2438 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



haps at the average, but if it is not a moderate season it would probably 

 be from fifteen to eighteen days. 



Q. I want to learn the average date of their appearance off Cape 

 Delaware ; which is the earliest and which the latest date ? A. It would 

 be somewhere about the 10th of May, and perhaps sometimes a little 

 earlier than that. 



Q. At what date do they reach Sandy Hook? A. Probably about 

 the loth of May they arrive there, and afterward they reach Moutak 

 Poiut, at the east end of Long Island. They stop longer off New York 

 than off any other part of the coast. We cannot tell exactly when they 

 come to Montak, because after they leave the grounds off Xew York we 

 think they go to the bottom and spawn ; the schools are then broken up a 

 great deal at certain points ; after they go along the coast of Long Island, 

 or get down that way, they do not appear to be in as great a body as 

 they are off Xew York ; they do not school so often in these quarters. 



Q. And you think that the schools begin to break up at that point? 

 A. Yes ; as a general thing. 



By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. Is that at Sandy Hook ? A. It occurs east of it on the coast of 

 Long Island. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. "When do the mackerel reach the vicinity of Cape Cod and Xan- 

 tucket ? A. The schools vary considerably in this respect. The fish 

 that pass through by the Vineyard get through early, but the fish that 

 go outside do not get along quite so early. Sometimes part of them 

 will pet down through by the Vineyard by the 1st of June, or perhaps 

 the 10th of June ; but the fish that'go outside will be a little later. 



Q. Where are the spawning places for mackerel off the United States 

 coast ? A. We think that a great quantity of them spawn on the south- 

 west part of George's Bank and about Nautucket Shoals, off Sankaty 

 Head, and on the fishing-ground off there ; a large fishing-ground is 

 situated southeast or east of Nantucket. 



Q. Coming north of Nantncket Shoals, where are the spawning 

 grounds found f A. Sankaty Head is where there is a light-house on 

 the eastern part of Nantucket Island, I believe. 



Q. Southwest from George's Bank ? A. Yes. 



Q. Where do you find their spawning grounds, to the northward of 

 this? A. On the different Banks around Massachusetts Bay, I sup- 

 pose, though I never caught any spawning there, but I have caught 

 mackerel there at different times out of which spawn would run. 

 By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. At what date was this the case? A. Probably from the 1st to 

 the loth of June; those fish do not all spawn at the same time. This 

 depends on the time when they arrive on the coast. Those that pass 

 through the Vineyard do not generally spawn until after they get 

 through. 



By Mr. Foster : 



Q. Give the earliest and the latest dates for the spawning season at 

 the different points on our coast ? A. This would extend probably from 

 the loth of June to the 1st of July. 



Q. Then you think that their spawning is concluded on our coast bv 

 tin- 1st of July? A. Yes. 



Q. How long do the different spawning times for the schools of mack- 



