THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 63 
The fresh mackerel is another important factor in the food 
supply of the people. It has attracted a great deal of the atten- 
tion of fish economists, and it is one of the fishes in regard to 
which, through the statistics of the Boston Fish Bureau, we can 
speak somewhat intelligently. | 
In 1825, the New England catch was 260,000 bbls; in 1826, 
160,000 bbls.; in 1827, 200,000 bbls.; in 1828, 240,000 bbls., and 
in 1831, the largest quantity on record was taken, amounting to 
390,000 bbls. After this wonderful catch the number steadily 
declined until the year 1840, during which season only 55,000 
bbls. were taken. In 1851, there was another wonderful catch 
of 330,000 bbls.; in 1859, only 100,000 bbls.; in 1863, 310,000 
bbls ; in 1868, 180,000 bbls.; in 1870, 320,000 bbls.; 1877, 110,000 
bbls.; in 1880, 245,000 bbls.; in 1881 and 1882, the number is the 
same—260,000 bbls.; in 1883, 160,000 bbls. These figures, cover- 
ing a period of fifty-eight years, would seem to indicate that their 
plentifulness or scarcity is not governed materially by the purse 
seines of the Gloucester fleet. 
In my own experience in the New York markets I have seen 
just such fluctuations in the quantities brought to that city, and 
whenever there occurs a bad season the fishermen and others 
interested, talk of the probability of the mackerel being all 
caught up, and of the necessity of some protection for the mack- 
erel fisheries. 
The opening of the present season has been a remarkable one. 
The first vessel arrived March 24th, and the mackerel were so 
small that the captain refused to take off his hatches to show the 
fish, and insisted on selling them “unsight unseen,’ and he was 
fortunate enough to find a purchaser on those terms, at two and 
a half cents each. There were something like 100,000 fish in the 
load, and they were so small that it took five of them to weigha 
pound. The firm that bought them succeeded in selling a few 
hundred at four cents each, and then the price rapidly declined, 
until the larger portion of the cargo was sold at 50 cents per Ioo. 
About that time the unfortunate buyer called my attention to 
the fact that it was a great shame that such small mackerel were 
caught, and that Congress ought to pass a law to prohibit such 
a wicked waste. 
