44 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
very fast, and if the present style of fishing is pursued will in a few years become extremely scarce, 
if not almost extinct. Of course, in the present stage of investigation there may be a doubt whether 
the fish are driven from their old haunts by the fishing-gear, or whether their abundance is so far 
affected by overfishing as to offer no inducement to fishermen to resort to the ‘old grounds” in 
pursuit of them. I incline to the opinion that both causes have their influence, but I think that 
the latter has emphatically the greater. The inshore grounds, George’s Bank, Brown’s Bank, Seal 
Island Ground, La Have, and Western Bank having been fished over, about in the order named, 
and the halibut on them reduced from plenty to comparative scarcity, the fishermen, who were 
not then acquainted with the deep-water fisheries, had to resort to other fishing grounds. In the 
mean time Capt. John McKenzie made a successful trip to Scatari. His vessel lay in Menadou 
Harbor, and he set his trawls in the narrow strait that divides Scatari Island from the mainland. 
In this manner he obtained about 60,000 pounds of halibut. This trip I have not the exact date 
of, but think it was in July, 1861. Since that time there have been a few fares taken in the sum- 
mer at Flint Island and about Seatari, but as the appearance of halibut in that locality is somewhat 
uncertain, it has never been a favorite fishing ground for large numbers of vessels. Many of the 
fishermen doubted the practicability of bringing fresh halibut from the Grand Bank in good con- 
dition, even after they were aware that those fish could be obtained there in large quantities. To 
Capt. George Miner, of the schooner Hattie M. Lyons, belongs the honor of being the pioneer of 
the fresh- halibut fisheries to the Grand Bank.* 
At first the vessels resorted to the “ Eastern Shoal Water,” between the parallels of 44° 
and 45° N. latitude and the meridians of 49° 30’ to 50° 30’ W. longitude, where they found 
halibut in large numbers, but after one or two years’ fishing in this locality there was a marked 
decrease in the abundance of these fish, in some cases amounting even to extreme scarcity, and 
the result was that the fishermen were obliged to seek for new fields. Some new grounds were 
found by accident or, at least, their discovery was owing to peculiar circumstances, in which there 
was a certain amount of chance, while the finding of others was due solely to the enterprise of the 
fishermen. Among the latter were Saint Peter’s Bank, Miquelon Beach, and Pass Island, in 
Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. Halibut were never, to my knowledge, found on Saint Peter’s Bank 
so numerous as at many other places, but as they were of superior quality and the fisheries on 
that bank held out better than on many others, it was resorted to for several years, but finally had 
to succumb to the fate of other fishing grounds. Halibut followed the capelin in on Miquelon 
Beach about the 1st of June, and at first were found there in immense numbers close to the shore, 
and in water so shallow that frequently they could be seen biting the hooks. On one occasion, in 
1868, the schooner William T. Merchant, Capt. Nelson A. McKenney, of Gloucester, caught 40,000 
pounds there at one set of her trawls. She got a full fare (103,450 pounds of halibut) in a few 
days, and several other vessels, among which was the Carrie S. Dagle, met with good success. 
Halibut were not nearly so plenty at the Beach the next summer, and after the second season it 
has not been profitable to fish there, although occasionally a vessel has got one or two fair catches, 
* Firat fresh-halibut trip from the Grand Bank; the biggest trip yet.—We have recorded some pretty big trips the 
present season, but the schooner Hattie M. Lyons, Capt. George Miner, which arrived from the Grand Bank on Tues- 
day, eclipses all others in this respect. She was absent but four weeks, and brought in about 75,000 pounds of halibut 
and 6,000 weight of codfish, and will stock some $4,000. The crew will make from $175 to $200 apiece. The fish were 
caught on the eastern part of the Bank, and are the first fresh halibut ever brought from that locality. She was a 
fortnight on her outward passage, and was but five days catching the trip. The Hattie M. Lyons is owned by D. C. 
Babson & Co. and Captain Miner, who has the honor of making the biggest trip ever brought into this port.—(Cape 
Ann Advertiser, June 15, 1866.) 
The gross stock of the H. M. Lyons, whose arrival we reported last week, was $3,624.—(Cape Ann Advertiser, 
June 22, 1866. ) 
