[123] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERIES. 



mackerel fishermen by the announcement of the intention of a number 

 of menhaden fishermen to employ their steamers and nets in the mack- 

 erel fishery. It was the impression among' these men that the mackerel 

 were to be used for the manufacture of oil and guano, but this has been 

 denied by Capt. David T. Church and other representative men, who, 

 reasonably enough, state that they could not afford to use so valuable 

 a fish for this purpose, and who claim that they have an undoubted 

 right to use their steamers iu the capture of mackerel for sale fresh in 

 the markets and for pickling. 



As a matter of record we reproduce the following paragraphs from 

 an editorial in the Cape Ann Advertiser, July 14, 1882: 



"It is not a difficult matter to anticipate the result if this class of 

 steamers engage in this branch of the fisheries. There is no reason to 

 doubt their ability to catch almost or quite as many mackerel as they 

 have formerly caught menhaden. Several of them are large, capable 

 of carrying 2,800 barrels of fish in bulk. These carry a double gang of 

 men, and apparatus to correspond. During moderate weather, when 

 mackerel generally school the best, and sailing vessels find it difficult to 

 move, these steamers can play around the fleet of schooners, catch al- 

 most every fish that shows itself, and carry them away to be used, not 

 for food fish as they were intended, but for oil and guano, to enrich a 

 few men at the expense of many.'* 



"If the steamers were to engage in the mackerel fishery, selling their 

 catch for food, and were obliged to spend the requisite time for dress- 

 ing them, which would debar them from an overcatch and carrying 

 them to market, thus placing them on somewhat equal footing with the 

 other fishermen, there could be no reasonable objection to their employ- 

 ment; but it certainly seems, in view of this startling innovation, that 

 some decided action should be taken by 'the powers that be' to pre- 

 vent the catch of mackerel for the purpose of manufacturing oil and 

 guano. They are altogether too valuable for such a purpose, and the 

 risk of breaking up the schools and driving them almost entirely from 

 our waters, as has been the case with menhaden, is altogether too great. 



"Unless some action is taken, and taken at once, and stringent laws 

 enacted, we may confidently look forward to the destruction in a few 

 years of one of the important industries of New England and the per- 

 manent and serious injury of large communities which now derive a 

 considerable part of their support from the mackerel fishery." 



