AWARD OF THE FISHKRY COMMISSION. 2003 



or 10 miles, or even more than that, out from your whore ? A. I think 

 so; I have not been fishing of late years, nor have I Heeu the (Mermen 

 fishing, but I have an impression that they take the mackerel with 



ith 



purse-seines, and that they take them off shore 10 milcM off MometiBML 

 and sometimes a great deal more. 



Q. Practically, your mackerel fishery within ,'i mile* of the bon, for 

 a number of years back, has not been of much value ! A. Our itmhore 

 fishery has been of very little value, so far as I know. 



Q. You stated yesterday, if I understood you rightly, that you bad 

 taken some pains in watching the spawning of mackerel ? A.* Yea. 



Q. And that 30 days after spawning you found the little tUheaf A. 

 Yes ; they were then two inches long, more or less; and 25 daya after- 

 ward again they had doubled in size. 



Q. Do you think it possible that in this period the eggs would develop 

 into young fish of the size you speak of ? A. I had no idea that thia 

 would occur so quickly; but I found that it was the cae, and then I 

 could not help believing it. 



Q. You would not undertake to say positively that these little fifth 

 came from the eggs deposited some thirty days previously T A. I think 

 what I saw was proof positive to that effect for me. It wa satiafactory 

 to my mind. I found the eggs coming from the adult fish on a certain 

 date, and then I saw the young fish in schools, two im-ln-s long, more 

 or less, thirty days afterwards; they were as thick as they could b*. 

 I then said that these fish had come from those eggs, which were de- 

 posited there a month previous. I know that they did not proceed from 

 eggs swawned the year previous. Now when I came to watch thme 

 schools 25 days afterwards, I found that the fish had doubled in aiie. 

 and this was) another proof of the circumstance of which 1 Hpeak. I 

 was at the time interested in this matter, not only hecaiiae I exnected to 

 be appointed on the commission mentioned, but also because I wanted 

 to investigate this question ; this had been the case for yearn, and I pot 

 everything possible in this relation into the hands of Profmtof ^gMlto, 

 desiring to do what I could in the cause of science. 



Q. How long ago was this? A. It was in 1ST><>. 



Q. Have you ever observed such a phenomenon since T--A. No; but 

 this occurs every year. These fish yearly deposit their spawn there. 



Q. In what depth of water have you found this mackerel *pawn f 

 A. In all the way from 15 to, I should think, 5 fathoms of water. 



Q. The eggs were deposited on the bottom T-- A. Ye*. 

 down in the day-time, when we see nothing of them. 

 know that they were there ; but at night they come up. 

 that these eggs are cast over the area of the bottom. 



Q. There is only one year when you recollect of 

 culiarity ? A. I saw enough to convince me that this 

 other years. I had never before watched them so minutely. 



Q. Is it not a rule known to scientists, in this regard, that 

 spawn on a particular shore, return to it from their <l>P-Mb 

 A. I believe that this is a well-established fact with regtrd 

 water fish, shad, salmon, and alewives, &c. 



Q. That is a fair inference to draw with regard to *ea 

 practice and habits of river-fish !-A. Well, perhaps I 



Q. Then it would follow that the mackerel w hie 

 shores would return there again, an* not frequent 

 That would follow if that is a fact. 



Q. And as far as theory is worth anything, the i 

 is rather in favor of this view ! A. I think so. 



