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predicting that within the next decade there will be as 
great an abundance of mackerel as we have ever seen. 
If so, it will be another repetition of history, for all of 
you are familiar with the fluctuations of the mackerel 
fishery. 
Now permit me to speak of a few other species. 
Facts are stubborn things to deal with, but they cannot. 
be ignored. Fulton market stands in evidence this 
spring to show that bluefish were never more abundant 
within the memory of man than they now are. The 
vessels that have come into Fulton slip this spring were 
loaded to their scuppers with bluefish. The market 
has been so over-stocked that there has been scarcely 
any sale for them. The bluefish is one of the best food 
species in the world, and it has been selling at about one 
and one and a-half cents per pound. These fish were 
taken with hook and line. It is assumed that nothing 
will be said against that method of fishing. 
In a hearing before a joint committee of the New 
Jersey Legislature a few weeks ago, the gentlemen who 
represented some of the real estate interests on the 
coast, while conceding that bluefish were abundant at 
sea a few miles from the shore, complained because 
they did not come in nearer to the land. Howcan that 
be rectified ? Will anybody suggest how it is possible 
to influence bluefish to move out of the route they have 
chosen for themselves ? 
The Commissioner of Fisheries of the United States, 
in presenting his paper yesterday, made some statements 
relating to the decrease and increase of various species 
of food fish. These statements showed that the catch 
of bluefish in 1892 as compared with 1880 indicated an 
increase of 1,250,128 pounds. I concede that these 
figures are estimates to a considerable degree, so far as 
1892 is concerned—as are the figures showing a decrease 
in the catch of certain species of fish—for the reason 
that there has been no investigation of the fisheries of 
