2498 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. Seven or eight years ? A. Seven years. 



Q. Did your duties as inspector of fish generally carry you over the 

 fishing ports of the State, and to what extent ? A. Yes ; I was in every 

 fishing town once a year, and when complaints came, I was as often as 

 they came. 



Q. What is the largest number of vessels you fitted for yourself any 

 one year? A. In 1862, if I recollect aright, I fitted out twenty-two sail 

 of mackerel for the Bay Chaleurs, or St. Lawrence rather. ("We call 

 it the Bay Chaleur.) 



Q. How ninny mackerel-men were fitted out from your place, Deer Isle, 

 in former years say from '60 to '62 ? A. In 1862 we had the largest 

 number in the bay. 



Q. How many had you then ? A. 45 to 48. 



Q. How many are there now? A. Well, I don't know that I can an- 

 swer that question. From our town we have had about five in the bay. 



Q. Is the number of vessels in other fisheries about the same? A. 

 No ; it has depreciated. There is not a quarter part of them. 



Q. When you bad forty-five vessels, or from that to forty-eight, in 

 1862, what proportion of them went into the bay! A. Nearly all. 



Q. This year you have five in the bay? A. Yes. 



Q. The year before, or the year before that, how was it? A. Last 

 year, for instance. 



Q. How many were in the bay ? A. As near as I can recollect, not 

 one. 



Q. Five tried this year ? With what success, as they have been heard 

 from ? A. Well, they have all lost money. 



Q. Are you well acquainted with Castine? A. I am. 



Q. Is that far from you ? A. It is about fifteen miles to the north. 



Q. Has Castine engaged much in mackerel or cod ? A. It is largely 

 engaged in cod, but of late years they have not done much in any kind 

 of fish. 



Q. How many fishermen do you suppose are fitted from Castine 

 now ? A. Not a mackereler. 



Q. Take Camdeu ; how many did they use to have and how many 

 have they now ? A. Camden has always been a small fishing-place. 

 About eight vessels, if I recollect. 



Q. Are there any now? A. Yes, there are, but I guess there are only 

 three now. 



Q. Are they in the bay ? A. No, none in the bay. 



Q. Take North Haven ? A. Well, I guess they have had about ten 

 there. 



Q. Any there now ? A. None. 



Q. Eastport; how many did they use to have? A. When I first went 

 there in 1862 they had eight mackerelers. 



Q. Are there any now in the bay ? A. None nowhere. 



Q. Now those various places in which the number of vessels that 

 have gone in the bay have diminished to nothing, what are their ves- 

 sels doing now, where they still own them ? A. Fishing on the Ameri- 

 can shore. They are divided between seining on the shore and cod- 

 lishing. 



Q. That leads me to ask you as to the condition of the mackerel-catch- 

 ing on the shores of Maine. How is it, and ho\v how has it been for the 

 last eight or ten years ? A. I don't know that I understand. 



Q. The catch of mackerel on the shores of Maine; has it increased or 

 diminished ? A. It has decreased this year. 



Q. I don't mean this year particularly, but take the general run of 



