[47] 



HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



"The season for the first appearance of mackerel on those parts of 

 our coasts where they are usually taken is from the 20th April to the 1st 

 of May, according as the season is more or less forward ; at which time 

 they strike on the shore soundings off the capes of the Chesapeake and 

 Delaware. Between the latter place and Egg Harbors they are usually 

 plentiful for 15 or 20 days within a few leagues of the land, and mack- 

 erel vessels, which are on the ground seasonably, meet in general with 

 good success, if the weather prove to be favorable; after which the 

 mackerel move to the northeast, scattering over a large Space of ground, 

 from near the shore to the soundings inside the Gulf Stream, and ex- 

 tending down the coast off Long Island and Block Island to Nantucket, 

 which they reach early in June. Sometimes they collect more in bodies 

 off Long or Block Islands, and are plentiful for a few days, after which 

 they proceed north through the South Channel and between the Vine- 

 yard Islands into Massachusetts Bay. They reach that bay from the 20th 



of June to the 1st of July and continue there until late in November. 



******* 



" It occasionally happens that late in the year fishermen will reap a 

 rich harvest, when the whole previous season had been comparatively 

 unproductive. Thus it was in the autumn of 1831, in October of that 

 year, the mackerel struck in very near to Cape Ann. Large fleets of 

 vessels collected in such close order as to be continually coming in con- 

 tact. The sea being smooth, and great quantities of the bait thrown 

 out, the fish gathered in vast numbers, and some vessels took nearly one 

 hundred barrels in a single day. At the same time they were very 

 abundant off Cape Cod and on Jeffrie's Ledge; and it was computed 

 more than 70,000 barrels were taken in a single week." 



TABLE SHOWING COASTWISE MOVEMENTS OF THE MACKEREL. 



The following table, compiled in 1877, chiefly from the records of the 

 United States Fish Commission, may be of interest, since it shows in a 

 general way the dates of appearance, greatest abundance, disappear- 

 ance, and spawning at several points along the coast. 



MACKEREL. 



Dates of appearance, greatest abundance, departure, and spawning, principally from records 

 of the- United States Fish Commission. 



Locality. 



Cape Hatteras 



Capes of Delaware. . . 

 Barnegat and Sandy 



Hook. 

 Ea-sthauipton, N. Y . . 



Appearance. 



April 15-20. 

 May 1 



April 



Greatest 

 abundance. 



May 8-12 . 

 May 15-30 



July, Novem- 

 ber. 

 June 



Departure. 



September 15, 

 November. 



Providence, R. I May to Sep 



tember. 



NauRhon May 2 



Wood's Holl, Mass ... May 9 1 October 



Waquoit^l871 ! Aprill9 | May 19 



Autumn 



Spawning. 



In bays in spring. 



June, on soundings. 



Spawn runs abundantly. May 2. 

 Spawn runs abundan Uy , May 10. 



