'5400 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



waters in which it is brought forth. They may have a local run of 40 

 or 50 miles, their general run being in the form of a circle or eclipse, 

 like most other fish. 



Q. Then take the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; all the mackerel born there 

 remain ? A. I believe all the mackerel which are found in the gulf are 

 exclusively a home fish. 



Q. And the same is true on the American coast ? A. Yes ; and all 

 other coasts, France, Labrador, Newfoundland, and wherever they are 

 found hibernating. I may mention that on the coast of France they 

 are not unfrequeutly taken from the sand by means of a trawl-net during 

 the winter. Blanchiere describes them being taken out of the mud or 

 sand by means of ordinary trawls. I speak now of the beam-trawl, 

 which drags over the surface of the sand, very similar to the one on the 

 Speedwell, but not suspended on the two iron heads which you observe 

 in the Speedwell's trawl. By means of this trawl dragging over the 

 surface, shell fish and others, mackerel for instance, are taken up. 



Q. Does the mackerel require a particular temperature of water to 

 live? From what points of temperature does it range? A. From ob- 

 servations made in regard to its spawning you will find that it always 

 spawns, as far as can be known, in waters of nearly the same tempera- 

 ture, a temperature characterized by its lowness. Whenever it spawns, 

 there is either an Arctic current, or some current which gives a tempera- 

 ture between 37 and 43. 



Q. Then it is only between 5 and 11 above the freezing point? A. 

 Yes ; about that temperature. 



Q. What about the cod ; is it a fish that requires a low temperature ? 

 A. With regard to the spawning of cod, it always seeks the coldest 

 water wherever ice is not present. In all the spawning-grounds from 

 the Strait of Belle Isle down to Massachusetts Bay, and they are very 

 numerous indeed, they spawn during almost all seasons of the year, 

 and always in those localities where the water is coldest, verging on the 

 freezing point. That is, the freezing point of fresh water, not of salt r 

 because there is a vast difference between the two. 



Q. Now state, if yon please, how the tides run in the Bay of St. Law- 

 rence, and the effect which they have upon the fish that require cold 

 water ? A. In order to describe the effect of the tides upon the cold 

 water I must first describe the remarkable condition which exists in all 

 seas, and particularly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, namely, the temper- 

 ature zones in the ocean. Very frequently you will find a warm stratum 

 underlying the cold. This has been known for a period of about 30 

 years in the gulf. It was discovered first by Admiral Bayfield, and the 

 discovery carried to a further degree by Dr. Kelly. Their reports were 

 published, but unfortunately did not attract the attention they merited. 

 But recently, since the Challenger expedition and the investigations of 

 Dr. Carpenter and Sir Wyville Thomson, and more particularly since 

 the Norwegian discoveries and the Swedish discoveries in the Baltic 

 Sea, extraordinary attention has been devoted to the subject of zones 

 of temperature in the sea. They are considered to afford a key to the 

 movements of fishes. Very recently it has been announced with tri- 

 umph that zones of temperature had been discovered in the Baltic Sea. 

 This fact was discovered 30 years ago, and was then known to exist in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Q. Now explain if you please the effect of the Arctic current. A. 

 The effect of every current in the ocean is to bring the cold stratum of 

 water, which lies at a depth of ten or fifteen or twenty fathoms, near to 

 thesniface; and one reason why on Orphan and Bradley Banks the 



