AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. lf|f,5 



heave to, it would not be so as to trouble them, unless we would drift 

 down and foul them, which 1 never did and never saw done. Then 

 again, with a crew of eighteen^ or twenty men it would be a small I.UM 

 ness to drift up among the boats to fish with them. We would want 

 more room. 



Q. Do you catch from bottom or from the surface! A. We tole 

 them up to the surface; but those boats fish with long lines, and they 

 fish right on bottom as a general thing. We get them up where we can 

 see them. 



Q. About what length of line do you fish with! A. Wo. don't have 

 three fathoms. It just goes under water. Those boats fish with the 

 whole length. When they begin to fish with the whole length those 

 mackerel we can't get them, because they would not rise up. That is 

 what we call rock mackerel. 



Q. Your vessel-fishing depends upon raising the school to the surface 

 by bait! A. We won't cut up bait where we can't see them, and where 

 we can't catch them ; or, if we are drifting, we want to be where we can 

 drift two, three, or four hours and catch. The idea of jigging around 

 among two or three boats if that was the way it was to be done 1 would 

 not like to go mackerel fishing. It would be a small business. 



Q. You have spoken of the number of vessels fishing. 1 want to know 

 whether the number has continued as great as it was in former years, or 

 whether it has been diminishing; that is, the number of American mack- 

 erellers that you have seen ! A. They have been falling off every year 

 from coming into the bay. I don't think myself I will ever go again. 



Q. Do you know how many there were from Gloucester in the bay la*t 

 year ? A. I think about twenty sail ; there might be thirty ; I don't think 

 over thirty. I didn't see over twenty at a time. 



Q. Taking all the American vessels going to the bay the last year for 

 mackerel, how many would you estimate them to be? A. There were 

 hardly any fishermen except Cape Ann men. 



Q. Well, that means Gloucester and its immediate vicinity ?- -A. Yes. 

 I believe there was two or three Boston vessels; I don't know, perhaps 

 one or two Newfturyport vessels. From the south I don't think there 

 were more than half a dozen. I don't recollect seeing any from the.south 

 shore. I think there were about thirty sail in all of mackerel fishers in 

 the bay last year, although there might have been forty. I should not 

 say over thirty. 



Q. Have you fished for halibut from off Cape Sable 1 

 never did off Cape Sable Island ; yes, I did one year, hut off Seal I 

 and Cape Sable; you might call it all Cape Sable. 



Q. In what year was that? A. Those years that I wa> 

 you about that I was all over the world, ami was not 

 ot those years I was trawling for halibut in the Samuel VN on 

 man by the name of James Chambers. 



Q. Do you happen to remember which of those years 

 those places- 1 ? A. There were three of those years I have spoken 



Q. Which three? A. I could not give the dates. 



Q. One of those you sav you fished for halibut off Seal 1 

 went three years to Seal Island. I went to Seal Island alt. 

 to La Have Bank. 



Q. Where is La Have Bank ? A. It is a good ways 



m Q S Sow, what I want to know is, what distance from the - 

 fished for halibut near Seal Island f-A. We used to 

 Seal Island Light. When we first came out from hoi; 



