REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [48] 



Mackerel. — Dates of appearance, greatest abundance, departure, <jc. — Continued. 



Locality. 



Nantucket. 



Chatham 

 Harwich . 



Dennis 



Provincetown 



"Wellfleet 



Boston 



Newburyport 



Georgetown, Me 



Boothbay, Me 



Seguin Island, Me . . . 



Eastport, Me 



Southern Nova Scotia 



Appearance. 



May 1-25. 



May 1-30. 

 June 



Greatest 

 abundance. 



June 



May 15-20 



June 



May 20 



September and 



October. 



May* 

 April 



May 



June 10. 

 May 



April and May 

 Mayt 



October, No- 

 vember. 



September and 

 October. 



July, Septem- 

 ber. 



June, Septem- 

 ber 20 to Oc- 

 tober 10. 



July 15, Sep- 

 tember. 



July 1, Sep- 

 tember. 



July, Septem- 

 ber. 



An gust and 

 September. 



Departure. 



October 20, No- 

 vember 20. 



November 



November 



November and 



December. 

 November .... 



November and 

 December. 



October and 

 November. 



September 



October 1-10 . . 



October and 

 November. 



October, No- 

 vember. 



Spawning. 



May and June, on shores. 



May. 



June, spawn seen in nets. 



Do. 

 Do. 



May and June, spawn seen in 



nets. 



Do. 



Do. 



Before July 1 . 

 Spawn seen in weirs. 



* At Gloucester, May 13. 1881. 



tBarrington, N. S., May 14, 1881. 



II.— THE MACKEREL FISHERY OF THE UNITED 



STATES. 



C— THE PURSE-SEINE FISHERY. 



The purse-seine has come into general use since 1850, aod with its in- 

 troduction the methods of the mackerel fishery have been totally revo- 

 lutionized. The most extensive changes, however, have taken place 

 since 1870, for it is only during the last ten years that the use of the 

 purse-seine has been at all universal. As late as 1873 and 1874 a few 

 vessels have fished with the old apparatus in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, 

 and also a few on the coast of New England. Such changes in the 

 manner of fishing for mackerel have brought about also a change in the 

 fishing grounds. Vessels fishing in the old style were most successful 

 in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but the purse-seine can be used to very 

 much better advantage along our own shores between Cape Hatteras 

 and the Bay of Fundy. 



The mackerel fleet in 1879 and 1880 is owned almost entirely by Mas- 

 sachusetts and Maine, a very few vessels from New Hampshire and 

 Connecticut also participating. The distribution of the vessels in the 

 mackerel fleet, their tonnage, and the number of men employed, is shown 

 in the tables, prepared by Mr. R. Edward Earll and printed below in 

 sections 40-43. 



11. — The fishing grounds. 



In the spring, from March to the 1st of June, the mackerel seiners 

 cruise between the capes of the Chesapeake and the South Shoal of Nan- 



