HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 149 



ply the Cape Ann fishing fleet with bait, although they are salted for food 

 to a considerable extent. Ten seines and about seventy men are en- 

 gaged in this fishery during its continuance, which is usually about one 

 month — from the middle of June to the middle of July. The seines are 

 100 to 200 yards long and 5 to 8 fathoms deep, requiring 6 to 8 men to 

 manage them. The boats from which they are worked are light scows, 

 about 25 feet in length, and 8 feet in breadth of beam. The seine is set 

 from the stern of the scow, and is worked from the shore by means of 

 long warps. 



Capt. Moses Pettiugell, of Newburyport, to whom I am indebted for 

 the above facts, tells me that the seine-gangs have occasionally taken 

 2,000 barrels of fish in a single day. 



Boston and Gloucester vessels come to anchor at the mouth of the 

 river and wait for their supplies of bait. At one time in 1877 there were 

 25 fishing schooners waiting. Captain Pettingell estimates that 500 

 supplies of bait of from 10 to CO barrels are sold annually by the Mer- 

 rimac seine-gangs. 



The regular price of fresh bait for the past ten years has been $1 per 

 barrel. Probably 1,000 barrels of slivered fish were prepared in 1876 ; 

 these sold for $5 per barrel. Captain Pettingell estimates the annual 

 catch for 1876 at 2,000 barrels to a boat, making an aggregate catch of 

 20,000 barrels, or perhaps 6,000,000 fish. The returns are probably 

 not far from $20,000 in a good season. 



The following table is from the Report of the Commissiohers of Inland 

 Fisheries for 1877 (p. 65). It is possibly not complete : 



Table. — Seine fishery at mouth of the Merrimac. 



Narae. Meuliaden. 



E. Thurlow ) 



R. Pierce 



B. M. Perkins 



W. H. H. Perkins 



N. Lattinie 



B. Stevens 



2, 013, 675 



A similar fishery, though of much less extent, is carried on by Glouces- 

 ter vessels in Salem Harbor. There being no considerable body of fresh 

 water, the schools are small and are easily dispersed. July 15, 1877, I 

 observed six or seven gangs busily plying their seines opposite The 

 Willows. After a day or two the menhaden were driven away, and the 

 fishing ceased until the following week, when they returned and were 

 soon followed by the same boats. 



An estimate of the total consumption of menliadeii bait, 



206. It is not practicable to make, from the data to which I have 

 access, any very accurate estimate of the total quantity of menhaden 



