REPORT UPON THE DIVISION OF FISHERIES. 357 



While this may foreshadow future results, I think it would be unwise 

 to accept it as entirely conclusive. It is therefore to be hoped that these 

 experiments will be continued in the future, and with a variety of ma- 

 terial commonly used for bait. 



30. Investigations relating to the mackerel. — Although not directly con- 

 nected with the work of this division, the investigations undertaken by 

 the schooner Grampus during the year, relating particularly to the 

 occurrence or abundance of the mackerel' in certain localities, are so 

 intimately associated with the commercial aspects of the fishery for this 

 species that it seems entirely appropriate to call attention to them here. 

 For more than 50 years reports have been circulated at intervals of 

 the occurrence of mackerel in great abundance on the northeast coast 

 of Newfoundland and along the shores of Labrador, particularly in the 

 Strait of Belle Isle and vicinity. These reports have generally ema- 

 nated from vessels trading in those regions, but, as a rule, they have 

 gained circulation too late in the season for the mackerel fishermen to 

 profit by them if true, while there has been associated with apparent 

 reliability more or less of iudefiniteness and uncertainty which has left 

 the whole matter in an undetermined condition. For this reason the 

 procurement of precise information respecting the truth of these reports 

 has been a matter of especial interest to American fishermen, particu- 

 larly in the past year, when the exceptional scarcity of the mackerel 

 in its usual haunts has caused much anxiety and restlessness in the 

 minds of those in pursuit of this species, and a consequent increased 

 desire to learn from reliable sources all that may affect the welfare of 

 the industry in which they are engaged. 



In view of these conditions, the Grampus was ordered to make a 

 cruise, in the summer of 1887, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the east 

 and northeast coasts of Newfoundland, and along the coast of southern 

 Labrador, including the Strait of Belle Isle. The principal object of this 

 voyage was to determine the truth or falsity of the reports of the occur- 

 rence of mackerel in those localities. I was in charge of the investiga- 

 tion. The cruise began on July 2, on which date we sailed from Glou- 

 cester, Massachusetts, and it ended on September 1, when we arrived at 

 Wood's Holl. 



Careful inquiry developed the fact that mackerel have not occurred 

 on the northeast coastof Newfoundland for considerably over a decade, 

 with the exception of scattering specimens taken occasionally in gill- 

 nets. It was learned that the species has occasionally been moderately 

 plentiful for a brief period in the Straits of Belle Isle and vicinity, as 

 late as 1885. But this fact loses its significance when it is known that 

 such appearances of the mackerel in that region are very uncertain and 

 that when found there it is invariably in a poor and emaciated condi- 

 tion and scarcely fit for food. 



i The information obtained was promptly disseminated among the 

 mackerel fishermen, who were met by the Grampus on her return voy- 



