AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2475 



Q. Have you ever been in to Newfoundland to buy bait for codfish ! 

 A. I have been there. 



Q. To what port? A. St. Mary's Bay. 



Q. What did you buy? A. We bought a lot of caplin; that was all 

 we could get. 



Q. Was that good bait ? A. No. 



Q. Why not? A. It would not keep x any time in ice, and it was too 

 small. 



Q. What is the bait used on the George's Banks by codfishermen ! A. 

 For the first three trips in the winter time they take frozen herring, and 

 after that they usealewives and menhaden, which they get in Vineyard 

 Sound. 



Q. In regard to the mackerel fishing, what is the bait used for throw 

 bait by mackerel vessels ? A. Menhaden slivers. 



Q. How far north is the extreme point where menhaden is caught? 

 A. I don't hardly remember, but probably nothing north of Grand Ma- 

 nan Island, and I don't think they go that far. 



Q. Can you give us the price of fresh mackerel in New York and Bos- 

 ton markets ? A. I don't know that I can correctly. The prices vary 

 a great deal. 



By Mr. Davies : 



Q. You are now pilot on board the Speedwell and do not go mackerel 

 fishing now ? A. Yes. 



Q. Have you had much experience in the fisheries of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence ? How many seasons have you been there ? A. I think I 

 have been there five seasons. 



Q. And those seasons cover the whole of your experience there 1 ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. In regard to fishing off the American coast your experience has 

 been more extended ? A. Yes. 



Q. How many seasons were you there ? A. Five whole seasons, and 

 parts of perhaps five other seasons. 



Q. How far from shore were your mackerel taken on the American 

 coast ? A. All the way from 5 to 50 miles from the land and also off 

 the off-shore Banks. George's Banks are 133 miles from Cape Ann, and 

 we find mackerel there and off the northeast edge of the Banks. 



Q. Last year and the year before were very good fishing years ? A. 

 Very favorable ; we could not complain. 



Q. I understand they were exceptionally good,? A. Yes. 



Q. What was the condition of the mackerel fishery along the United 

 States coast for the previous eight or ten years ; had it been declin- 

 ing ? A. It does not appear to have been. 



Q. When you say " it does not appear to have been," do you speak 

 from actual experience ? A. From what I have seen myself. 



Q. Did you examine the returns to see the quantity caught ? A. I 

 don't know that I have properly, but as I am amongst the vessels, I 

 have a pretty good chance of knowing how the others have been doing. 

 At the close of every season when the vessels stop seining, I can see 

 the reports of all the vessels and the quantity of fish landed. I have 

 not those in my memory, because I never thought they would be of any 

 assistance to me. 



Q. Are you able to state whether there was a decline in the mackerel 

 fishery off the coast of the United States during the seven or eight 

 years previous to 1875 ? A. Not to my knowledge ; I could not say 

 there was. 



