3432 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



it begins, as I said, at a depth of 500 feet. But in the middle of the 

 oceaii it is unappreciable. 



Q. You say it is an up and down movement ? A. It is a vertical 

 movement altogether in the open ocean. 



Q. That is, the advance movement is a very small proportion ? A. The 

 motion is especially an uudulatory movement at the rate of about 1,000 

 miles an hour. It is very similar to the undulation of sound. It is a 

 vertical movement of the particles, and this movement is propagated to 

 otber particles. 



Q. "What do you mean when you speak of the particles moving at that 

 rate? A. No; that does not refer to the particles, but to the undula- 

 tion the wave. The undulation advances at the rate of one thousand 

 miles an hour. 



Q. I thought you meant the motion of the particles ? A. No. 



Q. Then you say the mackerel are higher or lower, mainly according 

 to the temperature zones ? A. Yes. 



Q. These are affected by the winds? A. Yes. They are greatly 

 affected by the winds. 



Q. By other causes? For instance, by the swing of the currents? 

 A. Yes ; by the swing of the tide. 



Q. In the shallow coast the appearance of mackerel close in is rather 

 accidental, is it not ? A. No. 



Q. What is it owing to ? A. The winds. 



Q. They are driven in by the winds ? A. No, not at all. I have illus- 

 trated that point in the paper which I ha'nded to you last night. I 

 should like to refer to that. I especially illustrated that point with 

 regard to the movements of the mackerel in the Bay Chalenrs and the 

 effect of the winds on the various portions of the gulf. That deter- 

 mines the movements of the mackerel to an extraordinary extent. For 

 instance, take the Bay Chaleurs. As a general thing the mackerel 

 always go against the wind. An off-shore north wind in the Bay Cha- 

 leurs will cause the mackerel to go from the south coast to the north, 

 and a south wind will cause the mackerel to move from the north and 

 take an exactly contrary direction. 



Q. You said something of this sort, that all the food for fish was brought 

 from the northern regions ; did 1 understand you correctly ? A. No ; 

 not exactly in that form. The word which I thought I used, and which 

 in fact I did use, I believe, was that the "source" of all food is in the 

 northern regions. I refer to the food of the cold-water fishes. 



Q. Then the current does not create the food; it only brings it? A. 

 Yes. 



Q. And you think it is born in the northern regions? A. It is born 

 wherever there is ice. 



Q. Then does not another generation grow up in this neighborhood, 

 or do you have a constant supply from the north? 1 want to see 

 whether I understand one part of your testimony correctly. You say : 

 "Although our seas appear to be very abundant in life, yet, neverthe- 

 less, they are almost deserts compared with the wonderful abundance 

 of life in the northern seas, particularly on the Labrador and Greenland 

 coasts during the summer months. The sea, at times, appears to be 

 perfectly thick with life, and to such an extraordinary extent does life 

 exist in the northern seas, that the thermometer is very materially in- 

 fluenced during a single night by animal and vegetable life. In a few 

 hours the animal and vegetable life disappears utterly, and the ther- 

 mometer sinks two, three, or four degrees, and the water becomes colder. 

 On another day the zone of life rises again, but it is always being driven 



