2850 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Q. How many stages have you ? A. I only run one ; I have others, 

 but I only run one. 



Q. Do you have a store also in connection with your business ? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. What do you pay these men as wages. You say they are employed 

 by you ? A. The average wages are, I think, about $22 or 823 each. 



Q. Do you fiud them ? A. Yes. 



Q. For how many months in the year ? A. Very near four three and 

 a half. 



Q. Then you have the total produce of their catch ? A. Yes. 



Q. What do they catch ? A. Fish mackerel principally. 



Q. Now, you have a house at Eustico ? A. Yes. 



Q. You live there with your family ? A. Yes. 



Q. What are your facilities for observing where the vessels and boats 

 fish off Eustico ? A. I can see. Of course we are 'not on a cape, but 

 we can see a few miles around. 



Q. Your place of business and home are in sight of the harbor, and 

 the sea beyond it? A. Yes. 



Q. Now J would like you to tell the Commission where the boats fish 

 for mackerel off Eustico; how far out they go and how close in ? A. It 

 is all distances, of course. In the spring and summer months they al- 

 ways fish in closer. 



Q. How near is " c'ose in ? " A. From a mile to three miles. Later in 

 the season they have to go out. 



Q. How far? A. As far as ten miles. The last month of this year 

 they were out tan miles. The average is eight or seven. They go out 

 so that you can't see the boats. 



Q. What is the size of the boat? A. Well, the boats are 27 to 30 

 feet keel. 



Q. How does the size of the boats that are built for the last two or 

 three years compare with those that were used previously? A. They 

 have built larger boats for the last two or three years. A few years 

 ago they used small boats altogether, about 15 or 16 feet keel. 



Q. Are they being made bigger to enable them to go farther out ? 

 A. Yes. It is fall fish we depend upon mostly. The small boats don't 

 like to go off for them. 



Q. What do you mean by saying you depend mostly upon the- fall 

 fish? A. Well, the mackerel go off in the fall. They don't keep as 

 close in as they do in the spring and summer. 



Q. Which part of the mackerel season is the most important, the 

 earlier or the latter part ? A. The latter part, of course. 



Q. Why ? A. Because the mackerel are larger and fatter later iu the 

 season. They are growing. The first mackerel are always poor. The 

 last mackerel we expect to be fat. 



Q. Has the mackerel season ended yet? A. It is about ended ; they 

 are hauling iu the boats now. 



Q. When did it begin ? A. The 10th of July. 



Q. For boat-fishing, has this been a good year ? A. Yes; it has been 

 a fair, pretty good year. 



Q. What has been the quality? A. The average has been' poor. 



Q. But the quantity? A. The quantity has not been great, but the 

 prices have been high. We haven't caught a great many. 



Q. How was the year's business in 1807 ? A. Poor, very poor. 



Q. What was the result of last year's business ? Did you make or 

 lose ? A. We lost. 



Q. How much ? A. Over $3,000. 





