AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2499 



ten years past. How is the mackerel business of the coast compared 

 with what it used to be! A. My impression is there was as many mack- 

 erel put up on the coast of Maine last year, 1876, perhaps as there ever 

 was. I only speak from recollection. I know they were very plenty. 



Q. How is it as to summer-fishing grounds ? Where are the summer- 

 fishing grounds ? A. For mackerel ? I should think three-fourths of 

 all the mackerel there is taken in the United States is taken on the 

 coast of Maine. 



Q. Now include in that the mackerel which are taken by your vessels 

 in the bay. A. What do you say ?. 



Q. Including the mackerel taken by your vessels in the bay, what 

 proportion of all the mackerel taken, whether in the bay or on the coast, 

 is taken on the American coast ? A. What part of them ? 



Q. Yes; what proportion of the whole ? A. I don't know. 



Q. Have you any means of forming a judgment? A. No; but I think 

 the amount taken in the gulf is very small indeed compared with the 

 mackerel packed in the States. 



< v >. You should know. You have had a long experience as inspector 

 and otherwise. A. Do you speak of that period for which I was in- 

 spector ? 



Q. I mean to include the whole period while you were inspector or an 

 observer of the matter as a merchant. A. I should think from '62 to 

 '09 during that period of time I should think there was more than 50 

 per cent, of all the mackerel taken was taken in the Gulf of Saint Law- 

 rence. I should think so. 



Q. Since that time how has it been ? A. It is all run down to a point 

 almost. Everything has been taken this way. 



Q. You mean in Maine ? A. Maine and Massachusetts. 



Q. Then what do you say of the bay-fishing now, its present condi- 

 tion ? I don't mean just to-day, but historically, taking the last ten 

 years, five years, three years, two years, and so on. What condition is 

 it in ? A. Well, I should say it was worthless. You mean the St. Law- 

 rence, do you ? Well, I should say it was worthless. 



Q. And practically the people have so treated it ? A. They have. 



Q. They have eirher gone out of the fishing or gone to other places ? 

 A. They have gone seining on our shores. 



Q. When you seine on the American shores, how far do you go? 



What is the limit of your seining ? A. Well, our folks rarely go outside 



of the Georges. In fact, they don't go beyond that at all. Perhaps 



twenty miles from the shore would be the most common ground. All 



. the way from Portland down to Mount Desert Rock. 



Q. Then you would say between Georges and Mount Desert Rock was 

 about the limit of yonr seining? A. Yes. 



Q. Is that business an increasing business? A. It has depreciated a 

 good deal this year. 



Q. But within the last ten years it has been increasing ? A. Yes, I 

 guess it has been. I guess these last ten years it has been. 



Q. Now from 1854 to 1860 you recollect was the Reciprocity Treaty ? 

 A. Yes. 



Q. During that time you had free scope fishing the gulf. You 

 fished without respect to the three-mile line. Now, during that time 

 when you had free access to the coast, was there any difference in the 

 general result of the fisheries ? Was it any more favorable to the people 

 of the United States then ? A. Well, the fishing was very good in the 

 St. Lawrence until about the year 1808. 



Q. Well, was it any more favorable? Was there any difference that 



