518 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [28] 



Mr. W. A. Stearns makes the following record of the appearance of 

 mackerel on the Labrador coast : 



" Seldom taken at all on the Labrador coast, except as isolated in- 

 dividuals or by twos or threes. One person at Triangle Harbor took 

 eight while we were there, but said that he had not taken as many 

 before in as many years." * 



When at Perce, on August 21, I learned that there had been no body 

 of mackerel in that vicinity during the summer. Occasionally a sin- 

 gle individual had been taken in the herring gill-nets, but none were 

 seen schooling, and the scattering specimens caught only emphasized 

 the absence of the species from this region, which was formerly an 

 excellent fishing-ground. 



Off East Point, Prince Edward Island, we were intercepted by the 

 schooner Moro Castle, of Gloucester, Mass., the captain of which was 

 anxious to learn what news we had of mackerel on th/3 " north shore." 

 I learned from him that his vessel had taken 140 barrels of mackerel, 

 chiefly on Bank Bradley, soon after his arrival in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, but for four weeks he had not caught a fish. Some of the small 

 boats were doing fairly well at hook and line mackerel fishing close 

 inshore, on the north side of Prince Edward Island, and at Cheticarap, 

 Cape Breton. Canadian vessels had, however, been no more fortunate 

 than American schooners. None of the seiners had met with any suc- 

 cess for several weeks. Altogether the season had been a very unprofit- 

 able one for mackerel fishermen. 



The negative results obtained in our investigation relating to the 

 mackerel along the east coast of Newfoundland and the shore of Lab- 

 rador, proved beyond question that there were no mackerel in those 

 regions in the summer of 1887, up to the time that we visited the coast. 

 There is also reason to think that mackerel occur there less frequently 

 and in less abundance than is generally believed. In view of the fact 

 that all evidence goes to prove that the species is remarkably poor in 

 northern waters, it would seem, to be a non profitable undertaking to 

 pursue them thither even were there a greater probability of finding 

 fish plentiful. The cause of their poor condition is probably due to 

 the fact that the temperature of the water is lower than it is on the 

 grounds where mackerel fatten rapidly, and it is possible that they find 

 in those regions comparatively little food which is suited to them. 



There is a popular belief that when mackerel are scarce off the shores 

 of the United States and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence they must be 

 abundant elsewhere. This belief may be well founded in the abstract, 

 but there is no evidence to prove that the scarcity of fish in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence is any indication that they may be found farther north. 

 As a matter of fact, mackerel were exceptionally scarce on the gulf 

 fishing-grounds during the summer of 1887. Commander William 



*Proc. U. S. National Museum, Vol. VI, 1883, p. 124. " Notes on the Natural History 

 of Labrador." 



