704 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



person having lialf of all he gets. Aij average yield is about five pounds 

 to a thousand pounds of round fish. 



Again, the skins, bones and fins, that come from the places where 

 boneless fish are prepared, usually bring when dehvered at the factories 

 an average price of $1 to $2 per wagon-load. I am told that these make 

 the finest quality of isinglass. 



The above are the only jjroducts that have a market value as mer- 

 chandise, but in addition many poor people resort to the dressing- 

 wharves during the winter season and cut out the cheeks of the fii>h, 

 the process being known to the fishermen as " scalping." These are con- 

 sidered very fine eating, and many j)eople are in this way suppUed with 

 excellent food, who would be compelled to go without in case they had 

 to purchase. That which now remains after all these difi'erent parts have 

 been saved is usually thrown into the sea, though at times the farmers 

 cart it away to manure their land. 



Thus we see that though small for the individual, when considered 

 collectively these minor i)roducts have an enormous value for the cod- 

 fisheries of the country. But barring those which, though useful, have 

 no market value, and considering the marketable ones only, we find that 

 in the shore-fisheries, when aU of the above-mentioned parts are saved, 

 they represent a value equal to 14^ per cent, of the total value of the fish 

 as it comes from the water. 



0.— KATUEAL HISTORY OF THE COD. 



1. — GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The cod-fish has perhaps a wider range than any other of our impor- 

 tant food-fishes. On the east coast of America it is found from the 

 polar regions on the north to Cape Hatteras on the south, occurring in 

 vast numbers in the vicinity of Labrador and IsTewfoundland and on the 

 noted fishing-banks lying to the south and west. On the west coast a 

 closely-related species occurs, and the cod-fisheries of the Pacific are 

 being rapidly developed. In the Old World the cod has a wide geo- 

 graphical range, and is very abundant in some localities, the cod-fisheries 

 of Norway being among the most extensive in existence. 



It is not our purpose, however, to go into any general discussion of 

 the natural history of the cod, but merely to treat of the subject with 

 special reference to the species as found in the waters of Northern Mas- 

 sachusetts, where it occurs in greater «Dr less numbers, from the shore 

 line to a depth of 90 or 100 fathoms, on all of the rocky spots and ledges, 

 during the entire year. It is also frequently found on sand and clay, 

 but seldom, if ever, remains on muddy bottoms. Cod are most plenty 

 in this locality from November to June, when they visit the shore for the 

 l)urpose of spawning, during which time they usually remain in from 15 

 to 40 fathoms of water. 



