2814 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



New York and kept for a long time the price may come down. I know 

 one occasion when it was sold at 10 cents a pound ; but the flsh was not 

 marketable and should not have been sold. The next best fish is 

 Spanish mackerel, a fish of remarkable excellence. 



By Mr. Dana : 



Q. In New York market at the proper season what does it bring! 

 A. I don't suppose it is ever sold under 25 cents per pound, and from 

 that to 40 cents. 



Q. Is that a mackerel ? A. It belongs to the mackerel family, and 

 weighs about three pounds. There is the cero, a kind of Spanish mack- 

 erel, which goes up to 15 pounds. Those are all found from Cape Cod 

 to Florida along the entire coast. There is the scup, which occurs from 

 Florida to Cape Cod in great abundance. 



Q. The scup is found in great abundance off the south coast of Massa- 

 chusetts and Bhode Island ? A. Yes. There is also sea bass, which is 

 one of the finest of the American fish, and is worth from 18 cents to 25 

 cents per poundi 



Q. How many pounds do they average in weight ? A. From one to 

 four pounds; three pounds is a large fish. 



Q. They are found in abundance on the south coast of New England! 

 A. Yes ; very abundant. There is also the kingfish and the bonito, 

 which is a very important fish. 



Q. There is a fish of that character extending from Block Island away 

 down to Cape Hatteras ? A. It is one of the same family. It weighs 

 up to five pounds. I have seen five thousand of those fish taken at a 

 single time in a fishing-pound at Menemsha Bight. There is the blue- 

 fish, which is the piece de resistance. There is the squeteague ; of that 

 fish I have seen 25,000 pounds taken at a haul. 



Q. The bluefish is a great fish in the market ? A. It is the princi- 

 pal fresh fish during the summer season on the coast of the United 

 States from Cape Cod to North Carolina. 



Q. Caught all along the shores ? A. All along the coast, being most 

 abundant in the summer season toward Cape Cod, and in winter in 

 North Carolina. 



Q. There is a great drift through Vineyard Sound ? A. There is a 

 numerous catch. 



Q. Are not the people on the southern coast of Massachusetts, and on 

 the coast of Ehode Island, now very much engaged in catching fresh 

 fish ? A. Very largely, taking them in pounds and gill nets, and other 

 modes of capture. 



Q. Is this a part of the development of the fresh fish market! A. 

 Yes. Since bluefish has come back to the coast it has constituted an 

 enormous element in the supply of fresh fish ; it is not the controlling 

 element, but it is the largest single element, although combining the 

 striped bass, squeteague, mullet, and scup, they considerably outnumber 

 the bluefish. (Photographs of the fish referred to were exhibited.) 



Q. What about tautog ? A. It is an important fish, but is not in such 

 immense abundance. While you talk of tautog being caught in thou- 

 sands of pounds, you talk of others by hundreds of thousands or by 

 millions. 



Q. Pounds are very common on the Amtrican coast ? A. It constitutes 

 the principal mode of summer fishing from round Cape Cod as far west as 

 Long Island. Nearly all the fish taken on that coast are caught in the 

 pounds. The small tunny is a fish which of late years has come into 

 notice, and it is believed to have disturbed the mackerel and menhaden 



