300 NEW ENGLAND FISHEKIES 



Sunday on fishing vessels except in the cessation of card 

 playing. It is a day for work ; but it is rarely that games 

 are carried on by the crew on the Sabbath. 1 



The pursuit of the mackerel and the cod, with his allied 

 kindred, the haddock, hake, halibut, pollock and cusk, con- 

 stitute the deep-sea fishery of New England. The cap- 

 ture of the swordfish, the bluefish, and the herring is not 

 commonly looked upon as possessing the same significance 

 in the fisheries that is possessed by the aspirant for those 

 fish that are found in the deeper and broader stretches of 

 the ocean. The methods of pursuit and capture of mack- 

 erel may be representative of the class of vessels that fish 

 for their cargoes by means of seines. There is another 

 class of vessels engaged in the fisheries that may be de- 

 scribed by using a trawler for an example of the methods 

 pursued. Mackerel and ground fish are caught almost 

 entirely by the two methods of seining and of trawling, 

 respectively. Net fishing, drag nets, and hand lines are 

 occasionally resorted to to-day in the mackerel fishery; 

 but this is to a limited extent as compared with the amount 

 of fish captured by the purse-seine. Handline fishing from 

 the vessel and from the dory for ground fish is resorted to 

 somewhat; but the wholesale method employed is that of 

 trawling. Imagine a stout cordline a mile or more in 



i NOTE. Some of the expense items of a mackerel schooner are ice, 

 the quantity taken being from 10 to 30 tons; 50 to 75 barrels of 

 salt worth $1.75 per hogshead; four hundred barrels at about one 

 dollar each; food supplies for a crew of eighteen men that cost from 

 $150 to $200 per month. The cost of ice, barrels and salt for the 

 season depends largely upon the amount of fish taken. One-half 

 the gross stock of the vessel, after deducting the value of salt, 

 barrels and gasoline used in making the stock, is divided equally 

 among the vessel's crew; the other half goes to the owners of the 

 schooner. The average share per man for a crew of eighteen 

 varies from $22 to $28 for every $1,000 worth of stock, depending on 

 the expenses and the length of time of the trip. 



