[29] OPERATIONS OF SCHOONER GRAMPUS. 519 



Wakeham, inspector of fisheries for the Province of Quebec, states that 

 "mackerel were scarce all over this division, although a few of very 

 fine quality were caught at Magdalen Islands; the bulk of the mack- 

 erel schools kept about Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton never 

 coming northward across the gulf." 



The inspector of fisheries for the Province of New Brunswick, Mr. W. 

 H. Venning, reports "that this fishery was a failure. From 17,868 bar- 

 rels and 70,128 cans last year, the catch has fallen to 3,G07 barrels and 

 44,278 cans this year." The inspector of fisheries for the Province of 

 Nova Scotia stated in his report that the catch of mackerel in that 

 province had been some 10,000 barrels less than the previous season. 

 The catch at Prince Edward Island was 3,872 barrels less than in 188G. 



(g) Food of mackerel. — The presence of mackerel in any particular 

 locality is doubtless due to a considerable extent to the abundance of food 

 which is specially attractive to them. As is well known, the mackerel 

 feeds with avidity upon small copepods, generally of a pinkish tint, and 

 for this reason frequently called "red seed" or "cayenne" by the fisher- 

 men. All observations made hitherto have led to the belief that this 

 form of life is the food which the mackerel is particularly fond of. 



From the time the Grampus left Gloucester until she returned at- 

 tempts were made to ascertain the presence or absence of Crustacea, or 

 other small forms of life at the surface of the water, by towing a small 

 fine-meshed net specially designed for collecting minute animals. Else- 

 where the results of these towings are tabulated and specifically set 

 forth ; here I intend only to consider in a general way the bearings 

 upon the fisheries of the results obtained. Practically without excep- 

 tion, nothing was taken in the towing nets which could serve as food 

 for mackerel from the time we entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence until 

 we passed through Canso on our way home. The gulf, the coast of 

 Newfoundland, and the waters along the shores of Labrador appeared 

 to be utterly barren of such minute forms of life as the mackerel feeds 

 upon, though it may be mentioned that a few specimens of crabs in 

 their larval stages were taken off the northeastern coast of Newfound- 

 land. But in the Gulf of Maine, and along the south coast of Nova 

 Scotia, small Crustacea were found in considerable abundance, and fre- 

 quently in great numbers. On our return voyage we found them spe- 

 cially numerous in the Gulf of Maine. This led me to believe that 

 mackerel would be more abundant in the fall off' the New England 

 coast than in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, especially as Captain Nauss, 

 of the Moro Castle, had stated that he had seldom seen any food in the 

 stomachs of the mackerel taken in the last-mentioned locality during 

 the early part of the season. 



Upon my arrival at Gloucester after completing the cruise, I was in- 

 terviewed by Win. H. Jordan, of the firm of Kowe & Jordan, who 

 own several mackerel schooners, as to the probability of their vessel, 

 which was then in provincial waters, getting a good catch of mackerel. 



