102 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



localities, which are no longer good grounds for halibut, might be men- 

 tioned, but it may suffice to say that at present the only place where 

 halibut are found abundant near the shore is on the west coast of New- 

 foundland. 



THE MACKEREL FISHING-GROUNDS. 



The principal fishing-grounds for mackerel (Scomber scombrus) are 

 along the coast of the United States north of Cape Hatteras and in the 

 Bay and Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The ordinary range of the mackerel 

 on the American coast is between the parallels of 35° and 52° N. latitude. 

 Instances have been recorded of their appearance north and south of 

 these limits, but all the evidence goes to show that their presence in 

 those waters is exceptional. The extent of the fishing-grounds on which 

 mackerel are commonly. caught is considerably less than that first men- 

 tioned, since they are rarely taken south of the thirty-seventh or north 

 of the fiftieth parallel of north latitude, and the best obtainable evidence 

 shows that the average southern limit of the first catches in the spring 

 is about 3S° 00' K latitude.* 



The most northern localities where mackerel have been found abun- 

 dant by fishermen who were seeking them (this is by no means a com- 

 mon occurrence) are the Seven Islands, 50° 05', and Mingau Islands, 

 50° 14' N. latitude, both of these groups of islands being situated near 

 the coast of Lower Labrador. 



Mackerel appear on the coast of the United States early in April — 

 very rarely in March — and until the middle or last of May the fishing- 

 ground for them is along the coast from off the capes of the Delaware to 

 the South Shoal of Nantucket, advancing northwardly with the season 

 and at varying distances, say from 3 to GO miles, from the land. From 

 June to September the best grounds for these fish are off the coast of 

 Maine. Sometimes they are caught in the bays, some distance inside 

 of the outer islands, but more generally from 5 to 70 miles offshore. 

 Large schools of mackerel frequently appear on George's Bank iu the 

 summer, and it is not uncommon for that to be one of the favorite 

 grounds for these fish during a large part of the season. When the au- 

 tumn migration of the mackerel takes place, which is generally in Octo- 

 ber, and continues sometimes through November, they begin to move 

 southward; the fishing-grounds, of course, change (the vessels follow- 



**The journal of schooner Alice, of Swan's Island, Maine, records the fact that the 

 first mackerel in 1879 were caught in 37° 50' N. latitude and 74° 03' W. longitude. 

 The first catch of the Alice in 1378 was in 38° 38' N. latitude. 



The journal of schooner Augusta E. Herrick, of Swan's Island, records first mack- 

 erel taken in 1879 in 37° 57' N. latitude and 74° 22' W. longitude. 



First mackerel taken by schooner John S. MeQuiu, of Gloucester, in 1879, in 37° 42/ 

 N. and 74° 13' W. 



First fish by Charles Haskell, 1879, in 38° 03' N., 73° 57' W. 



First fish by schooner Albert H. Harding, 1879, iu 33- 1 08' N., 74 30' W. 



First fish caught by schooner John Somes, in 1833, was iu 33° 21' N. and 74° 12' W. 



