1990 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



although packed as number ones, they n evertheless did not have much 

 fat on them. 



Q. When are mackerel in the finest condition off the coast of the 

 United States say from Cape Cod down ? A. I should say, taking 

 one year with another years differ a little say from the middle of 

 September to the middle of October, I could get as nice mackerel as could 

 be procured at any time during the year, and then good mackerel, some 

 years, can be obtained as early as the middle of August. 



Q. Is it your opinion that some of the schools of mackerel found on 

 the coast of the United States remain there during the entire season, 

 or do they all go north of the coast of Maine ? A. I think that the 

 mackerel which come in south of us, and then strike into Cape Cod and 

 Massachusetts Bay, and north of that, and some of them farther east- 

 ward, come in from the deep water, where they have wintered, and 

 strike on and back of George's Bank. This is my opinion. I consider 

 that they come from their winter quarters all along the coast, from 

 away down as far as Chincoteague Shoals to Newfoundland. I have 

 no idea that the mackerel which are on our coast in the region of Cape 

 Cod and south of that, or anywhere near that, ever comedown the coast 

 here and pass Halifax. I have never thought that they did so ; but 

 then I cannot bring evidence to prove that they did. I never saw 

 mackerel between Cape Sable and Cape Canso, though I have seen 

 some at Louisburg, on the south shore of Cape Breton Island, when I 

 was there once. 1 never saw these mackerel, but I fully believe that 

 mackerel do come in the spring northward by Halifax, and again pass 

 this way in the fall. But then I think that after yie mackerel which 

 pass Halifax get to Cape Sable they pass off the coast. 



Q. I wish you to state how late in the season you have successfully 

 fished at the Magdalen Islands. A. I could not remember the date 

 exactly : but I should think that we never staid at these islands later 

 than about the 1st of October, though it may have been the 10th of that 

 month ; but that is about the latest period. 



Q. Have you found mackerel good in quantity and quality at the 

 Magdalen Islands as late as the 1st of October? A. I think that is the 

 case. I believe that it was October before we left these islands the first 

 year I was there ; and we caught mackerel just before we left them. 



Q. How young are mackerel good for anything to eat, and how long 

 does it take them to attain maturity? A. Permit me to go back to the 

 time when I put the spawn I mentioned in alcohol, when I was expect- 

 ing a commission to arrive from the government. 



Q. It came after awhile, did it not? A. Yes; and just when the 

 fishing was done. We had succeeded very well, and it worked in as 

 nice as could be. I was then investigating the mackerel spawning time, 

 and the growth and development of their young, as far as this was pos- 

 sible for me to do. And 25 days afterward I went out into the bay and 

 found any quantity of schools of little mackerel, which, I should think, 

 were about two inches long, though their length might have been a 



ttle less. However, I know that they were very small, and I put some 

 Of them m alcohol, marking the dates. Twenty-five days afterward, 

 when I went out again, I procured a quantity of thetn which had grown 

 double that size. I do not mean to imply that they were twice as long, 

 but twice as heavy. I took some of them out and marked the date, and 

 the first time I subsequently went to Boston I called on Professor 

 Agassiz, as I had been with him for a considerable time, and gave him 

 these several specimens. He said that he had never been previously able 

 to ascertain these lacts so clearly and so well, and was verv mush pleased 



