[141] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



mackerel is 108 pounds, or three pounds over a bushel and a half of salt. 

 The entire shrinkage on mackerel from the fresh to the packed state is 

 33 per cent. 



The cost of packing mackerel varies with the price of barrels, salt, 

 and labor. During the war it was very high, and it continued so until 

 about 1876, when it was reduced to about $1.75 per barrel. In 1880 it 

 varied from $1.30 to $1.50, and in 1881, owing to a large demand for 

 barrels for the increased catch of fish, packing advanced to $2 during 

 the height of the season, and averaged about $1.75. This cost of pack- 

 ing includes all the expense incurred in preparing the fish for market 

 after they have been received from the vessel in sea-packed barrels. 



The packer is generally a deputy inspector, who is also part owner of 

 the fish to be packed and inspected. He therefore realizes a profit both 

 in the packing and in the sale of the mackerel. In some cases, however, 

 the packer is not at all interested as an owner, but is hired as ;r deputy 

 inspector to prepare the fish for market. With a gang of men he goes 

 to the wharf where the mackerel have been landed from the vessel, and 

 being provided by the owners of the fish with barrels, salt, pickle, and 

 culling and weighing apparatus, he performs the work, and charges from 

 50 cents to $1 for assorting, weighing, packing, coopering, and branding. 

 He may also make a profit on the labor in addition to his lawful inspec- 

 tion fee. 



The inspection fee, exclusive of the labor and cooperage, is cents 

 per barrel in Massachusetts and ISTew Hampshire, of which amount the 

 personal inspecting officer is entitled to 8 cents and the general inspector 

 to 1 cent. In Maine, where there is no general inspector, the fee is 7 cents 

 per barrel. This fee is to be paid by the owner of the fish or the per- 

 son hiring the inspector, and may be recovered of a purchaser. 



In settling with the crew of*i mackerel vessel under the old methods 

 of capture, the share of each man depended on his individual catch of 

 fish. At the present day, when seining is the almost universal mode of 

 capture, it is impossible to follow the old way of determining the shares, 

 what the men receive depending on the total catch . One man may receive 

 a half or quarter share because of his inexperience, while another may 

 receive a share and a half for his unusual activity or some other reason. 

 The extra, half share, however, would be paid by the owners of the ves- 

 sel as a premium for the best work. 



Barrels and salt for use on the vessel are provided by the vessel- 

 owners, who also furnish the apparatus of capture and the provisions 

 for a trip. Stock charges or the expense of bait, if it be used, harbor 

 dues, and some other items are paid one-half by the owner and one-half 

 by the crew. Several other items, called the crew's expenses, as the 

 wages of a cook, the milk and water used on the trip, the cost of hoisting 

 the mackerel from the vessel to the wharf, towing, and extra labor for 

 scraping and tarring are paid entirely by the crew. 



When the mackerel are packed and sold, the fishermen are entitled to 



