2476 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Could you say there was not ? A. No. 



Q. In reply to Mr. Foster, where did you say seven-eighths of the 

 inspected fish were caught! A. I said seven-eighths of the inspected 

 fish in Maine and Massachusetts were caught between Block Island and 

 Mount Desert. Block Island is in the State of Rhode Island, and Mount 

 Desert is in Maine. 



Q. Do you mean that to include all fish caught by American vessels ! 

 A. I mean fish caught on the coast of the United States. I am not 

 speaking of the fish caught in British waters. 



Q. It does not refer to the fish caught by American vessels in British 

 waters? A. No. 



Q. You speak from your practical knowledge, having been on the 

 ground and seen the fish taken ? A. Yes. 



Q. You say that seven-eighths of the mackerel caught by American 

 vessels in American waters are caught between those two points ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. And the other one-eighth is taken where ? A. It is taken to the 

 southward of that, between Hatteras and Block Island. 



Q. Have yon examined the inspection returns ? A. We see them 

 generally every season when the fishing is done. 



Q. You have not got any returns with you ? A. No. 



Q. When 'you make your return after a fishing voyage, does that 

 return embrace a statement of the places where the fish were taken ? 

 A. No. 



Q. Does it embrace the fact that the fish were taken in American or 

 British waters ? A. It does not. 



Q. Then if an American vessel took a cargo of fish into one of their 

 ports, it would not appear from the official returns whether the fish had 

 been caught in British or American waters ? A. We see that a vessel 

 is reported with so many barrels of fish from such a place. 



Q. That is in the newspapers ? A. Yes. 



Q. Is there any official record kept f A. There is a record of each 

 vessel kept by the owner. 



Q. I understood you to say, speaking with regard to the United States 

 coast, that there is a special school of mackerel in the neighborhood of 

 Block Island, which is known as Block Island mackerel ? A. Yes. 



Q. And that they remain there the whole season and do not come 

 north ? A. They do not come north ; we don't find them north. 



Q. I understood you to say that mackerel fishing on the American 

 coast begins in May and does not end till November ? A. It begins as 

 early as 25th April. When it closes depends a great deal on the 

 weather. If there is a blustery, cold autumn, the mackerel will not stay 

 so long ; but if there is moderate weather, they will stay till 15th No- 

 vember. 



Q. The fish remain on the coast, more or less, during that time ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. And are taken in large and small quantities the whole of that 

 time ? A. Not in large quantities in the latter part of the season ; the 

 body of the fish have gone off the coast. 



Q. All the fish taken before the spawning season you class as No. 

 3? A. Yes; all that are long enough. They are threes and small 

 threes. 



Q. When you speak of American vessels fishing in the spring for 

 mackerel off the United States coast, they are fishing for the inferior 

 class of mackerel f A. Yes. 



Q. You described the different places where mackerel spawn, and you 



