THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 203 



Q. What are these scales for ?— A. I cannot say. The theory of the fishermen, how- 

 ever, is that it is to curb the roving habits of the mackerel, and make it more ready 

 to stay in the mud ; and that otherwise they would not want to stay there ; that is 

 the hypothesis of the fishermen, and I give it for what it is worth. 



Q. You do not assent to it? — A. No ; it is not proven to be true. 



Q. And it is not disproven ? — A. All that is proven in this respect is, that in winter 

 we do not see the mackerel ; they do not then school on the surface, nor do they go 

 to the West Indies, or to Bermuda, or to Florida ; nor do they then appear on the 

 surface anywhere as far as the testimony has gone. 



Q. With reference to the inshore fisheries in the State of Maine, and in the States 

 of New England, generally, are they depleted or not ? — A. The boat-fisheries there 

 are not what they were fifty or one hundred years ago ; that, I think, I am perfectly 

 safe in saying ; but whether there has been any decrease in them during the past few 

 years I cannot say. 



Q. I now quote from your own report, part second, for the years 1872 and 1873, page 

 xi ; it is headed " Conclusions as to decrease of cod-fisheries on the New England 

 Coast," and it states : 



" Of all the various fisheries formerly prosecuted directly off the coast of New Eng- 

 land, north of Cape Cod, the depreciation in that of the cod appears to be of the 

 greatest economical importance. Formerly the waters abounded in this fish to such 

 an extent that a large supply could be taken throughout almost the entire year along 

 the banks, especially in the vicinity of the mouths of the large rivers. At that time 

 the tidal streams were almost choked up with the alewives, shad, and salmon that 

 were struggling for entrance in the spring, and which filled the adjacent waters 

 throughout a great part of the year. 



" As is well known, the erection of impassable dams across the streams, by prevent- 

 ing the ascent of the species just mentioned to their spawning-grounds, produced a 

 very great diminution, and almost the extermination, of their numbers, so that 

 whereas in former years a large trade could be carried ou during the proper season, 

 now nothing would be gained by the effort." 



On page xii you say this : 



" It would, therefore, appear that while the river-fisheries have been depreciated 

 or destroyed by means of dams or by exhaustive fishing, the codfish have disappeared 

 in equal ratio. This is not, however, for the same reason, as they are taken only 

 with the line, at a rate more than compensated by the natural fecundity of the fish. 

 I am well satisfied, however, that there is a relation of cause and effect between the 

 present and past condition of the two series of fish ; and in this I am supported by 

 the opinion of Capt. U. S. Treat, of Eastport, by whom, indeed, the idea was first 

 suggested to me. Captain Treat is a successful fisherman, and dealer in fish on a very 

 lai'ge scale, and at the same time a gentleman of very great intelligence and knowl- 

 edge of the many details connected with the natural history of our coast-fishes, and 

 in this respect worthily representing Captain Atwood, of Provincetowu. It is to Cap- 

 tain Treat that we owe many experiments ou the reproduction of alewives in ponds, 

 and tho possibility of keeping salmon in fresh waters for a period of years. The gen- 

 eral conclusions which have been reached, as the result of repeated conversations 

 with Captain Treat and other fishermen on the coast, incline me to believe that the 

 reduction in the cod and other fisheries, so as to become practically a failure, is due 

 to the decrease off our coast in the quantity, primarily, of alewives, and secondarily 

 of shad and salmon, more than to any other cause. 



" It is well known to the old residents of Eastport that from thirty to fifty years 

 ago cod could be taken in abundance in Passamaquoddy Bay and off Eastport, where 

 only stragglers are now to be caught. The same is the case at the mouth of the Pe- 

 nobscot River and at other points along the coast, where once the fish came close in 

 to the shore, and were readily captured with the hook throughout the greater part 

 of the year." 



A. Yet* 



