AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2009 



I suppose you still indorse this ? A. That is what I said, and 1 indone 

 it word for word. 



Q. That exists to the present day ? A. To some extent. The blur- 

 fish are not so plenty of late as in former years. 



Q. Well, the bluefish is a fish that preys not merely upon the iu|tiid 

 and other fish used for bait, but upon the mackerel also ! A. Yen the 

 mackerel, menhaden, and others. 



Q. Talking of menhaden, that is carried on at a very considerable 

 distance from shore at your place f A. Yes. 



Q. How far off? A. I don't know. They say it is carried on wide off 

 shore, but how far that means I don't know. I should think 8ix, ei^ht, 

 or ten miles they might go. But this is guess-work. 



Q. Menhaden is an inshore fishery, is it not ? A. They don't come 

 on shore, as a general thing. They used to come into Provincetown 

 and stay all summer before the bluefish appeared. Now they drive 

 them off, and we only have them when they are passing in and out. 



Q. Then, so far as menhaden is a valuable fishery, it is really a high- 

 sea fishery at present ? A. Well, they have gone up into the mouth 

 of the rivers they have always been in the habit of doing that going 

 up where the sea-water is impregnated with fresh water, to some extent. 

 This year they have gone into the Merrimac, at Newburyport. They 

 have gone up the river, and a Newburyport man asked me yesterday 

 what was the cause of so many dying there. It became a perfect nui- 

 sance at Salisbury Point, which is opposite Newburyport. Yessela after 

 vessels have been there to get bait Cape Ann vessels. The ti.sh have 

 died and drifted off along to Salisbury Point. 



Q. That is something very unusual ? A. My impression is that they 



were driven up by the bluefish. I asked him what there was following 



them. He said there were bluefish off the coast. Besides that there ta 



.a horse-mackerel, which is a great enemy of the menhaden. They kept 



the menhaden in, and the fresh water killed them. 



Q. Your own opinion was that this was an extraordinary incursion of 

 menhaden in consequence of their being pressed by the bluettsh ?- 

 I say they were kept up by the bluefish and horse-mackerel, and iw 

 they have been kept up in other places in the same way. I think tb 

 reason they died was because the water was fresh. 



Q. All I want to know is, whether the menhaden has not l*vom< 

 deep-sea fishery apparently, and whether the fish are not driven away 

 from their proper haunt by the bluefish into waters where they cam 

 live? A. It has been the case this summer. 



Q. Otherwise you agree that this is a deep-sea fishery ? 

 outside of three miles. 



Q. And it has been so for some years f A. They have I 

 farther off. 



Q. Don't the fishermen allege that the purse seine deal 

 haden too? A. It is just the same as the mackerel 

 these purse-seines, and have steamers, and carry on 

 enormous extent. 



Q. It is used as well for oil as for bait ? -A \es. 



Q. Have you au oil-mill !-A. No; not of that kind, 

 liver-oil. 



Q. All the fish I think have very much decreased along the . 



assachusetts of late years f-A. I do not think the t 

 ..hole, are so plentiful as they used to be. I think 

 diminution within eight years in almost every k 



Q. You delivered an address, didn't you, before the sen; 



