REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXVII 



He cod side-red the number of blue-fish scarcely one-fourth as great as 

 usual, and these were of small size. Squeteague, also, were much scarcer. 



At Newport the testimony was conflicting. Some persons, princi- 

 pally, however, fish dealers and trappers, maintained that fish were as 

 plenty as last season, or even more so j this being based, however, upon 

 the number of small scup and an unusual run of Spanish mackerel. 

 Such assertions were, on the other hand, strongly denied by numerous 

 line-men ; and some of these testified that fish were never so scarce ; ■ 

 and others admitted that they were no more plenty than last year, with 

 the exception of the catch in the traps, which was quite equal to the 

 usual average. 



There was, however, no exception to the impression that blue-fish 

 were much scarcer this year than last; this substantiating the opinion 

 that they have been gradually diminishing for many years past. (See 

 the article on blue-fish.) 



Tautog and sea-bass were also scarcer. The scup were perhaps less 

 numerous than last season, but made more show, as the small fish so 

 plentiful in 1871 had attained a larger size, and were in a certain 

 degree marketable. These, according to the testimony of some, were 

 as plenty as ever they had been before ; but this was certainly not the 

 case in Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay. 



It is also noteworthy that whatever may have been the causes which 

 produced so large a crop of young fish in 1871, they were not persistent, 

 since comparatively few were taken in 1872 of the same dimensions as 

 last year. 



Upon the whole, the decrease in the fish appeared to be more marked in 

 Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay than about Newport j and this fact 

 may be of much significance, when we remember that the pounds have 

 multiplied much more rapidly in this locality than about Newport, where, 

 indeed, as I am informed, the number was about the same in 1872 as in 

 1871. In 1871 the numbor was thirty-five. There were four new ones 

 at Menem sha Bight, one at Lombard's Cove, and one at Paintville, on 

 the north side of Martha's Vineyard: two or more in Kettle Cove, and 

 one on the north side of Nashawena ; making at least nine in all, in addi- 

 tion to the number there in previous seasons. The general result, as 

 already stated, was that scarcely one made sufficient profit to pay for 

 the outlay and labor. 



The New York markets, as might be expected, were fully supplied 

 with fish during the season of 1872, no appreciable difference being re- 

 alized by the wholesale dealers. If anything, however, striped bass and 

 blue-fish were scarcer, while the small scup, from the waters south of 

 Massachusetts and Khode Island, were shipped in large numbers, al- 

 though scarcely of a size to render them marketable, their average 

 weight being little more than from a quarter to half a pound. 



In view, therefore, of all these facts I have no hesitation in saying 

 that all the arguments presented in the earlier part of this report, in 



