700 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Professor Baird on learning of this difficulty began a series of experi- 

 ments to throw light on the subject. For this purpose he caused a 

 refrigerator, with a capacity of fuUy a ton, to be placed in the laboratory 

 of the United States Fish Commission at Provincetown, Mass., where 

 by the use of salt and ice he easily obtained a temperature of 18° F., 

 and found no difficulty in keeping fish for any desirable period. He now 

 suggests a way out of the bait difficulty by the building of large refrig- 

 erators in the principal fishing-towns along the coast ; these to be filled 

 when bait is plenty and cheap, and the supply to be kept until such time 

 as it may become scarce. He also suggests the use of small refrigerators 

 in the holds of the fishing- vessels, and thinks that by this means bait 

 can be kept as long as desired and as cheaply as by the present method. 



The time has undoubtedly come when this question should receive 

 the serious attention of the fishery capitalists of New England, and it 

 only remains for some one actually engaged in the fisheries, or for some 

 enterprising capitalist, to act upon these suggestions in order to bring 

 the plan into general favor. 



6. — DISPOSITION MADE OF THE FISH. 



The two principal markets for the shore fishermen of Cape Ann are 

 Boston and Gloucester. The former uses the bulk of the fresh haddock, 

 while the latter buys most of the cod, hake, pollock, and cusk. 



In former years it was the custom in all of the fishing-towns along the 

 coast for the fishermen to cure their own catch or to land the fish at the 

 wharf of some shoresman who would "make" them at his leisure, charg- 

 ing from G to 8 J ^er cent, of their value for his labor. In either case the 

 fish would not be sold till late in the fall, and it was often nearly spring 

 before the fisherman received any money for his season's work. Being 

 usually a man of small means he had no money to carry himself and fam- 

 ily through the season, and he was obliged to arrange with the merchant 

 to supply him with goods until the fish could be caught, cured, and sold. 

 In this way the merchant's bills came to have a value largely dependent 

 upon the abundance and price of fish, and, if the season was a poor one, 

 the accounts were often worthless. To protect himself against such 

 losses the merchant came to charge exorbitant prices for his goods, and 

 mutual dissatisfaction w^as the result. 



Many of the towns still do business in this way, but a few have 

 adopted the cash system. Gloucester was among the first to adopt 

 this method, and in this way drew a large number of fishermen into the 

 town, and greatly increased the size of her fleet. The Cape Ann cod- 

 fishermen now receive their money as soon as the fish are landed and 

 weighed, and thus many of the evils of the credit system are overcoma 



In addition to .this, there is usually so much comj)etition that a fisher- 

 man can secure good prices for his catch, and can sell in any way that 

 he thinks most i^rofitable. Early in the fall, when fish are scarce, he 

 usually sells his fish round, but later in the season he often finds it to 



