REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [90] 



Lawrence. Cape Cod vessels were accustomed to dress their bait in a 

 peculiar manner. They did not sliver them in the ordinary way, but 

 salted them down "round," simply eviscerating them, cutting oft" the 

 heads and the thin parts of the belly, and making slits in the sides. 



These vessels obtained their bait from the pound fishermen at various 

 points on the coast of southern New England, especially in the vicinity 

 of Seaconnet and Rhode Island, and also from the various fishing gangs 

 connected with the oil and guano factories. 



In addition to the vessels which thus obtained supplies of bait for 

 their own use, there was a fleet of bait vessels which annually proceeded 

 to the same localities in the spring to obtain bait for sale to the vessels 

 of the mackerel fleet not otherwise supplied. The number of baiters 

 was five or six. 



The price of menhaden for bait varied with their abundance. In 

 Gloucester, in 1873, according to Captain Babsou, 60,000 barrels of 

 round Ji.sh made 20,000 barrels of slivers, worth $4 a barrel to the 

 producer. At Marblehead the price in 1876 averaged $1 for fresh and 

 $6 for salt bait; at Chatham, $1.50 fresh; at Nantucket, 50 to 75 cents; 

 and at Martha's Vineyard, 50 cents. In Narragansett Bay bait sold in 

 1871 for $1 to $1.50 per barrel, fresh. The regular price from 1867 to 

 1877 at the mouth of the Merrimac River was $1 per barrel; probably 

 j, 000 barrels of slivered fish were prepared in 1876, which sold for $5 a 

 barrel. Boston and Gloucester vessels were accustomed to anchor at 

 the mouth of the river and wait there for supplies of bait. At one time 

 in 1877 there were probably 25 schooners waiting. 



The process of slivering and salting menhaden was described in the 

 report on the menhaden fisheries in Part V. 



The manner of preparing the slivered menhaden or other fish for toll 

 bait is very simple, and is essentially the same as that employed in early 

 days, when it was the custom to grind up small mackerel for bait. Cap- 

 tain Atwood remarked in his testimony before the fishery commission 

 at Halifax: "We now use menhaden for bait, but when I first went 

 fishing we did not do so; our practice then was to grind up small mack- 

 erel for the purpose. Any quantity of these mackerel were at that 

 time to be had for the cost, and plenty are to be met there now. These 

 fish were of no account then, aud so we ground them up for bait. And 

 when we could not obtain them we ground up what you call gurry, the 

 inwards ( f fish with the gills attached. Americau fishermen, wheu they 

 fish with hooks, use menhaden bait almost exclusively. The superiority 

 of this over any other is proved by the fact that wheu they can't get 

 menhaden they won't take any other. At first mackerel fishermen were 

 afraid of this bait; it was a very bony fish, and they even thought that 

 if it was cut up for bait the mackerel would get sick of it owing to the 

 number of bones. There is a species of fish belonging to this family 

 found ou our coast which is exceedingly fat; we call them blue-backed 



