14 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



It is much to be regretted that there is uo machinery employed in the 

 United States for securing the statistics of our fisheries, the example of 

 Canada and of European nations not having yet been adopted. The only 

 sources of knowledge at our command are the reports of the cod and 

 mackerel landed at American seaport towns, as made by the Statistical 

 Bureau of the Treasury Department, the reports of inspections of mack- 

 erel by the States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, and 

 other incidental mention of local yields, such as the annual production 

 at Gloucester, &c, as can be picked up. 



Of all these fish, however, the mullet is perhaps the most important, as being taken 

 in larger quantities and occupying a greater number of persons in its manipulation. 

 The fish, however, are almost exclusively consumed in the South, a very few being 

 sent to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. At present it may be considered as 

 even more of a staple than the shad and alewife, which have been diminished very 

 materially in later years; the supply of mullet, however, is apparently inexhausti- 

 ble, and if! repeated from year to year, though sometimes, owing to extreme weather 

 and other conditions, the product is less, the condition of the lower classes being af- 

 fected accordingly. Indeed, it may be said to occupy the same position that the 

 mackerel does in the North ; and the increasing yield of this fishery has undoubtedly 

 had much to do with the reduced demand for the mackerel. Although as a fresh fish 

 it may be considered as inferior to the best quality of mackerel, it is by most persons 

 considered superior to it when salted. At CapeHatteras the mullet iishery is said to 

 begin about the middle of July ; about Fort Macon in September, and later further 

 south, continuing for from one to two months at each station. The fish then come in 

 from the sea for the purpose of spawning and enter the fresh water, being similar in 

 this respect to the shad and alewife, although not apparently penetrating any con- 

 siderable distance from the mouth. Like the herring and cod, they appear to spawn 

 on a falling temperature, or when the waters have acquired a certain minimum. 

 There is but little system adopted in the fishery, several individuals combining for a 

 particular occasion and selecting one of their number as chief. The outfit consists 

 simply of two or three six-oared boats, a seine from 75 to 100 yards long, several split- 

 tin"' tables, some barrels, and salt. The fish are split and cleaned, but without re- 

 moval of the head, and are slashed in the thickest side for the better penetration of 

 the salt. Tho fish are all fat and plump, and are graded by size and not by quality. 

 The lower grades are worth from $4 to $5 a barrel ; the higher sometimes bring from 

 $8 to $10. Not more than from seventy to a hundred can be packed in a barrel. As 

 many as five hundred barrels of mullets are taken sometimes at a single haul. The 

 entire catch at Fort Macou alone is estimated by Dr. Yarrow at 12,000 barrels. The 

 catch of a single county of North Carolina, Carteret, is given at 70,000 barrels. A 

 lar"-e portion of the fish are bartered in the seaboard counties for agricultural prod- 

 ucts 2 barrels being usually considered equivalent to 15 bushels of corn. They are 

 sent by the railway lines all through the interior of the State, where they meet with 

 great demand. Mullet roes are also considered a very great delicacy ; a portion of 

 them are pickled aud the others slightly salted and smoked. They usually bring from 

 25 to 40 cents a dozen. 



With an increased demand and improved methods of capture aud preparation, 

 there is no reason why the yield of the mullet Iishery should not be fully equaled in 

 hulk and value to that of tho mackerel, as the fish itself is in countless abundance 

 and found for many hundreds of miles along the coast. 



Dr. H. C. Yarrow, U. S. A., from whose manuscript notes I have obtained the facts 

 referred to above, states that two-thirds of the entire population of the coast of North 

 Carolina is employed in this fishery. 



