THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 353 
fishery is practically inexhaustible; that the habits of the species have not been changed by the 
fishery, and that so far from making it difficult to obtain bait, the large fishery made it easier, cap- 
turing it in great masses and selling it to the fishermen in any desired quantity cheaper than they 
could obtain it for themselves. 
The absence of the menhaden from the Maine coast has rendered protective legislation useless 
there, though in New Jersey and other States there is still considerable opposition to the wholesale 
capture of these fish by the use of steamers. A Congressional committee has recently investigated 
the subject, and in their report recommend: “First, that thé use of purse-seines and pound-nets, 
fyke or weir, in the waters of the Atlantic outside of low-water mark, be absolutely prohibited 
within 3 miles of the shore prior to the 1st day of June in each year south of a line drawn east 
from the south cape of Chesapeake Bay, and prior to the 1st day of July north of that line, with 
suitable penalties for any violation of the law in this respect; second, tliat the use of meshes in 
such nets of less than 14 inches in size, bar measure, should in like manner be prohibited at all 
‘seasons, 80 as to prevent the taking of young and immature fish.” 
MENHADEN BAIT AS AN ARTICLE OF COMMERCE AND THE CONSIDERATION OF ITS VALUE, BY 
THE HALIFAX COMMISSION OF 1877. 
THE EXPORT OF BAIT TO THE DOMINION.—Allusion hasbeen made to the extensive exporta- 
tion of menhaden for use in the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada. 
The evidence of several witnesses at the Halifax Commission shows that menhaden bait was 
preferred to any other kind by the Proviicial fishermen. It is said that a considerable number of 
the vessels of the New England fleet fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawreuce were accustomed to 
carry partial cargoes of salted menhaden to sell in the Straits of Canso. There are, however, no 
satisfactory statistics of this exporting trade. This is doubtless due to the fact that every mack- 
erel vessel carries twenty barrels or more of salt slivered fish, and there being no law requiring 
their entry in the custom-house or for reporting sales after the return of the vessel, no one has the 
data upon which to found an estimate. More than 5,000 barrels of slivered menhaden, worth more 
than $30,000, were carried to Dominion waters during the season of 1878. Many vessels doubt- 
less expended all the bait which they carried; many others sold their surplusage to the Provincial 
mackerelmen. It is probable that these sales amounted to not more than $8,000 or $10,000, and 
very possibly they are even less extensive. 
‘THE CLAIM OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.—The subject of the alleged trade in menhaden 
bait was referred to frequently in the course of the proceedings of the Halifax Commission of 1877. 
The subject was first introduced by the English counsel in the “Case of Her Majesty’s Govern- 
ment,”* as follows: 
“The question of bait must now be considered, as some importance may, perhaps, be attached 
by the United States to the supposed advantages derived in this respect by British subjects. It 
might appear at first sight that the privilege of resorting to the inshores of the Eastern States to 
procure bait for mackerel fishing was of practical use. Menhaden are said to be found only in the 
United States waters, and are used extensively in the mackerel fishing, which is often successfully 
pursued with this description of bait, especially. by its use for feeding and attracting the shoals. 
It is, however, by no means indispensable; other fish-baits, plentiful in British waters, are quite as 
successfully used in this particular kind of fishing business, and very generally in other branches, 
both of deep-sea and inshore fishing, as, for example, fresh herrings, alewives, capelin, sandlaunce, 
smelts, squids, clams, and other small fishes caught chiefly with seines close in shore. British fish- 
* Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, Appendix A, p. 28, 
SEO V——23 ° . ig 
