THE MACKEREL FISHERY 267 



of the fish during the months of April and May, when the 

 mackerel are migrating northward to spawn, did not lessen 

 materially the quantity of mackerel in the sea and also 

 threaten to annihilate the mackerel as a food-fish. The 

 question did not arise until the invention of the purse- 

 seine made it possible for fishermen to take mackerel in 

 wholesale quantities. 



Purse-seines for catching mackerel were in use previous 

 to the Civil War, but the use of seines did not become 

 general with the mackerel fleet until the early seventies. 

 Soon after the war vessels from Gloucester began to land 

 fares of fresh mackerel at New York during the spring 

 season. By 1870, twenty-five or thirty fares of fresh mack- 

 erel were annually brought into the city, having been caught 

 in the vicinity of Sandy Hook. These fish were caught 

 by handline, or jigging. In 1872 the schooner Dread- 

 naught, of Portland, fitted out with a purse-seine for fresh 

 mackerel fishing, being the first vessel that carried no salt 

 on the southern trip. The vessel was successful in the ven- 

 ture and netted a large stock by the close of the spring 

 fishing. 



The success of the Dreadnaught influenced other vessels 

 to fit out for the fresh mackerel fishery in the following 

 year. The fresh mackerel fleet immediately became very 

 large. By 1873 this fleet was in full force during the 

 southern spring fishery. At first New York was the mar- 

 ket; but so many cargoes were landed there that the mar- 

 ket was soon overstocked. Philadelphia, Baltimore and 

 other cities each became a center for a small fleet of mack- 

 erel schooners. At these places the mackerel, brought in 

 on ice by the schooners, are handled by fishmongers at a 

 commission of 12% per cent. 



To understand the reasons that led Congress to suspend 

 the southern spring mackerel fishery for the five years be- 

 tween 1888 and 1892 it is necessary to examine the condi- 



