REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [350] 



1880. — Abundance of mackerel. — good fares. 



Large schools of large mackerel were reported off Monkegan on Sun- 

 day. Five vessels did well. 



Schooner "Alice" of Swan's Island is reported high-line of the bay 

 mackerel fleet, having landed and sent home three fares. 



The schooners "Gov. Goodwin," "Helen F. Trediek" and "Anna M. 

 Nash 1 ' of Portsmouth, arrived on Tuesday with 400 barrels of the largest 

 mackerel ever brought to that port. They average less than 100 to the 

 barrel. For several days past the water off the harbor has been liter- 

 ally black with mackerel, those at the bottom crowding toward the top. 

 Fishermen report nothing like it for years. — (Ibid.) 



1880. — Millions of mackerel on the new England coast. 



The vast strike-in of mackerel all along our coast is really phenome- 

 nal. Nobody remembers anything like it. Thousands were caught 

 yesterday and the day before, even without bait, as if mackerel were as 

 simple as "Hancock Union soldiers "who snap at a bare rebel hook. 

 Every boat, from the craziest old dory to the fashionable yacht, is 

 pressed into service, and there are as many " kits " going to Boston and 

 Lynn, and Salem and Gloucester, as the unwary boy supposes are on 

 their way to St. Ives, when the famous problem of Pike's old arithmetic 

 is propounded. From any look-out the scnools can be seen on the surface 

 of the water, huntingarouud for somebody to catch them, like bummer 

 politicians seeking for bids. The theory that the mackerel had been 

 depopulated in our waters is annihilated. There are still as good fish 

 in the sea as ever were caught, and apparently more of them. It is said 

 that the mackerel are pursued by the bluefish and the bluefish by the 

 sharks. AY hat is after the sharks is not stated. But our thanks are 

 due to the bluefish in the first degree. They are the mackerel school- 

 master, and the success of our fishermen is due to the fact that the 

 schoolmaster is abroad in the waters. — (Lowell (Mass.) Courier, July 16, 

 1880.) 



1880. — Mackerel fishery of Gloucester. 



The records of the United States Fish Commission at Gloucester, 

 Mass., show that the total number of fares of salt mackerel landed at 

 that port in the year 1880 was 722, of which 25 lares were from the 

 bay of Saint Lawrence in American vessels. The total receipts of salt 

 mackerel were 135,774 sea-packed, equal to about 122,200 inspected bar- 

 rels of 200 pounds each, making the total weight of the fish 24,440,000 

 pounds in the salt state, which is equivalent to 30,000,000 pounds of 

 round or fresh mackerel. The receipts of 135,774 sea-packed barrels 

 include 125,214 barrels taken by Gloucester vessels, 0,800 barrels taken 

 by vessels from other New England ports, 505 barrels taken off the 

 United States coast by theschooner " Lertie " of Nova Scotia, 3,023 barrels 

 caught by boats and traps at Gloucester Harbor, and 3 7 437 barrels taken 



