EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [G8] 



When a scbool of mackerel Las been taken in the seine and the net is 

 pursed up, a signal is made by the crew of the seine-boat, who have a 

 lantern, so as to attract the attention of the men on board of the vessel 

 who immediately bring the latter near the seine-boat. The skipper and 

 three or four of the crew then go on board the vessel in the dory and 

 bring the schooner along side the seine-boat, performing this evolution 

 in the same manner as it is done in the daytime. The lantern, which is 

 always carried in the seine-boat, enables the skipper to find her without 

 any trouble. Much vexatious delay and difficulty, however, sometimes 

 occurs in consequence of the light carried by the seine-boat's crew being- 

 extinguished. In such case it is not only hard, but sometimes impossi- 

 ble for the men on the vessel to find the seine-boat, since on a dark, 

 windy night she cannot be seen more than a few rods distant. 



The practice of using a large lantern to attract the fish nearer to the 

 surface of the water than they usually come, so that they can be more 

 plainly seen, has met with decided success, and there seems strong reason 

 for anticipating considerable improvements in this respect hereafter. 

 In alluding to this matter a writer in the Cape Ann Advertiser, No- 

 vember 4, 1881, says: 



"It would not greatly surprise us if the mackerel fleet, next year, 

 were supplied with powerful calcium lights, to be carried at the mast- 

 head, and that the fishery will be extensively prosecuted in the night 

 time. Surely the signs of progression are manifested in almost every 

 branch of the fisheries, and brains are rapidly coming to the front and 

 making themselves manifest. A year ago who would have dreamed of 

 catching mackerel in the night time "? Now it is fast becoming a reality.'' 



As may be readily inferred this practice of night fishing is one which 

 calls for the greatest possible amount of endurance and hardihood on 

 the part of the fishermen who engage in it. It frequently happens, 

 when good catches are made for days and nights in succession, that the 

 men get no rest whatever until they are thoroughly worn out by their 

 constant labors and vigils and are scarcely able to refrain from falling 

 asleep even when engaged at their work. Nor is the work on the fish- 

 ing-ground all they have to do. When a fare is obtained, all sail is 

 made upon the vessel and she is driven as swiftly as possible for the 



ready to pull whenever the men aloft gives the order for them to cast oft'. These 

 methods of setting the seine, however, are only adopted when the fish do not show 

 plainly, so that they can he seen hy the men on the vessel's deck, or in the hoat ; it 

 therefore hecomes necessary for the man on the masthead to give the requisite orders 

 for throwing out the seine as well as to direct the wheelsman how to steer the vessel 

 until the hoat leaves the side. 



Captain Smith has never known a vessel to make a complete circle around a school 

 of mackerel while towing the seine-hoat from which the net was heing thrown out, 

 but thinks it probable that it may have been done. 



A lantern is carried both in the seine boat and dory, the one in the former always 

 being kept darkened or out of sight until the seine is set, since a light would so blind 

 the men in the boat that it would be difficult for them to perform successfully the work 

 of setting the net. 



