284 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



caught and sold fresh, chiefly for salting purposes, in Suffolk County 

 was 210,000 pounds, $1,575; in Essex County, 1,215,000 pounds, 

 $3,950, and in Barnstable County, 861,200 pounds, $2,030. The entire 

 catch, except 30,000 pounds, was taken in pound nets. 



The Newfoundland herring fishery, so far as frozen herring are con- 

 cerned, began in the winter of 185-1-55, when a Gloucester vessel 

 obtained part of a cargo of frozen herring from Newfoundland waters 

 as an experiment, and sold them for bait at Boston and Gloucester. 

 Since that time the fishery has grown to considerable proportions, and 

 large quantities of these fish are now used both for food and bait. 

 The fishery has been facilitated in recent years by the erection of cold- 

 storage plants at the principal New England ports for the purpose of 

 storing herring, squid, and other species for use as bait or food when 

 needed. During the winter of 1902-3 the fleet from Massachusetts 

 engaged in fishing for herring off the coast of Newfoundland num- 

 bered 59 vessels, of which 56 were from Gloucester and 3 from 

 Boston. The winter was unusually severe and herring were scarce 

 and difficult to locate. Eight of the vessels from Gloucester were 

 detained for months in the bays and harbors of Newfoundland b\^ ice. 

 Of the 59 vessels in the fleet, 10 made two trips and the remainder one 

 trip each. Vessels that started earl}^ in the season made quick and 

 profitable trips, but those that started and arrived later found a poor 

 market for bait on account of an unusual abundance of squid in Massa- 

 chusetts waters. Many of the vessels failed to secure full fares, and 

 some of those detained by ice found their cargoes unfit for food or bait 

 and sold them to fertilizer plants for 25 cents or less a barrel, while in 

 a few instances the fish were thrown overboard before reaching port. 

 The catch amounted to 23,576 barrels, or 5,359,763 pounds of fresh 

 frozen herring, valued at $118,790, and 51,220 barrels, or 11,271,698 

 pounds of salted herring, valued at $151:,739; a total of 74:, 796 barrels, 

 or 16,631,461 pounds, valued at $273,529. 



The catch of squid was 5,365,076 pounds, worth $25,340. Part of 

 this quantity was sold for bait as taken from the water, and the 

 remainder was frozen and held in cold storage for that purpose. The 

 cod fishermen on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland have for many 

 years depended on catching considerable quantities of squid on or near 

 the fishing grounds for use as bait, but in 1902 the suppl}^ failed in 

 those waters. In view of this scarcity Capt. Solomon Jacobs, of 

 Gloucester, before leaving on a trip for frozen herring, loaded his 

 steam fishing vessel, the xUice M. Jacobs^ at Provincetown, with 286,000 

 pounds of frozen squid, bought from the cold-storage plants at that 

 place, and carried the cargo to St. Pierre, where it was sold to the 

 French fishermen for bait in the Grand Bank cod fisheries. This was 

 the first cargo of frozen squid ever taken from Massachusetts to St. 

 Pierre or elsewhere in that vicinity. 



