[39] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



they do not take the hook, so we catch them in gill-nets. The second 

 ran of mackerel that comes in the early part of the season, which Dr. 

 Mitchell, in his 'Fishes of New York,' calls Scomber grex, is the kind 

 that takes the hook ; they are, no doubt, the younger class of fish. This 

 fish (mackerel) on its arrival swims low in the day-time; in the night it 

 comes near the top of the water and is caught in gill-nets. We would 

 not know they had arrived if no nets were set. The ebb and flow of 

 the tide does not affect them. I have never seen spawn run from this 

 fish when taken with the hook; when spawning they do not bite in this 

 locality. In fishing with gill-nets we see no spawn floating in the 

 water. There are no pounds here. The mackerel does not run up from 

 the sea into fresh water. We find no small young fish with the larger 

 mackerel when they are spawning. Mackerel are liable to go anywhere 

 when they are following the bait." 



In his testimony before the Halifax Commission the same eminent 

 authority stated : 



"The mackerel, like some other species of fish I could name, come in 

 poor and destitute of fat. being only number threes according to the 

 Massachusetts inspection law; and when they reach Provincetown, 

 those that have come in from the south have, I think, spawned at places 

 at which they have found about the right depth of water for the pur- 

 pose. I have never fished south of Cape Cod, and hence could not 

 vouch for that; but the fish that come in east of Nantucket and South 

 Channel do not fall in with land or a shoal channel until they strike 

 back of Cape Cod, and, winding round, come into the southern part of 

 Massachusetts Bay. In that locality I have fished with gill-nets for a 

 great many seasons, at the time of their arrival, and they only last till 

 the bluefish make their appearance. We have six or seven weeks of 

 mackerel fishing, and generally do something considerable at it; but 

 after the bluefish come in the mackerel leave, as that drives them all off 

 and ruins our fishery. 



"Question. When are mackerel in the finest condition off the coast 

 of the United States, say from Cape Cod down ? — Answer. I should say, 

 takiug one year with another — years differ a little — say from the middle 

 of September to the middle of October, I could get as nice mackerel as 

 could be procured at any time during the year, and then good mackerel, 

 some years, can be obtained as early as the middle of August. 



"Q. Is it your opinion that some of the schools of mackerel found on 

 the coast of the United States remain there during the entire season, 

 or do they all go north of the coast of Maine? — A. I think that the 

 mackerel which come south of us, and then strike into Cape Cod and 

 Massachusetts Bay, and north of that, and some of them farther east- 

 ward, come in from the deep water, where they have wintered, and 

 strike on and back of George's Bank. This is my opinion. I consider 

 that they come from their winter quarters all along the coast, from away 

 •down as far as Chincoteague Shoals to Newfoundland. I have no idea 



