[143] HISTORY OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 



There has been considerable discussion as to the relative merits of 

 mackerel taken with the purse-seine and those caught with the hook, 

 and interesting experiments were made a few years ago to test the 

 keeping power of the two kiuds. An experienced fish-dealer of Boston 

 states to Oapt. J. W. Collins that he very carefully salted and pickled 

 a half-barrel of each kind, using the same quantity of salt on each. He 

 headed the half-barrels up and set them away about the 1st of October, 

 and when he opened them about the 1st of the following March he found 

 a marked difference between them. The liesh of the hooked mackerel 

 was firm and in fine condition, while the flesh of the seined fish was 

 short and mealy, retaining little or no firmness. He thinks the same 

 difference will hold good in most cases. The same gentleman also made 

 very careful experiments as to the comparative merits of fresh and salt 

 water for pickling mackerel. He salted and pickled two half-barrels, 

 using fresh water for one and salt for the other. He put them up in 

 the fall and opened them the following July, when he found a marked 

 difference in them. Those filled with salt-water pickle were in excellent 

 condition, while the others had a dirty scum on the pickle, and the flesh 

 was dark and somewhat slimy; the skin had a whitish, discolored ap- 

 pearance, and the fish were thought unfit to eat. He says that in 1879 

 fresh water was extensively used in making pickle for fish, and thinks 

 that when the fish are kept for any length of time they are unfit for 

 food ; hence the sale or market for pickled fish is injured. 



Concerning the relative quality of hooked and seined mackerel, it ap- 

 pears certain, from the statements of many men of large experience, that 

 the former are superior, and the reason is a simple one, namely, only a 

 small quantity out of the entire school of fish is captured, and these are 

 "jarefully handled, while in seining the entire school of perhaps several 

 iiundred barrels is caught and the fish are necessarily allowed to remain 

 ?or a considerable time without care, so that many of them may become 

 ?oft and greatly inferior in quality to fresh mackerel. With proper care 

 she seined mackerel may no doubt be as good as the others. 



There is a great difference in mackerel taken at different seasons of 

 the year. Those caught in the early spring are very lean and shriuk 

 when pickled. As the season advances they grow fatter, and in rhe fall 

 are at their best; so that the large fish taken in September and October 

 grow heavier rather than lighter in pickle. 



The care taken of mackerel in the early years of the fishery may be 

 judged from the following instructions to the masters and crews of 

 Massachusetts mackerel vessels, which appeared in the Cloucester Tele- 

 graph May 26, 1832. It is dated Boston, May 2, 1832, and signed James 

 Barry, inspector-general of pickled fish: 



"The mackerel fishery has already become a very important item in the 

 catalogue of the staples of our State ; and, if we may judge from its rapid 

 progress in past years, is destined to become one of its greatest sources 

 of wealth. Your attention is requested to the following facts and re- 



