AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2755 



erel, so far as you have heard of the catch, have not increased! A. 

 They have not. 



By Mr. Davies : 



Q. Practically the fishing off the American coast for the season is now 

 over ? A. I think so. 



Q. There will be nothing more of any moment caught to affect the 

 mackerel? A. I should hardty think so. There has been such a thing, 

 but as a general thing we don't look for mackerel after the middle of 

 October. 



Q. This year has beeu better than the average of years at the island ? 

 A. I think it has. 



Q. Has it not been a very excellent year ? A. I think that, consider- 

 ing the prices they have got and the quantity taken, it has been a very 

 excellent year. 



Q. As regards the quality of the fish taken, what is the quality of the 

 fish taken at the island this year? A. The quality of the fish has been 

 poor. A very small proportion of the catch has been very good indeed ; 

 the rest has beeu poor, very poor. 



Q. Can you tell me what price you obtained for your mackerel this 

 year ? A . The prices in Boston in greenbacks are for 3's from $9 to $9.50 ; 

 2's, from $12.50 to $13 ; for 1's, so far as I have returns, from $16 to $18. 



Q. Are you selling at those prices or holding for higher ? A. We are 

 selling as fast as we can get them into the market. 



Q. I suppose you find no difficulty in disposing of mackerel ? A. No. 

 1's go very hard. Early in the summer they were going pretty freely. 

 The better grades of mackerel have gone very fairly, in consequence of 

 the poor quality of the mackerel caught on the American shore. 



Q. You say the mackerel market is a very sensitive market? A. Yes. 



Q. It is regulated almost entirely by the supply, of course ? A. Yes. 



Q. If there is a large catch prices fall ; and if a small quality of catch 

 prices go up? A. That is the fact. What I mean by a sensitive mar- 

 ket is this : There is a large fishing fleet, and of course the dealers are 

 watching the fleet very closely to see what the vessels are doing, and if 

 the reports are that they are catching mackerel the dealers will not 

 buy more than they can sell to-day, and if there is much stock in the 

 market it will have to be held. That is what I mean by a sensitive 1 

 market. 



Q. Then every year when the mackerel season is about half over the 

 dealers find out what the catch has been and is likely to be, and the 

 prices are regulated by the conclusion they arrive at. For instance, if 

 the fleet have taken nothing half the season, and are not likely to catch 

 many more, the prices will go up ? A. The dealers, I think, carry on 

 the business differently from what they did ten or fifteen years ago. I 

 don't think as a general thing they stock up anything like what they 

 formerly did. I think they buy more from day to day. That is, I think 

 their experience for the last five or six or six or eight years has been 

 that it has been a losing business to stock up and carry mackerel. 



Q. Taking the whole American catch, with the exception of those 

 taken at Block Island, do you mean to say that Prince Edward Island 

 mackerel do not compare favorably with them ? A. This year they do 

 compare favorably. 



Q. More than favorably ? A. More than favorably. What I mean 

 to say is, that No. 1 mackerel caught on the American shore are very 

 much preferred to mackerel caught in the bay. They are of a different 

 species, apparently, to the bay mackerel, and they are whiter, cleaner, 



