CHAPTER XVII 



METHODS OP THE DEEP-SEA FISHERIES 



The present day method of capturing mackerel is so 

 universally confined to the purse-seine fishing that other 

 methods hardly merit consideration. The use of nets set 

 in the water or dragged slowly along by the vessel is 

 confined to a few of the larger vessels and to a fleet of 

 small boats in the early mackerel season. The crew of 

 a mackerel schooner consists of a captain, cook, and six- 

 teen other men. With the exception of the first two the 

 crew, take turns day and night in standing watchesj there 

 being two men in each of the watches that last two hours 

 each. The men of a watch take turns alternately at the 

 wheel and on the lookout. By day, the one at lookout 

 is at the foremast-head where he scans the sea for mackerel 

 over an area of three hundred square miles, if the sky is 

 clear. 



So frequently does the work of the day extend far into 

 the night sometimes to the dawn of another day that 

 it is difficult to mark the beginning of the fisherman's day. 

 By two in the morning the cook must be astir, preparing 

 the breakfast of the crew. At three or three-thirty the 

 first "gang" is called to eat their breakfast, for the ac- 

 commodations of the forecastle allow only half of the crew 

 to be seated at the table at a time. By four o'clock 

 breakfast is over for the whole crew and everything is 

 in readiness for fishing, providing there are fish to be 

 caught. The most favorable times for catching mackerel 

 are at dawn and at sundown, a condition of affairs that 



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