ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1343 



SEINING ALEWIVES AT MATTAKESSETT 



an alewife fisherj^, the two previous ones having 

 been filled in and obliterated by the landward 

 movement of windblown sand. 



The first Mattakessett Creek was dug b}^ the 

 Wampanoag Indians and used by them long 

 before the coming of the whites to Martha's 

 Vineyard, (then Capawoc). The second creek 

 was excavated about 1783, by Indians and 

 whites. So profitable was the alewife fishery 

 on that stream, that it was said to be "better 

 than a whaling ship." The present creek was 

 dug in 1889 by the Proprietors of Mattakessett 

 Creeks and required six months for completion ; 

 the excavating being done with horses and drag- 

 shovels. It consists of a ditch about one mile 

 long and thirty-six feet wide at the top. The 

 stream is from twelve to fifteen feet wide and 

 has an average depth of eighteen inches. 



Alewives which are spawned in the Edgar- 

 town Great Pond in one year, will, according to 

 the accepted belief, return the third year after- 

 ward in order to deposit their spawn in turn 

 in its fresh waters. It will appear therefore, 

 that the only requisite for the life and continu- 

 ance of the fishery, aside from the supply of 

 fresh water and food, is that a sufficiently large 

 number of fishes be permitted to spawn in the 

 pond every year. This precaution the ojjerators 

 of the fishery carefully take. On certain days 

 the alewives are permitted to run, i.e., enter the 

 pond without liindrance. Such fishes serve as 

 brood stock. After they have spawned, they are 

 allowed to leave the pond and return to salt 

 water. And since indiscriminate fishing by 

 heedless or unscrupulous persons is able to im- 

 pair an alewife fishery, the "Proprietors" super- 



intend the catching. This they are able to do 

 because they have held under an Act of the 

 Massachusetts State Legislature, passed in 1896, 

 the sole right to seine in the Edgartown Great 

 Pond. 



To facilitate the catching, the operators have 

 shut off by means of a seine the portion of the 

 pond at the outlet, making of it a yard or pen 

 about an acre in extent. The alewives are 

 seined from this enclosure, the catch being 

 hauled ashore. From the net the fishes are 

 scooped and thrown into carts backed down to 

 the water's edge. They are then drawn about 

 four miles to the wharf where they are emptied 

 immediately into barrels along with great quan- 

 tities of salt to preserve them. 



With the exception of a few hundred barrels of 

 the earliest alewives which are sold as fresh bait 

 to fishing vessels, it has been the custom of 

 the "Proprietors" to dispose of their entire catch 

 to a single large concern, generally the Glou- 

 cester Mackerel Company. The alewives are 

 delivered at the wharf at Edgartown, where 

 they are salted by employees of the Gloucester 

 Mackerel Company, and subsequently placed 

 aboard ships for transportation. 



The total catch from the Mattakessett Fish- 

 ery ranges from 2,500 to 4,000 barrels, and 

 depends largely upon the quantity that, the bu}'^- 

 ing company will take. The size of the order 

 depends again upon the condition of political 

 affairs in the West Indies and Latin American 

 countries which constitute the great market for 

 salted alewives. Revolutions or other social dis- 

 turbances in the places mentioned affect the 

 market adversely. 



SALTING ALEWIVES 



