120 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Mr. W. B. Young, of Matinicus Island, has a herring weir on the southwestern 
part of Ragged Island, which lies a short distance south of Matinicus Island. In 
1890 this weir during June aud July caught 15 salmon with an aggregate weight of 
200 pounds. The largest weighed 24| pounds. No small, unmarketable ones were 
obtained. 
Salmon at the Cranberry Isles . — The Cranberry Isles lie a few miles south of 
Mount Desert Island and about 25 miles east of Penobscot Bay. They are in the. 
track of migrating salmon, as a few herring weirs set around the islands have for 
several years taken one or more salmon almost annually.* Mr. W. I. Mayo, a corre- 
spondent at the islands, reports that in June, 1895, Colonel Hadlock took a 17-pound 
salmon in a weir, and on May 5 of the same year Mr. Mayo caught one weighing 19 
pounds. None had been taken, however, in 1896 up to September 1. 
Salmon caught with hook off Maine coast. — Instances are multiplying of the taking 
of salmon at sea on trawl lines on the New England coast. The salmon are usually 
taken during the time when the fish are running in the rivers, but occasionally one 
has been caught in midwinter. The following data relate to fish that probably 
belonged to the Penobscot school. 
On June 19, 1896, a Gloucester fishing vessel brought into Rockland a 10-pound 
salmon that had been caught on a cod trawl 20 miles southeast of Matinicus. The 
fish was sent home to Gloucester by the captain of the vessel, through Mr. Charles E. 
Weeks, a Rockland fish dealer. 
Several salmon have been taken on hooks off Frenchman Bay within a few years. 
One 25-pound fish was caught on a cod trawl 3 miles off Gouldsboro, in 20 fathoms 
of water, and another was taken southeast of Mount Desert Island in 35 fathoms. 
Some years ago, on May 22, one of the crew of the schooner Telephone , of Orland, 
Me., while fishing for cod on German Bank, caught a 10-pound salmon. German 
Bank lies about 50 miles southeast of Mount Desert Island and has 65 to 100 fathoms 
of water. 
Destruction of salmon by seals. — Seals are known to kill a great many salmon in 
Penobscot Bay and the lower river. They enter and leave the weirs and traps with- 
out difficulty and cause great annoyance to the fishermen. When a seal enters a 
net, the fish are frightened and usually become meshed; the seal may then devour 
them at its leisure. The initial bite usually includes the salmon’s head. 
Fishermen in some places report a noticeable increase in seals in the past few 
years, and a consequent increase in damage done to the salmon fishery. Tlie State 
pays a bounty of $1 each for seal scalps, which serves to keep the seals somewhat in 
check, although the sagacity of the animals makes it difficult to approach them with a 
rifle and to secure them when shot. Within a few years some weir fishermen have 
been obliged at times to patrol the waters in the vicinity of their nets, in order to 
prevent depredations. In the Cape Rosier region, where some salmon trap fishing is 
done, seals were very troublesome in the early part of the season of 1896. Mr. George 
Ames, who set three traps in 1896 and took about 100 salmon, had knowledge of 13 
other salmon that were destroyed by seals while in his nets. Similar instances of 
relatively large numbers of salmon killed by seals might be given. With salmon 
worth 20 to 50 cents a pound the loss of 10 or 12 salmon by seals, in a total catch of 
75 or 100, is a matter of importance to the fisherman. 
* See paper entitled “Notes on the capture of Atlantic salmon at sea and in the coast waters of 
the Eastern States,” Bull. U. S. F. C. 1894. 
