[17] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



Years ago, according- to Captain Harding, mackerel did not school as 

 they do now. 



When you see pollock jumping near the shore, it is a pretty good sign 

 that there is plenty of mackerel food. 



The presence of abundance of mackerel food is indicated by the great 

 schools of sea-birds, particularly by the flocks of phalaropes, or sea- 

 geese (Phdlaropm borealis), as the fishermen call them, which congregate 

 together, floating upon the water, and when seen in summer gives a sure 

 sign of the presence of mackerel also. 



The various invertebrate animals preyed upon by mackerel are known 

 to the fishermen by such names as "Shrimp," "Bed-seed," and "Cay- 

 eune." 



"The wide spread distribution from shore seaward of the Th^san- 

 opoda and other minute Crustacea, which constitute to so great an ex- 

 tent the food of the mackerel and herring on our shores, was proved," 

 writes Professor Baird, "during a trip of the 'Speedwell' from Salem to 

 Halifax in 1877." At numerous points and at regular intervals on the 

 way across, including the middle of the route, immense numbers of these 

 shrimp were met with and collected by the towing net. They were 

 found in especial abundance at Le Have Bank. These prove to be specifi- 

 cally identical with those found in immense quantities in Eastport Har- 

 bor at the surface. 



" That these same animals occur at least as far east as the Gulf 

 Stream is shown by the list of the collections made by Professor S. I. Smith 

 oft" the Georges near the edge of the Gulf Stream, and published in the 

 Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 

 iii, July, 1874." 



Capt. Chester Marr, of Gloucester, confirms the statements of Captain 

 Harding regarding the effects of "red-seed" upon mackerel; he states 

 that when mackerel are feeding on "red-seed" the fishermen have great 

 trouble in keeping them sufficiently long to dress them properly. Their 

 bellies soften at once. When the weather is good and dogfish are not 

 troublesome, the common practice is to allow the fish to lie in the net 

 until they have disposed of the food in their stomachs. Capt. Henry 

 Willard, of the schooner "Henry Willard," of Portland, Me., carries a 

 large net of coarse twine, which is suspended over the side of the vessel 

 from two long booms. Into this he turns the fish and leaves them until 

 the seed works out.* 



Captain Marr states that the "red-seed" is very troublesome to the 

 men engaged in dressing the fish; it makes their hands very sore, often 

 causing the blood to run. A man can clean twice as many fish in a 

 given time if he is not annoyed by the "red-seed" in their stomachs. 



Captain Marr describes another kind of mackerel food, which he calls 

 "small brit," which, he says, resembles young herring, Avhich also rots 



*This "large net of coarse twine" is the mackerel pocket described in the chapter 

 on the purse-seine mackerel fishery. 



