2824 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



any other fish that are coming into use f A. There are a great many 

 species, probably not less than fifty, all having a definite value as an 

 article of food, and all caught and consumed on the coast, or sent in 

 limited quantities either to the Northern markets or to Cuba, that could 

 be taken into consideration, but perhaps the capture of the fish that takes 

 the rank of fisheries relates more particularly to the mullet, menhaden, 

 striped bass, and bluefish. There is a very extensive fishery of blue- 

 fish on the southern coast. The bluefish, after leaving the northern 

 waters, spends a certain time on the coast of Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina, and by the time it gets back there it has attained enormous dimen- 

 sions, the fishes being generally from 12 to 15 pounds, at which size 

 they are found only casually and occasionally on the northern coast. It 

 is not at all an uncommon thing for one fishery of a single locality to 

 take 3,000 blnefish, averaging 12 pounds each fish. 



Q. What do you mean by one fishery f A. A single station at one 

 particular point, the fishing being controlled by one man or firm. An 

 enormous number of blnefish are sent late in fall and in early winter 

 to the Northern markets. 



Q. So that when bluefish leave the New England coast, they do not 

 disappear altogether from the American coast ? A. Not at all. It dis- 

 appears some time in February, and where it goes, we cannot tell. 



Q. It disappears from the southern coast ? A. Yes. A small school 

 of bluefish is found all the year south to Florida, but the large school 

 of blue fish usually disappears in February, and, indeed, I may say, we 

 never see it again. The fish, as they make their appearance in spring, 

 are smaller fish. 



Q. Do they first appear on the south coast of New England f A. On 

 first appearing on the coast of Carolina and Virginia, they come in 

 something like the mackerel, only they have a rather more coastwise 

 travel, because they do not spawn on the northern coast. Probably 

 the big bluefish go out somewhere to spawn, but what becomes of them, 

 whether they spawn themselves out to a condition of nonentity, I cannot 

 say. We do not see them ; they may go to Africa, or the Mauritius, for 

 blnefish are found ali the world* over ; but whether they go to any other 

 portion of the world from the United States, I cannot say. 



Q. What have you to tell the Commission about menhaden at the 

 South ? A. The menhaden is a very important fish on the south coast 

 as an article of food. It is caught, salted, and pickled, and to some ex- 

 tent used in the country. There is quite a large export of menhaden to 

 the West Indies from the Southern States. 



Q. Is it used fresh ! A. It is salted and pickled ; it is also eaten fresh 

 very largely, and considered a very capital article of food. 



Q. You have eaten it yourself? A. Yes ; it is a sweet fish, quite as 

 good as herring, but rather more bony ; the bones are, however, more 

 adherent to the skeleton. Yon can prepare menhaden by maceration, 

 so that the greater part of the bones will stick to the vertebral column, 

 instead of being loose and lying about the muscular parts, as in herrings. 



Q. Is it also salted in the Sooth ? A. Yes. 



Q. Is there now a large business in menhaden, or is there likely to 

 be ? A.- It is a business capable of almost any extension for which there 

 is a demand. There is no limit apparently, speaking in reasonable 

 terms, to the number that can be taken, any more than there is in the 

 North. There is nothing like the same quantity taken in the Southern 

 as in the Northern waters. It is taken somewhat for the manufacture of 

 oil. but the business is not fully developed. 



Q. What other fish did you mention in the South ? A. The mullet, 



