AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2805 



operators of this mode, that to keep a room ten feet each way, or a 

 thousand cnbic feet, at a temperature of 20 above zero, would require 

 about 2,000 pounds of ice and two bushels of salt per week. With that 

 he thinks it could be done without any difficulty. Well, an ordinary 

 vessel would require about seventy-five barrels of bait an ordinary 

 trawling-vessel. That would occupy a bulk something less than GOO 

 feet, so that probably four and a half tons of ice a month would keep 

 that fish. And it must be remembered that his estimate was for keep- 

 ing fish in midsummer in New York. The fishing-vessels would require 

 a smaller expenditure of ice, as these vessels would be surrounded by 

 a colder temperature. A stock of ten to twenty tons would in all proba- 

 bility be amply sufficient both to replace the waste by melting and to 

 preserve the bait. 



Q. Have you any doubt that some method like that will be put into 

 immediate and successful use, if there is sufficient call for it? A. I 

 have no doubt the experiment will be tried within a twelvemonth. An- 

 other method of preserving is by drying. Squid, for instance, and 

 clams, and a great many other kinds of bait can be dried without using 

 any appreciable chemical, and can be readily softened in water. I no- 

 ticed lately in a Newfoundland paper a paragraph recommending that, 

 in view of the fact that the squid are found there for a limited period of 

 time, the people should go into the industry of drying squid for bait, 

 so that it would always be available' for the purpose of cod fishing. I 

 think the suggestion is an excellent one, and I have no doubt it will .be 

 carried out. 



Q. Now, what is the supply of bait for codfish on the American coast ? 

 A. Well, as the codfish eats everything, there is a pretty abundant 

 stock to call upon. Of course, the bait-fish are abundant, the menhaden 

 and herring. The only bait-fish that is not found is the caplin. The 

 herring is very abundant on the American coast, and the alewives enor- 

 mously abundant. Squid are very abundant of two or three species, 

 and, of course, clams of various kinds. Then we have one shell-fish 

 that we possess. It is never used here, although it is very abundant; 

 but it is almost exclusively the bait for trawling on the coast of Great 

 Britain. This shell-fish is known as the whelp, or winkle. 



Q. Is it a kind of mussel ? A. No ; it is a kind of univalve shell 

 (submits specimen), and is almost exclusively used for the capture of 

 cod in England on deep-water trawl-liners. It is not used here at all. 



Q. Why is it not used here! A. I don't know except that they have 

 other bait that they get at more readily, and they have not learned how 

 to use this. 



Q. But it is very abundant ? A. Yes ; quite as abundant as it is any- 

 where. This is a rather small specimen. The advantage of this kind 

 of bait is that it can be kept alive for a long time merely by moistening 

 it or keeping it in water, so there is no question about salting it or 

 using ice or any other application. 



By Sir Alexander Gait : 



Q. Is there any particular locality for that? A. It is extremely 

 abundant all through the northern seas. I am a little surprised that I 

 have not seen more of them here. It is a northern shell. I presume it 

 is very abundant in Newfoundland, and to the north. At any rate it is 

 in any desired abundance in the Bay of Fundy, but not south of Cape 

 Cod. 



Q. From all you have learned, have you any doubt that, supposing the 

 fishermen of the United States were precluded from using any bait ex . 



