348 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
TABLE.—Seine-fishery at mouth of the Merrimac. 
Name. Menhaden. 
Bos PEDO ON a ie cia cts wise scree seas cctteatercig Gia Ge Gece aawie ska asancter a ebcelned siche lSabe sae eee maw tyme are gieteleees Seeeeemets 
R. Pierce ..-.... oe Shue piecaise snes _ 
B. M. Perkins... 
W. H. H. Perkin eeu aunties Serie uct mains eae 
UNG: aCe). aca oieie alate Aunts aus pnhng ec eheeee an taydi tale ale bday ofasacayehe ois Suceerenclcsartacal mn sviacan aus ereerbiales bid eidy Sonus Scere 
IB. SteV Ons xe ce woes ce Sues deren. wii sa Se, dravsuedladus/ipdaye aoiarsucrbasbarne adwcis Bea og gone we miecnbesced aw wie REA eels 
2,013, 675 
A similar fishery, though of much less extent, was carried on by Gloucester vessels in Salem 
Harbor. There being no considerable body of fresh water, the schools were small and easily dis- 
persed. July 15, 1877, I observed six or seven gangs busily plying their seines opposite The Wil- 
lows. After a day or two the menhaden were driven away, and the fishing ceased until the fol- 
lowing week, when they returned and were soon followed by the same boats. 
AN ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL CONSUMPTION OF MENHADEN BAIT.—It is not practicable to 
make, from the data to which we have access, any very accurate estimate of the total quantity of 
menhaden bait used in one year. We give below a number of estimates for individual ports or 
fisheries ; 60,000 round barrels are thus accounted for. It is no doubt correct to estimate the total 
consumption for 1877 at 80,000 barrels, or 26,000,000 of fish. 
CONSUMPTION BY THE GEORGEH’S BANK FLEET.—The George’s Bank cod fleet is owned 
entirely in Gloucester. There are about 130 vessels, making usually one trip every twenty days. 
When they can get slivered menhaden they carry no other bait. Early in the summer they go to 
Vineyard Sound for their bait, where they buy it from the pounds; later they have usually been 
able to buy nearer home. Each vessel carries about forty round barrels of menhaden, iced. Mr. 
Joseph O. Proctor estimates the annual number of trips made with this bait at 600. This gives a 
total amount of 24,000 round barrels, or about 8,000,000 of fish; 24,000 round barrels are equiva- 
lent to 8,000 barrels of slivered fish. 
Ten years ago, according to the estimate of the same gentleman, the George’s-men did not 
carry menhaden bait on so many trips, nor did they carry so much. He estimates 300 trips, at 30 
barrels, giving an aggregate of 9,000 round barrels, or about 3,000,000 fish. 
CONSUMPTION BY THE GRAND BANK FLEET.—Mr. Proctor estimates that the Grand Bank 
cod vessels of Gloucester use in all about 600 barrels of slivered menhaden bait. 
Major Low’s statement of the outfit of the schooner Madam Roland,”* copied from the trip- 
book, shows that she was supplied with 5 barrels of pogy slivers, at $8 per barrel, making $40; 
and 5 barrels of slack-salted clams, at $11, making $55. His model table, to show the cost of a 
a new schooner fitted at Gloucester, 1875, for a four months’ trip to the Grand Bank for endfish 
and halibut, with 14 hands, estimates for 12,000 pogies or herring, at $100. 
CONSUMPTION BY THE MACKEREL LINE-FISHERMEN.—Each mackerel vessel engaged in line- 
fishing consumes during the course of the season about 20 barrels of salted menhaden slivers. In 
1867, when the entire fleet fished with hooks, the amount consumed by Gloucester alone amounted, 
by Mr. Proctor’s estimate, to 6,500 barrels, and the total consumption in the United States of mack- 
erel bait must have exceeded 25,000 barrels. In 1877 the purse-seiners are in a large majority. 
The whole amount consumed by a seining vessel does not exceed 5 or 6 barrelsin a season. Glouces- 
*Sailed for the Grand Banks August 26, 1873; arrived at Gloucester October 10, 1873; time absent, one month 
fourteen days; gross stock, $2,758.27. Doc. and Proc, Halifax Commission, vol. iii, p. 2,600. 
