74 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
During the recent severe gales a number of vessels have found it de- 
sirable to use oil in breaking the force of the seas. This practice is grow- 
ing in favor among the Gloucester fishermen, and at least one vessel is 
claimed to have been saved in this way during the month. This vessel, 
the schooner Willie M. Stevens, while on her homeward passage, en- 
countered a heavy gale and came to anchor off Cashews Ledge. Her 
anchor failed to hold, and it was by the use of oil that she was enabled 
to prevent the seas from breaking over her. 
Codfish have been scarce on George’s and Western Banks, and the 
vessels from these localities have, with few exceptions, returned with 
small fares. On the shore-grounds off Cape Ann and in Ipswich Bay, 
however, they have been very abundant. This abundance has been es- 
pecially noticeable on the fishing grounds, 3 to 5 miles southeast from 
Eastern Point, where cod of large size and fine quality are reported to 
have been more plenty than for years. During the greater part of the 
month the vessels fishing in that locality have had large catches. Some 
of these vessels, with crews of ten men, have left the harbor for the 
fishing grounds in the early morning and returned before dark with 
from 12,000 to 15,000 pounds of codfish, while the dory fishermen have 
frequently caught from 800 to 1,000 pounds per day. On these grounds 
trawls and hand-lines were employed, the bulk of the fish being taken 
by the trawl fishermen. In Ipswich Bay trawls, hand-lines, and gill- 
nets were used, but by the 25th of the month most of the nets were laid 
aside. The large catch in the in-shore waters has offset to a consider- 
able extent the light receipts from the distant banks, thus bringing the 
total receipts for the month nearly up to those of April, 1886. 
During the winter of 1878-’79, the United States Fish Commission 
began the propagation of codfish at Gloucester, hatching out several 
millions of young cod, which were placed in the waters near Eastern 
Point, and the unusual abundance of fish on these grounds is by many 
attributed to the stocking of these waters by the Fish Commission at 
that time. 
Owing to the cold and backward spring, the mackerel fleet have been 
considerably delayed in starting for the southern fishing grounds, but 
at the end of the month fifty-two vessels from Gloucester and other 
ports had sailed. The schooner Grampus, of the United States Fish 
Commission, sent out to study the habits of the mackerel, is reported 
as having taken the first fish, these being obtained on April 8, in gill- 
nets, about 50 miles east from Cape Charles. The schooner Caroline 
Y aught, of Boothbay, was the first to land fresh mackerel in Uew York. 
She secured about 10,000 medium-sized fish 50 miles east of Hog Island, 
in lat. 37° 20' H., and long. 74° 30' W., on April 21, this locality being 
nearly identical with that where mackerel were first taken in 1886. 
Between 1876 and 1880 no mackerel were taken by the southern fleet 
prior to April 2, the first catches being, respectively, on the 25th, 26th, 
