GG REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



BLUE -FISH. 



2. Come in spring and leave in the fall. Come about the 20th of 

 May. 



21. Not so near the top as the menhadeu. We only know they are 

 here by first catching them in the pounds. 



76. Caught in i^jounds before they bite tlie hook. 



8. The larger ones caught first ; weigh from five to eight pounds. 



11. Tbey go eastward. Come in from the sea, like mackerel. Most 

 of the migrating fish come in like scup, some running nearer the shore 

 than others. 



23. Never saw one with a spawn in it. 



64. There are many young ones about here. 



5. They are decreasing; the decrease began within four or five years. 



6. I think those taken in the pounds make much difference. 



75. The largest haul I ever knew in a pound was about seven hun- 

 dred. 



20. They begin to take the hook about the 10th of June. 



11. They scatter in summer, and school again when they run out. 



37. Any fish that are swimming ; they want something to chase. 

 Never knew them to eat crabs or sliell-fish. Never saw worms in their 

 stomachs. 

 ' 42. Know nothing about their spawning. 



68. Never knew of any disease among them. 



82. Yes ; many are salted in the fall, as it is then fal. 



83. Never used for manure. 



84. Highest, eight cents a pound ; and lowest, four. That is as 

 much as the price last year. They were scarce this year. 



SPANISH MACKEREL. 



2. We began to catch them two years ago, about the 25th of July. 

 Caught till the middle of September. 



4. More plenty' last year than the year before. 

 37. About the same as that of striped-bass. 



8. Average about three pounds ; never saw any of the very large 

 ones, so called. 



SEA-BASS. 



2. First taken about the 1st of May. It is found here in the summer 

 and in the winter. 



5. Much scarcer than formerly. 



8. Have caught them that weighed twelve pounds. 



11. JMuch like scup ; but do not school as much as scup. 



75. Have caught three or four hundred in a pound at a time. 



83. They used to put them on the laud about Seconnet. 

 46. 1 thi^ik on the eel-grass bottom. 



37. They catch some fish and eat crabs. Mackerels' intestines are the 

 best bait ; and the stomach of the menhaden is largelv used as bait. 

 82. Never. 



84. Highest price, six cents a pound, and the lowest, four. Have 

 known the [)rice as high as fifteen and eighteen cents. 



STRIPED-BAS^. 



11. They go eastward, like .^cup and sea-bass. 

 2. First caught about tlie liist of May. 



