218 FISH—CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
and southwest by west from the light-house on the Isle of 
Shoals. It is somewhat irregular in outline, the fishermen say, 
judging from where the fish are taken, but so far as anything 
can be told of its physical conformation, it does not differ at all 
from the rest of the sandy slope immediately surrounding it. It 
is said that there is no “feed” on the bottom. The fishermen 
have a curious theory that there are fresh water springs in this 
particular locality, around which the cod love to gather; nor, 
indeed, can they assign any other reason, since there appears to 
be no special feature in the character of the bottom to attract 
the fish. So persistent are the cod in clinging to this locality, 
that it almost invariably follows, that nets placed within its lim- 
its come up well filled with fish, while gear that-is set a dozen 
or twenty fathoms outside, get very few, if any, cod. The fish- 
ermen confess that it is a mystery to them, and they are exceed- 
ingly puzzled to know how the fish get there and escape the 
walls of netting which surround this spot in all directions. They 
do not believe it possible that enough cod could be there at once 
to fill the nets night after night for months, and they arrive at 
the conclusion that the fish must reach the place during the day, 
at which time they are supposed to rise above and swim over 
the nets that bar their progress near the bottom, and which of 
course can be seen by daylight.* 
The results that were obtained from the use of nets by the 
“Northern Eagle’ during the winter of 1880’-81 were considered 
very remarkable. The amount of codfish taken in the first three 
trials (which were made in Massachusetts bay) in unfavorable 
weather and with inferior nets, was 4,000, 6,000 and 7,000 pounds, 
respectively. Ona trip ending January 11th, 35,000 pounds of 
cod were taken by the “ Northern Eagle,” 8,o00 pounds of which 
were caught ina single morning. Two other vessels, which 
were absent the same length of time, fishing at the same place 
* Captain S.J. Martin, writing from Gloucester to Professor Baird under date of January 
7th, 1884, says: ‘In Ipswich bay the fish are in one place. Four hundred nets are set in a 
place one-half mile wide by one-half mile long. The nets are across one another. The vessels 
have set their nets all over the bay, but find only a few scattering fish except in that one spot. 
There they get good hauls every morning when there is a chance to haul the nets. * * * 
The fishermen think strangely of the fish being in one place. They can find nothing (there) to 
keep them alive. 
