DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



335 



The following is the take of mackerel for the years 1888 and 1889, 

 made by United States fishing vessels off the Nova Scotian coast and 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence : 



1888. 83 vessels, take 10,418 bbls., average 126 bbls. per vessel. 



1889. 62 vessels, take 6,755 bbls., average 109 bbls. per vessel. 



So far as the New England fleet are concerned, both in the Gulf 

 and on the Nova Scotian and New England coasts, the mackerel sea- 

 son has been an unprecedentedly poor one, and the following table 

 exhibits in a marked manner the continued decadence of the United 

 States mackerel fishery. The returns not being yet available, the Cana- 

 dian catch for 1889 is estimated, but that for the New England fleet 

 is taken from the published returns of the Boston Fish Bureau, as 

 stated in their circular of 13th December. 



a Sic. 



If from the above figures for United States vessels for 1888-89 we 

 take the quantities quoted as being taken off the coasts of Canada, 

 the remainder will represent the quantities obtained on the fishing 

 grounds off the New England coasts. These remainders are: for 

 1888, 29,572 bbls., and for 1889 the minimum quantity of 11,219 

 bbls. Figures like these need no comment. 



In Canada the fishing has remained about the same as last year, 

 and the prospects are encouraging to this extent, that large quanti- 

 ties of small fish have been seen during the latter part of the season, 

 which, if not destroyed in purse seines before reaching merchantable 

 age, will go a long way towards restoring our fishery to its normal 

 condition of late years. If not to its formal degree of plenteousness. 



Our Canadian fishery shows to great advantage when compared 

 with the mackerel fishery of the United States, and it is safe to say 

 that, without any great increase in the means of capture, our Cana- 

 dian catch has been fully up to, if not in excess of, that of last year. 



The habits of the fish seem to have changed completely; they no 

 longer herd in large schools, and play about on the surface as they 

 feed, but small quantities of fish are found almost everywhere. At 

 one time this year fish could be raised at any point between Miscou 

 Island and the Magdalens, making in the whole unquestionably a 

 vast mass of fish, but far short of the multitudes which formerly fre- 

 quented the waters of the Gulf. 



I cannot help thinking that the apparent change in the habits of 

 the fish is largely due to their diminished numbers, which would nat- 

 urally make them more timid. The change, however, is not without 

 its advantage, as it tells largely in favour of Canadian methods of 

 fishing, the success of the hook-and-line fisjiing and the boat fishing 

 inshore being quite marked during the past season. 



In my report on the operations of the year 1888 I went very fully 

 into the condition and prospects of the Canadian mackerel fishery, 



