228 



GEOGKAPniCAL EEVIEW OF THE FISHEEIES. 



sent to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. All the vessels engaged in this fishery cruised on our .own 

 coast. In 1879, also, none of the vessels entered the Gulf. But one firm, the Central Wharf Com- 

 pany, had vessels in the mackerel fishery during that year, and the results were not all that could 

 be desired. 



For many years the Provincetowu fishermen have been engaged in setting gill-nets in the 

 harbor and bay late in autumn to catch the mackerel as the last schools are passing off the coast 

 on their way to their winter quarters. November is the best month, and it is then that most of 

 them are caught. In some years they have been taken in large quantities as late as the middle 

 of December. They will not bite at the hook, neither do they school, and the seine and hook fish- 

 ermen cannot catch them. In some falls they come in, school alter school, for several weeks. When 

 one school is passing we may have two, three, or more nights' good fishing, after which we may 

 have to wait a week or two weeks or longer before another school will come along. In this way 

 some falls our fishermen do a good business for the time they are engaged, while in other falls the 

 mackerel pass Cape Cod wide out from the coast, and do not come into the bay in any quantity. 

 Only a few straggling specimens are caught. The fishermen using nets do not get enough to pay 

 for the wear and tear and loss of nets. 



When this fishery commences many of the fishermen are at home, after having made their 

 voyages to the Grand Bank or elsewhere. Many of them have a few mackerel nets and engage in 

 the fishery. A large number of men are employed while these fish are passing. The following 

 statement shows the number of men employed and value of the fish caught annually for four yea^s: 



In 1878 very few caught; not more than there were the year before. We have no account of the 

 number caught. It will be seen by the foregoing figures that in some falls, like 1877 and 1878, the 

 catch is merely nothing, while in others it proves to be a profitable business for a few weeks 

 while the mackerel are passing. 



About one hundred and eighty men were engaged in this fishery last fall (1879), and those 

 having a good stock of nets made a good catch, while others having but few nets did the best 

 they could at that time, as there was no' other fishery that would pay them anything. 



In the fall of 1879 a large quantity of mackerel was taken in nets for a short time. The most 

 of them were small. They were shipped to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and sold fresh 

 at an average price of about 3 cents apiece. Besides the smaller ones a few extra large ones 

 were caught. The most of them were salted and sold at $30 per barrel. The total stock amounted 

 to not less than $22,000. 



In the fall of 1880 the fishery was engaged in by about one hundred and fifty men, but it 

 proved a failure. The total stock was not more than $7,500. 



FISHERIES FOR BLUEFISH AND HAKE. The bluefish gill-net fishery has never been carried 

 on very extensively at Provincetown. About thirty-five men, with twelve nets each, engage in 

 it during summer. About $4,000 worth of fish are taken annually. 



In the fall of 1880, and in some previous years, forty or fifty men who were engaged in the 

 Bank cod-fishery commenced, after their return, a fishery for hake. They employed dories, and 



