344 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



and Pacific oceans on which halibut have been found to be abundant 

 in the past few years are in approximately the same latitude. 



In the whale fishery one bark from Boston took 400 barrels of sperm 

 oil in the Okotsk Sea, north of Japan; one brig made a similar catch 

 in West Indian waters; one bark, the Swallow^ visited Kerguelen, or 

 Desolation Island, to obtain sea-elephant oil, and one schooner was at 

 the close of the year in those waters on a sealing voyage. There were 

 also four vessels from Provincetown fishing in the South Atlantic 

 Ocean, and the whaling fleet from New Bedford fished in the North 

 and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, and Arctic oceans. 



The bark Swallow^ of 310 tons, above referred to, with a crew of 

 34 men, sailed from Boston in July and arrived at Kerguelen Island 

 in December, 1897. This island is in the Southern Ocean in latitude 

 49^=^ S. and longitude 69^ E. Within three riionths about 4,000 sea- 

 elephants were secured, which yielded 63,000 gallons of oil having a 

 value of $20,790. It being summer in that locality, no difficulty was 

 experienced from ice, but heavy fogs prevailed the greater part of the 

 time. The younger sea-elephants were taken in December, the larger 

 ones later in the season. They were all killed on shore by the use of 

 rifles, lances, and harpoons. Only the oil from the animals was saved. 

 It is used chiefly in tanning morocco and other leather. The vessel left 

 the island in March and Returned to Massachusetts on July 20, 1898, 

 after an absence of about a year. The captain reports that at Kerguelen 

 Island the young sea-elephants are chiefly produced in November, as 

 very few were born after his arrival there, and that they shed their 

 hair in December. The voyage of the Swallovj is noteworthy, as the 

 Kerguelen Island sea-elephant fishery has not been regularly prosecuted 

 for a long period, the only other vessel visiting the island in recent years 

 being the Francis Allen^ of New London, Conn., in about 1894. 



The herring fisheries furnish another instance in which the products 

 are derived largely from waters outside of State jurisdiction, the New- 

 foundland herring fishery alone jdelding about half of the entire catch 

 of this species. This fishery is apparentl}^ increasing in importance. 

 In 1896 it was engaged in b}^ 43 vessels from Gloucester, 3 from Bev- 

 erly, and 1 from Provincetown; a total of 47 vessels, with a net tonnage 

 of 4,981 tons and a value of $239,316; the value of their outfit, seines 

 and gill nets, was $29,123 and the number of fishermen was 440. The 

 quantit}^ of fresh frozen herring secured was 8,441,842 pounds, valued 

 at $117,649, and of salted herring 1,807,575 pounds, valued at $18,150. 

 In 1898 the Newfoundland herring fleet had increased to 56 vessels, 

 valued at $281,028. Of these, 51 were from Gloucester, 2 from Bev- 

 erly, and 3 from Boston; their net tonnage was 4,542 tons, the value 

 of their outfit, seines and gill nets, $48,650, and the number of fisher- 

 men 450. The quantity of fresh frozen herring obtained was 9,398,872 

 pounds, valued at $197,490, and of salted herring 5,545,199 pounds, 

 valued at $72,862; a total of 14,944,071 pounds, valued at $270,352. 





