284 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [20] 



obiioxioiLS by net fislieriiien, are uot on tbe eoiust drniug the coldest 

 weather. 



In addition to the instances already j;iven ot catches made last win- 

 ter, the following have been recorded. For the week ending- December 

 9, 1883, there were landed at Gloucester 590,000 pounds of netted fish, 

 while 84,000 pounds were marketed at tlie two ports of Eockport and 

 rortsniotitli, the week's catch amounting to the total of 074,000 pounds. 

 The following week Gloucester receive<l •i;>0,000 poun<ls, llockport and 

 I'ortsmonth a, total of 81,000, iind Swampscott 18,000, making a total 

 of 559,000 pounds. This large anu)unt was taken, too, when the 

 weather was so uufavorable that nolliing could be done lor three nights 

 and days of the week. For the week ending March 2;5, 1884, there w(-re 

 landed 520,000 pounds of cod that liad been caught in gill-nets. For 

 the week ending March oO, 18 vessels lauded 183,000 pounds. The fol- 

 lowing statement of the total amount of tish captured by the use of 

 gill-nets during the past winter has been compiled for mo. by Mr. Chas. 

 W. Smiley from the reports of Captain Martin, who has made it a spe- 

 cial object to collect all })ossible statistics and information relative to 

 This imjK)rtant l)ranch of the fisheries. 



Total amount of Jink laiulcd from (jill-ncts diuiiKj the months of Octohtr, November, and 

 December, l&d'.i, and Jauuarii, Fehrnary, March, and April, ls'H4, comjnled from the 

 note-books of Capt. S, J. Martin, Gloucester, Muss. 



An important matter for consideration in connection with the cod 

 gill-net fishery is that not only can fishing be successfully carried on, 

 even when bait is not obtainable (for, of course, no bait is recpiired 

 when nets are used), but tliere is a very great saving of money and tinui 

 that must be expended in procuring the bait and baiting the lines 

 when hook-and-line fishing is followed. As an instance of the expense 

 involved, it may be stated that the average bait-bill of a shore-trawler 

 is not, under ordinary circumstances, less than from .$150 to $250 per 

 month, when herring are as high as they usually are in winter. It is, 

 therefore, safe to estimate that when as many vessels are employed in 

 gill-netting as there have been during the past Two winters, the money 

 saved to the fishermen, which otherwise must have been paid for bait, 

 could not be less than from j^30,000 to $70,000 each season. Besides 

 this, a very large percentage of the time is saved, as has been stated, 

 which otherwise must be lost in seeking for bait. 



In this connection it may be well to say that last winter nets cost 



