THE MACKEEEL FISHING-GEOUNDS. 75 



The codfish fleet, which numbers about one hundred vessels, is wholly from Gloucester, 

 Massachusetts. Besides these, there are twenty-five to thirty vessels from the same port that fish 

 on George's for haddock in the winter, and a few others, from ports in Long Island Sound, engage 

 in the halibut and cod fishery to a limited extent in the spring and summer. 



The area of the "winter fishing-ground" is about eleven hundred square miles, while that of 

 the whole bank is eighty-four hundred and ninety-eight square miles. All of this area, with the 

 exception of the shoals, is available for fishing purposes in the summer season for cod, halibut, 

 haddock, and mackerel. 



Various kinds of shellfish, such as pectens, mussels, and periwinkles, and crabs, and other 

 crustaceans abound over most parts of the bank, and herring and lant are quite plentiful during 

 most of the year. 



13. THE MACKEREL AND MENHADEN FISHING-GROUNDS OE THE EASTERN COAST OF 



THE UNITED STATES. 



THE MACKEEEL GEOtTNDS. 



The most extensive and valuaMe mackerel fishing-grounds of the world are located off the 

 eastern coast of the United Sta,tes, between the parallels of 36° and 45° north latitude, and the 

 meridians of 66° and 75° 30' west longitude. They extend from a point a short distance north of 

 Cape Hatteras (about fifty to seventy miles directly off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay) to the east- 

 ern and northern limit of the Gulf of Maine, comprising the entire extent of the latter region. The 

 length of these grounds, in round numbers, is about seven hundred miles, and the average width 

 may be regarded as at least eighty miles, making a total area of about 56,000 square geographical 

 miles, all of which is resorted to by the mackerel catchers of the United States. Over this region 

 the mackerel swarm at certain seasons in incredible numbers, although the entire region is not 

 generally filled with schools of these fish at the same time. 



In their spring migrations the mackerel approach the coast north of Cape Hatteras, and the 

 first captures are usually made in the latter part of March or the beginning of April, between the 

 parallels of 36° and 38° north latitude, at distances of twenty -five to seventy miles from the laud. 

 The following statements of early catches of mackerel, from 1878 to 1881, will give a comprehen- 

 sive idea of the localities and dates at which the first schools make their appearance. 



EARLY CATCHES OP MAOKEKEL IN 1878. . 



March 30. — Off Chincoteague, Virginia ; schooner Lilian, of Noank, Connecticut. 

 April 16.— Latitude 36° 10' north, longitude 74° 45' west; schooner Sarah M. Jacobs, of Glou- 

 cester. 



April 18. — Twenty-five miles southeast of Cape May; schooner Alice, of Swan Island, Maine. 

 April 25.— Fifty miles southeast of Cape May; schooner John Somes, of Swan Island, Maine. 



EARLY CATCHES OP MACKEREL IN 1879. 



April 12.— Latitude 36° 35' north, longitude 74° 50' west; schooner Sarah M. Jacobs, of Glou- 

 cester. 



April 13.— Latitude 37° 57' north, longitude 74° 23' west ; schooner Augusta E. Herrick, of 

 Swan Island, Maine. 



April 13. — Seventy five miles south-southeast of Cape Henlopen; schooner S. G. "Wonson, of 

 Gloucester. 



