents per pound, to $150,000. These figures are believed to be 

 fully within the mark. 



Dr. Yarrow further states, in this connection, that no fish will swim in 

 their company, large sharks even sometimes losing their fins by them. 

 The only fish of the southern waters able to protect itself against them 

 is the largest sized drum. They are, however, devoured in large num- 

 bers by the porpoises, which follow them to their grounds and make sad 

 havoc among them. The same is the case farther north. Sharks, too, 

 doubtless kill considerable numbers. 



The economical value of the blue-fish as a food-fish is very great, con- 

 stituting, as it does, a very large percentage of the food supply, during 

 the summer, of the people of the coast I'rom New Jersey to Massachusetts. 

 It is to be met with in its season in all the markets, and is the principal re- 

 liance of summer boarding-places near the sea-coast, especially since the 

 diminution in the number of the scup and other shore fishes. This is in 

 strong contrast to the contempt manifested for theni in the earlier part 



