78 FISHmG-GEOUNDS OF NOETH AMEEIOA. 



which ascended the rivers to'the limit of salt water. Before tlie introduction of purse seines they 

 were extensively captured in gill-nefcs, for use as bait by the cod and mackerel fishermen, and a 

 large proportion of the fish taken to supply the factories of menhaden oil and fertilizers, during the 

 early period of that industry, were obtained in the same manner. In the summer of 1879, from 

 some unexplained cause, but presumably from the prevalence of lower average temperatures in the 

 surface waters, the menhaden failed to make their appearance north of Cape Cod, and since then 

 they have never returned to their former grounds in the Gulf of Maine. 



Mr. E. Edward Earll, who investigated the coast fisheries of the southern Atlantic States in 

 1880, states that for several years previous to 1878 menhaden fishing was carried on to a limited 

 extent in Core Sound and about Ocracoke tnlet, on the coast of North Carolina. At Oregon Inlet 

 some menhaden fishing was also done for two or three years, steamers having been employed for 

 the purpose during one season. A purse seine was set once from Charleston, South Carolina, but 

 it was so badly cut by the sharks that it was never tried again. 



Previous to 1878 the above mentioned stations on the coast of North Carolina marked the 

 southern limit of the menhaden fishing-grounds, but as the catches there proved unremunerative, 

 the fishery was discontinued, and since that time Chesapeake Bay has been the most southern 

 region where fishing is conjiucted. In this locality, according to Mr. Earll, fishing begins in May 

 and continues until October ; but the fishery is neither so important nor profitable as it is farther 

 north, both because of the less abundance of fish and their poorer quality as compared with those 

 taken about Long Island and off the New Jersey coast. 



As to the times of arrival and departure of the schools of menhaden in the several fishing- 

 grounds, Mr. G. Brown Goode says : "The first schools appear in Chesapeake Bay in March and 

 April, on the coast of New Jersey in April and early May, and on the south coast of New England 

 in late April and May ; off Cape Ann about the middle of May, and in the Gulf of Maine about the 

 latter part of May and the first of June. Eeturning, they leave Maine- in late September and 

 October, Massachusetts in October, November, and December, Long Island Sound and vicinity 

 in November and December, and Cape Hatteras in January.^ 



Off the coast of New Jersey and the southern side of Long Island, fishing usually begins in 

 April, and by the last of that month or early in May it is carried on along the entire coast of Long 

 Island, although it sometimes happens that no fish are taken in this region until after the first of 

 May. The schools generally " play " in near the coast, where the fishing steamers lie in wait for 

 them usually at no great distance from the shores ; and whenever the schools rise to the surface 

 they are quickly surrounded by the purse seines. During May the fish move around Montauk 

 Point and into Long Island Sound, which, during the remainder of the season, becomes the most 

 important fishing-ground for this species on the coast. There are periods of greater or less dura- 

 tion, however, during which the menhaden show little or no inclination to come to the surface. At 

 such times the steamers often cruise on other grounds, going to the New Jersey coast, or even as 

 far as Delaware Bay. When the schools are moving south in the fall, the steamers frequently fol- 

 low them as far as the Delaware, but as the factories are mostly located on Long Island Sound, 

 these long cruises are only made when the scarcity of fish nearer home renders them absolutely 

 necessary in order to obtain supplies. Large catches of menhaden have seldom been made at a 

 greater distance from the land than ten miles, and, as a rule, the best fishing has been obtained 

 within two to five miles of the land. 



'This statement of the arrival and departure of menhaden, extracted from "A History of the Menhaden," by G. 

 Brown Goode, 1877, p. 39, applies to the condition of the fishery prior to 1878, since which time, as above described, 

 these fish have not visited the coast of Maine. 



