[109] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



It is part of the duty of the men in the dories to keep a vigilant lookout 

 for approaching vessels. The gang of nets may be more than half a mile 

 in length, and the keel of a large vessel passing over it would be almost 

 certain to cut it in two. When it is still weather they row toward any 

 vessel which they may see coming and ask the men on watch to steer 

 clear of the nets; otherwise they are obliged to stand by the nets and 

 repair the damages as best they may. Sometimes the approaching ves- 

 sels are induced to stear clear of the nets by the dory men, who hold 

 up a lantern for that purpose. The mackerel caught in this manner 

 are always carried fresh to the shore, and are intended chiefly for the 

 supply of the markets of the large cities. They are packed in bar- 

 rels, and may or may not be gibbed through the gills before reaching 

 shore. A vessel setting a long string of nets may catch as much as 

 fifty barrels of mackerel in a night, but ordinarily not more than five 

 or ten barrels, frequently less. The barrels are carried on deck, and 

 the fish are put in them as soon as they^ire removed from the nets. 

 When the weather is warm the barrels are filled with ice- water. Be- 

 sides the mackerel caught, considerable quantities of shad and ale- 

 wives are taken in these nets. On an excursion made by one of the 

 writers from Portland in 1873, besides six barrels of mackerel, there 

 were caught with a small string of nets about forty fine shad, averaging 

 two pounds each, and three or four hundred of that species of alewives 

 known to the Portland fishermen by the names of " kyack," " cat- 

 thresher," " saw-belly," or " blue-back," probably identical with the glut- 

 herring, Chipea aestivalis, of the Chesapeake basin, the summer ale- 

 wive occasionally taken in New England rivers. On this occasion the 

 mackerel were feeding extensively on various entomostraca, with which 

 the water was filled, and which imparted to it a vivid phosphorescence 

 all night long. The presence of these animals, and of others more 

 minute, causes the water and the nets to "Are" in such a manner as 

 often to render them so visible to the fish that they successfully avoid 

 contact with the twine. 



The mackerel caught at Proviucetown in gill-nets are brought in by 

 the boats, and shipped by the fishermen to Boston in vessels devoted 

 specially to this business, the owners of which receive a percentage 

 upon the amount of their sales. 



The crew of a Maine mackerel-dragger consists generally of two to 

 four men, the vessels being usually owned by the fishermen. 



The custom of dragging for mackerel, though practiced for centuries 

 in Europe,* appears to have been first used in this country at Province- 



*For convenience of comparison the following description of drift-net fishing for 

 ♦mackerel on the coast of England is quoted from Yarrell's British Fishes: 



"The most common mode of fishing for mackerel, and the way in which the greatest 

 numbers are taken, is by drift-nets. The drift-net is 20 feet deep by 120 feet long; 

 well corked at the top, but without lead at the bottom. They are made of small fine 

 twine, which is tanned of a reddish-brown color to preserve it from the action of the 

 salt water, and it is thereby rendered much more durable. 



"The size of the mesh is about 2-J- inches, or rather larger. Twelve, fifteen, and 



