REPORT, OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 171 



or over and 3 to 5 cents per pound for those under that size. He had 

 an offer from New York dealers for all the carp he could catch at the 

 rate of 3J cents per pound in rough state. 



The statistical inquiries of the Commission in the Great Lakes in 

 1894 disclosed a very large catch of carp in Lake Erie in the previous 

 year. In nearly every county bordering on the lake relatively large 

 quantities of carp were taken and sold, the aggregate catch being 

 027,000 pounds, valued at $16,245. The principal part of the yield 

 was obtained in the shallow water of the western end of the lake, 

 Erie, Ottawa, and Lucas counties, in Ohio, having the largest catch. 

 In Michigan, 41,900 pounds were taken; in Ohio, 581,300 pounds, and 

 in Pennsylvania and New York, 3,740 pounds. 



TWO VOYAGES TO REMOTE FISHING-GROUNDS. 



In the report of this division for 1891 mention was made of the trip 

 of a Gloucester vessel to Africa for mackerel. The continued scarcity 

 of mackerel in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean prompted 

 another experimental voyage of a Gloucester schooner to the coast of 

 the Old World. On June 22, 1893, the Nannie C. Bolilin, of 124 tons, 

 after baiting with menhaden, sailed from Newport for Stavenger, Nor- 

 way, fitted with seines and lines suitable for taking the large mackerel 

 which are found on that coast. The vessel arrived at her destination 

 July 13, to find that the season had not yet opened. In a few days, 

 however, the vessel sailed for the fishing-grounds, which consist of two 

 banks lying between 120 and 100 miles off the coast. Some fish were 

 secured with the seine at the start, but later the more primitive method 

 of drailing was resorted to. The largest haul of the seine was reported 

 to be only 6 barrels. Unfortunately for the success of this venture, the 

 weather was unfavorable for fishing during most of the season, and 

 only a few fish were observed schooling, and the vessel was forced to 

 return home with only 59 barrels of mackerel. This small fare was, 

 however, larger than the average catch of the fleet on the United 

 States coast. 



As exemplifying the sailing qualities of the new class of New England 

 fishing schooners, it may be mentioned that this vessel accomplished 

 the trip from Norway to Massachusetts — a distance of 4,400 miles — in 

 -'2 days, during a third of which time head winds were encountered. It 

 will be recalled that the famous racing yacht Valkyrie required 30 days 

 to make a passage that was 800 miles shorter. The Bolilin is the same 

 vessel whose seaworthiness was specially referred to in the report of 

 this division for 1891. A mackerel voyage to Norway made by the 

 Gloucester schooner Notice in 1877 was likewise unsuccessful. 



The halibut fishing schooner Carrie W. Babson, 86 tons, of Glouces- 

 ter, in 1893 visited a region but rarely sought by United States fishing 

 vessels. The schooner sailed May 29 for Labrador and Baffin Bay. 

 In Davis Strait so much ice was met with that the fishiug-grounds off 



