224 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



Commercially the menhaden is of importance as a fer- 

 tilizer of soils, as a bait-fish in the cod and other ground 

 fisheries, and for the oil and scrap produced by cooking 

 and pressing the fish. At a time when the hand-line mack- 

 erel fishery was at its height thousands of barrels of 

 "slivered" menhaden were used annually for bait by the 

 New England fishermen. As a producer of commercial 

 oil the menhaden has taken high rank, both in the quantity 

 and in the quality produced. In 1874, the yield of men- 

 haden oil on the Atlantic coast was 3,373,000 gallons, 

 nearly equal to the aggregate of all the whale, seal, and 

 cod oil made in America. 1 



The value of menhaden for bait was taken up for con- 

 sideration by the Halifax Commission. Then it was shown 

 that for bait for mackerel, the menhaden was preferred. 

 It was customary for American vessels to carry twenty or 

 more barrels of "slivered" menhaden to the Bay to use for 

 bait. The claim was made that American fishermen sold 

 $8,000 or $10,000 worth annually to Canadian fishermen. 

 The demand for bait can be seen when it is remembered 

 that each vessel took 15 or 20 barrels of bait for a trip to 

 George's Bank and each mackerel fisherman took 75 to 100 

 barrels or even more than that. Prof. Goode estimates the 

 total consumption of menhaden for bait for 1877 at 80,000 

 barrels, or 26,000,000 fish, worth perhaps, $500,000. The 

 entire amount used in the mackerel fishery yearly was near 

 8,000 or 9,000 barrels. 2 



The industry of extracting menhaden oil, or the develop- 

 ment of the ' ' porgy press, ' ' originated at Blue Hill, Maine, 

 in 1850. During the Civil War the business was pursued 

 by thousands of farmer-fishermen on the Maine coast, 

 three or four of them uniting in partnership and having 



1 Goode, Sec. V, Vol. I, p. 330. 



2 Ibid, pp. 348-349. 



