HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 89 



do find a great difference at times (and some whole seasons) in size and 

 quality. 



"Our usual average catch here in Long Island Sound has been about 

 8,000,000 per season, beginning June 1, ending October 1. The past 

 season, 1877, our catch was 15,000,000; nearly double the catch of pre- 

 vious years. 



"In 1870 there was a large quantity of large fat-fish in the sound; 

 these fish could be seen occasionally several feet under the surface by 

 persons at the mast-head, but could not be seen by the fishermen from 

 the deck of the vessel except occasionally. For some cause, we think 

 they were at the bottom feeding ; they did not appear on the surface 

 sufiicieutly long for the fishermen to catch them until very late in the 

 season. 



"On the 10th day of August we had made only 14 barrels of oil. 

 Some of our neighbors, having got discouraged, closed their factories, 

 thinking there would be no catch for the season. At this time the fish 

 suddenly made their appearance on the surface, and were caught in 

 great abundance. They being unusually fat, yielding from 12 to 11 gal- 

 lons of oil per 1,000, we made in the next six weeks 3,000 barrels 

 prime oil. 



" In 1871-'72 there was about the usual quantity of fish, yielding from 

 4 to G gallons of oil per 1,000 ; an average of several years previous to 

 1870. 



"In 1873 there were immense numbers of small fish from one to two 

 inches long appeared on the surface in the month of September; thou- 

 sands of shoals could be seen at a time and great numbers in each shoal; 

 these appeared to take possession of all the waters for the remainder of 

 that season. 



"In 1874 these small fish appeared again late in the season and were 

 about double the size they were in 1873. 



"In 1875 they appeared again much earlier; and in 1876 they came 

 in about the 1st of June, having increased in size and numbers ; appar- 

 ently they occupied the whole waters of the sound, so much so, the 

 larger fish that frequented these waters were actually crowded out of 

 the sound, or left for other waters, and remained off Block Island, at sea, 

 the remainder of the season, and gave up the field to be occupied by 

 the smaller fish. 



"The result of this abundance of small fish was a complete failure of 

 the business for the two years 1875 and 1870 in Long Island Sound, the 

 factories and fishing gears having run at great loss. 



"In 1877 we provided ourselves with smaller mesh-nets and proceeded 

 to catch the smaller fish, which had now attained a size about two thirds 

 the average here and averaging about one-half pound each. We could 

 catch these by using nets of 2| inches mesh. They were hardly worth 

 catching, but the men could not stand another season of light catch, 

 and there was no alternative for them ; they must catch these or noth- 



