THE MACKEREL FISHERY 273 



crease in the number of vessels that go to the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence, Another change to be noted is the concentration 

 of the industry in the State of Massachusetts, or more 

 properly at the port of Gloucester. During the decade 

 of the eighties there were 80 of the vessels of the New 

 England fleet that hailed from Maine; this number was 

 near one-fourth the entire fleet. For the twelve years 

 ending with 1908 the mackerel fleet from Maine had been 

 about six per cent of the total New England fleet, which 

 had been reduced to a total of 124 vessels. So it has come 

 about that Massachusetts has been left in these later days, 

 as it was in the early period of the fishery, the principal 

 state of the Union to engage in the mackerel fishery. 1 



The indications are that the New England mackerel 

 fishery will be carried on in its present field of action, 

 that is, the largest quantity of the fish will continue to be 

 taken during the southern spring fishery, along the Cape 

 Shore, about Block Island, on George's and in the Gulf 

 of Maine. In recent years attempts have been made to 

 extend the fishery to new fishing grounds, but the attempts 

 have not proved satisfactory. In April, 1878, the schooner 

 Notice, Capt. Knud Markuson, set sail from Gloucester 

 for the coast of Norway with the intention of using the 

 purse-seine on that coast. The venture did not prove suc- 

 cessful, for Captain Markuson found that the mackerel 

 on the coast of Norway, unlike those in New England 

 waters, did not school together in large bodies. 



A second attempt to enlarge the field of the New Eng- 

 land mackerel fisheries was made in October, 1889, when 

 the schooner Alice sailed for the coast of Africa. The first 

 season the vessel secured considerable fish, which were 

 shipped home. The second season the fish were not in 



1 In 1908 the mackerel fishery was carried on by vessels from 

 ports as follows: Portland, 1; Gloucester, 52; Boston, 19; Dux- 

 bury, 3; Chatham, 1. 



