194 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



return coastward as the ' second size.' It is probable that the fish reaches its full 

 maturity in four years." 



■ No notice of the mackerel — prime in importance as it is among economical fishes — 

 would be justifiable without some reference to its economical history. Volumes have 

 been written on this subject, but the present account must be condensed within the 

 briefest limits, and be confined chiefly to the American fisheries. In olden times 

 mackerel were fished for wherever they could be conveniently found, and chiefly with 

 hook arid line, but it has for a long time been the subject of a highly specialized fish- 

 ery, employing a large number of vessels and men. The American fishing grounds 

 at present extend from off Cape Hatteras northward to the ordinary range of the 

 species. In the spring, the raid against the fishes commences between the capes of 

 the Chesapeake and the south shoal of Nantucket, and is prosecuted chiefly by the 

 seiners. The fishes are first seen from twenty to fifty miles from land, and thence 

 gradually advance northwards, and toward the shore, and near the New Jersey coast 

 and Long Island they have approached to A\ithin one or two miles of the land. 

 " During the summer and fall months, the principal seining ground for mackerel is in 

 the Gulf of Maine, from the Bay of Fundy to Cnpe Cod ; the immediate vicinity of 

 Mount Desert Rock, Matinicus, Monhegan Island, Cape Elizabeth, Boon Island, and 

 Massachusetts Bay being the favorite localities." The principal ones frequented by 

 the mackerel hookers, or those who confine themselves to hook and line, are the 

 Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the Gulf of Maine, George's Bank, the south coast of New 

 England, the coast of the middle states from Montauk Point to Delaware, and the 

 eastern coast of Nova Scotia. The apparatus and capital engaged in this fishery is 

 for the most part contributed by the states of Massachusetts and Maine, the quotas 

 furnished by others being comparatively insignificant. B}' the census of 1880 it 

 appears that 468 vessels, with a tonnage of 23,551.64 tons, and of the Aalue of 11,027,- 

 910, were employed in the American fisheries. The number of men engaged was 

 5,043, and the value of the gear and outfit was $1,084,450. Of this considerably 

 more than half in tonnage, men, and capital invested was engaged exclusively in the 

 mackerel fishery ; but the rest were also used in other fisheries. Of this outfit, Massa- 

 chusetts contributed a quota of 277 vessels of 16,674 tons, manned by 3,492 men, and 

 Maine supplied 176 vessels of 6,122 tons, manned by 1,402 persons, while from New 

 Hampshire 13 vessels set sail, and from Connecticut only 2. The value of the catch 

 obtained by this fleet was $2,606,584, representing 111,399,855 pounds of round mack- 

 erel taken, of which 103,142,400 pounds were used for pickling, 4,957,455 pounds 

 for canning, 1,100,000 pounds for fresh fish, 1,100,000 pounds for bait, and 500,000 

 pounds for fertilizers. 



The vessels used in the fishery haAe been greatly modified, especially within 

 the last thirty or forty years. Before the middle of the present century they 

 were almost exclusively "square-stern schooners of from 25 to 80 or 90 tons," 

 and "pinkies of from 20 to 60 tons;" most of them carried a flying jib. About 

 or shortly before the commencement of the present half of the century, how- 

 ever, vessels better adapted, both for speed and the accommodation and care of 

 the fish, were introduced, and were at first known as 'sharp-shooters.' "As early 

 as 1855 the character of the fleet had become very much modified, there being 

 a large percentage of modern-built vessels, and the pinkies and square-stern 

 schooners were retained only by conservatives and by the smaller' ports, espeeiallv 

 those on the coast of Maine." "Even as early as 1870, the old square-stern 



