LXX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Eising' Star has stocked $1,200 the past fortnight fishing in Ipswicli Bay. 

 The Morrill Boy has shared $101 to a man net-fishing off this shore the 

 past three weeks." 



The last mentioned schooner, the Morrill Boy, met with unexampled 

 success, her crew of five men having shared $320 apiece, clear of all 

 expenses, by the last of December, the time emj)loyed being less than 

 six weeks. 



From the port of Gloucester alone, according to Capt. S. J. Martin, 

 there were employed in the gill-net cod-fishery during December twenty 

 vessels, carrying one hundred and twenty-four men and one hundred aud 

 seventy-six nets. In the period between November 19 and the last of 

 December, 600,000 pounds of large shore codfish were landed in Glou- 

 cester, while 150,000 pounds were marketed atEockport aud Portsmouth, 

 making a total of 750,000 pounds. When to this is added the amount 

 which was probably taken by the vessels from Swampscott, Portsmouth, 

 and other ports, it is perhaps safe to say that no less than 2,000,000 

 pounds of this highly valued and most excellent food-fisli were taken by 

 nets during the month of December and the latter part of I^Tovember. 

 The fish caught in nets were of extraordinary size, averaging more than 

 20 i)ounds each, while some individuals weighed as much as 60 or 75 

 pounds.* 



During the previous two winters cod were taken in nets, with rare 

 exceptions, only in Ipswich Bay, but this season they were caught 

 very extensively on the rocky shoals in Massachusetts Bay. Since the 

 beginning of January, however, the fish were most abundant in Ipswich 

 Bay, and the fleet of shore cod -fishermen resorted to that locality, where 

 they met with the most encouraging success, the catch during the first 

 month of the year being, it is said, much larger than at any previous 

 time.t The Cape Ann Advertiser of January 26, 1883, contains the fol- 

 lowing item in relation to this subject : 



"The net cod-fishermen are meeting with good success in Ipswich 

 Bay. On Thursday of last week three fares of handsome large codfish, 

 nearly 30,000 i)ounds, were landed at Portsmouth." 



An important matter for consideration in this connection is that not 

 only can the cod fishery be successfully carried on even when bait is 



* The above statemeats are based on the report of the Gloucester fisheries for No- 

 vember and December, by Capt. Stephen J. Martin, of the U. S. Fish Commission, 

 pp. 159-161 of F. C. Bulletin, 1883. 



t According to Captain Martin's report for January, 1883, 121,000 pounds of cod that 

 were caught in gill-nets were landed in Gloucester during the month. Under date 

 of February G, 1883, he makes the statement that ten sail of small vessels, which had 

 been fishing in Ipswich Bay, had landed at Rockport, Mass., and Portsmouth, N, H., - 

 during the previous twenty days, 230,000 pounds of large codfish. Calculatirif on 

 this basis, the total catch of the whole fleet during the month of January would be 

 very large. Owing to the fact, however, that no accurate and reliable statistics of 

 the entire catch in gill-nets, along the whole coast, is obtainable, estimates must be 

 based on the reports of the Gloucester fisheries, which have been carefully made by 

 Captain Martin. 



