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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
a northward migration and the latter a southward one. No such runs of Spanish mackerel 
appear to take place within Chesapeake Bay, however, as the fish usually arrive in May or June 
and are present continuously until about September. Relative to spawning, Smith (1907, p. 
191) says: 
The lower part of Chesapeake Bay was formerly and is still a favorite spawning ground. The eggs are about 1 millimeter 
(0.04 inch) in diameter and float at the surface; they are laid mostly at night, and the hatching period is about 25 hours in a water 
temperature of 77° or 78° F . All the eggs of a given fish do not ripen at one time, and the spawning may thus extend over several 
weeks, during which several thousand eggs may be deposited. 
The spawning period in Chesapeake Bay occurs during late spring and early summer. 
During 1920 the Spanish mackerel ranked twenty-third in quantity and nineteenth in value in 
Chesapeake Bay, the catch amounting to 13,766 pounds, worth about $2,114. Only 337 pounds 
of the entire catch was taken in Maryland waters during 1920, all caught with pound nets. In 
Virginia the Spanish mackerel ranked twenty-second in quantity and eighteenth in value, the catch 
being 13,429 pounds, worth $2,052. The entire catch, exclusive of a few fish taken with haul 
seines, was caught in pound nets. The counties producing the largest quantities were Elizabeth 
City, 5,900 pounds; Northampton; 3,835 pounds; and Mathews, 2,479 pounds. 
The Spanish mackerel is one of the most highly esteemed fishes occurring in the bay. It 
appears regularly each year, some time in May or June, but it is never taken in such large quanti- 
ties as farther south. Along the Atlantic coast of Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico, millions of 
pounds of this fish are caught each year from November to March, 18 a period when it is entirely 
absent from the Chesapeake. Large quantities sometimes are taken along the coasts of Virginia 
and North Carolina also. In the South the fish are caught mainly with gill nets and purse seines 
and, to a lesser extent, with hook and line. In the Chesapeake at least 99 per cent of the catch is 
taken in pound nets. 
The Spanish mackerel, upon their arrival in the spring, first enter the bay as stragglers. In 
certain pound nets, situated near Cape Charles, Lynnhaven Roads, and Ocean View, Va., one or 
two fish a day are caught, followed, perhaps, with a few days when none are caught. To illus- 
trate this the following statements are taken from our field notes: 
The first three Spanish mackerel of the 1921 season were taken in Lynnhaven Roads May 12 to 17. A set of three pound 
nets at Ocean View caught the first Spanish mackerel on May 15, 1922, and until May 27 a total of six fish had been caught. A 
set of two pound nets at Lynnhaven Roads, the closest nets to the entrance of the bay in 1922, caught one mackerel on each of 
the following dates: May 16, 20, 24, 25, and 26; on May 30 these nets caught 15 pounds and on May 31, 85 pounds. 
The first pound-net catches that were of commercial importance (that is, about 20 pounds of 
fish, or more, on one day by one net or set of nets) occurred in Lynnhaven Roads on the following 
dates: May 30, 1916; June 26, 1917; June 17, 1918; June 9, 1919; June 1, 1920; June 15, 1921; 
May 30, 1922; and June 19, 1923. Almost the entire catch is taken from June to September, and 
only a few stragglers are taken before and after these dates. A particularly good run of fish occurred 
in Lynnhaven Roads from June 27 to July 2, 1921, when two pound nets caught 150 to 350 pounds 
daily and the catch for the week amounted to 1,400 pounds. The catch is confined to the lower 
part of the bay, and it is seldom that the fish strays above the mouth of the Rappahannock River. 
At one time the Spanish mackerel was considered abundant in Chesapeake Bay. The follow- 
ing excerpt is taken from the United States Fish Commission’s report for 1880: 
Gill nets were introduced into the Spanish-mackerel fisheries of Chesapeake Bay in 1877, and, proving fairly successful, they 
soon came into general favor among the fishermen of the eastern shore, though they are even now seldom employed by those living 
on the opposite side. There are at present about 175 men engaged in “gilling” for mackerel between Crisfield, Md., and Occo- 
hannoek Creek, which is 30 or 40 miles from the capes. The nets were at first set only in the night, but during 1880 the fishermen 
of Tangier Island obtained the best results by fishing from the middle of the afternoon until midnight. The nets range from 75 
to 100 fathoms in length and have a mesh similar to those already mentioned (3J-3 to 4 inches). The catch varies considerably, as 
many as 500 mackerel having been taken at one set, though the average is only 20 to 40 daily to the net. 
It is estimated that during the past 10 years the annual catch of Spanish mackerel taken in 
Chesapeake Bay has ranged from 10,000 to 25,000 pounds. Part of the catch is marketed locally, 
but when a good run of fish occurs shipments are made to other markets, located principally from 
Washington to New York. The wholesale price in 1921 and 1922 generally ranged from 18 to 25 
cents a pound and the retail price varied from 25 to 40 cents a pound. 
18 For an account of the Spanish-mackerel fishery of southern Florida, see Schroeder (1924, p. 40). 
