2278 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. - 



employed to keep the business. We furnish provisions. There is aprofit 

 on that item to offset the loss. We handle those provisions and there is 

 a slight profit on them. We handle the mackerel also, and in packing 

 them we furnish barrels, and have a profit of thirty to thirty-five cents 

 a barrel. 



Q. Then I understand that having employed your vessels in the cod 

 fishery, you employ them in the off mouths iu the bay for mackerel, 

 looking forward simply to keeping them employed, and if possible 

 guarding against loss, or making a little profit, but that the bulk of the 

 profit that you make is in connection with the provisions and the hand- 

 ling of the produce ? A. Yes. 



Q. So the mackerel fishery, as an industry, could not be prosecuted 

 by itself with any chance of profit! A. Sk> ; I could not continue in 

 the business if we had nothing but the mackerel. 



Q. Could you form any idea of the relative yield of the mackerel 

 fishery and the cod fishery that you conducted at the same time, or for 

 any one year* ? Could you show the difference between the profit of the 

 mackerel fishery and the cod fishery, which is your main business ! A. 

 The larger part of the product of my vessel has been codfish. 



Q. Could you say what proportion the result of the cod fishing bears 

 to that of the mackerel ? A. In '75 I see the product of the mackerel 

 fishery was about $14,000, shore and bay, and the product of the cod 

 fishery $65,000. Some years it might vary. In 1865, during the preva- 

 lence of high prices, we pursued the mackerel more than at other times. 



Q. Do you think your experience would be pretty much the same as 

 that of other Gloucester men employed in the same business? A. I have 

 done about an average business. My vessels have been employed in 

 the various lines of business the same as others generally. 



Q. As far as Gloucester is concerned the mackerel fishery is really not 

 a source to which they look for profit ? A. That is so. 



Q. And it is a fishery they are obliged to keep up rather to keep 

 their vessels employed and to preserve the crews than for any value 

 attached to it? A. It is. If I may explain. We have had an excellent 

 fishery on our shores, and within the last two years we have used facili- 

 ties such as seines. We have altogether nearly 100 seines, and they sup- 

 ply our markets with better fish than the bay fishery. I don't know 

 hardly an instance when they haven't been sweeter and taken better 

 in the market than the bay fish. With these facilities for catching 

 mackerel with the seine, our market is supplied, so there is no great 

 catch with the hook. We can't use seines to catch mackerel in the bay 

 with any success, and using the hook and line iu the bay, as against the 

 seine on our shores, is a very unprofitable business. 



Q. You find it more profitable to prosecute the fishery on our own 

 shores, partly because the expenses are smaller, and the fish better, and 

 comparatively speaking you cannot contend with hand-lines, as against 

 the use of seines on our coast ? A. Yes. 



Q. Do you know anybody in Gloucester to any extent employed in 

 bay-fishing, and entirely trusting to bay fishing for results? A. No; 

 there is not any there, and never was. 



Q. With regard to fishing in the bay, do you give any specific instruc- 

 tions to your captains as to where they shall fish, or do you leave them 

 to their own judgment? A. If we have free fishing, we leave them en- 

 tirely to their own judgment. 



Q. Have you a fair opportunity of forming an opinion as to where 

 they fish ? A. I have. 



Q. Well, would your impression be that of the 19 years' fishing you 



