428 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
crew having fresh iced bait ; and this, too, when both are at work, and 
excluding from the question the loss of time, etc., which must result 
from the attempt to obtain supplies of fresh bait from the baiting sta- 
tions of the British Provinces. 
The reason why fresh bait packed in ice can be more successfully 
used by the trawl fishermen and hand-liners who fish on George’s Bank 
from the decks of their vessels is because it is seldom exposed to the 
air very long before it is put into the water. 1 
As an example of the success which is sometimes attained by the use 
of salt-clam bait, both in the hand-line and trawl fisheries for cod- 
and as an illustration of the importance to American fishermen of this 
resource for a bait supply, the following list of catches is given, made 
by vessels which arrived at Gloucester, Mass., from bank trips in the 
early part of the season of 1887. 
As will be seen, large fares were obtained by these vessels, and that, 
too, in the spring, when very little, if any, fresh bait could be obtained 
on the fishing ground. 
Vessels of the New England codfishing fleet using salt-clam bait, spring, 1887. 
Name of vessel. 
Name of 
bank. 
Apparatus 
used. 
Catch 
of cod. 
Catch 
of 
halibut. 
Name of owner. 
Date of 
arrival at 
Glouces- 
ter. 
Mattel Kenniston 
w estern 
Hand-line . 
Pounds. 
125, 000 
90, 000 
125, 000 
150, 000 
Pounds. 
5, 000 
1, 000 
2, 000 
2, 000 
2, 000 
1,000 
20, 000 
800 
D. Allen & Son 
May 18. 
Do. 
Bounding Billow 
. . do 
Trawl 
Shute & Merchant 
Foster & Co 
George Steele 
E. A. Foster (of Beverly) 
Plymouth Rock 
....do 
do 
do 
May 20. 
Do. 
Marguerite 
do 
do 
180, 000 
J. F. Wonson & Co 
May 23. 
May 26. 
May 30. 
Do. 
Susie Hooper 
do 
Hand-line 
80, 000 
70, 000 
- 70, 000 
240, 000 
140, 000 
D. Allen & Son 
Stranger 
Grand . 
do 
Geo. H. Perkins & Co. . 
E. F. Bartlett 
Western . . . 
do 
George Thurston 
George Clark 
John S. Presson 
do 
do 
1, 500 
J une 4. 
D. A. Wilson(of Beverly) 
....do 
do 
1, 000 
Do. 
Geo. F. Keene (of Maine) 
H. A. Duncan 
do 
do 
125, 000 
150, 000 
100, 000 
76, 000 
140, 000 
125, 000 
140, 000 
180, 000 
100, 000 
76, 000 
800 
Do. 
Grand and 
do 
2, 000 
1, 500 
George Steele 
June 6. 
Flying Scud 
Western. 
do 
do 
J. O. Proctor, jr 
June 9. 
Schuyler Colfax 
Hattie S. Clark 
do 
do 
do 
June 10. 
do 
do 
do 
Do. 
C. P. Thompson 
do 
do 
300 
B. Low 
June 18. 
J. W. Collins 
do . 
do 
D. Allen & Son 
J une 28. 
Sir Knight (of Maine) . . . 
do 
....do 
Master 
Do. 
Uncle Jo (of Maine) 
.do 
do 
do 
June 20. 
E. R. Nickerson (of Me.) . 
do — ... 
do 

do 
Do. 
New England fishing vessels visiting those banks in 1887 carried salt, 
clam bait, many using no other. Some vessels, up to June 1, used 
salt-clam bait and bank clams taken from the fish caught. From June 
1 to August 15 they used salt clams and such other material as could 
be obtained on the banks. From August 15 to the close of the season 
squid were found in great abundance on all the banks. 
On some of the trips of the season some of the vessels carried salt 
clams and frozen herrings. 
; For details of the dory hand-line cod fishery see the chapter on the “ Bank Hand- 
line Cod Fishery,” pages 123 to 133; Vol. I, section 5, of the quarto report on the Fish- 
eries of the United States. 
