300 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
By the middle of November the menhaden had very generally withdrawn from 
Chesapeake Bay, and all the schools observed during tlie latter part of that month 
on the ocean shores of Maryland and Virginia, north of Cape Henry, were moving 
south at the rate of 1 or 2 miles an hour. On November 1G, the J. TV. Hawkins made 
three hauls off Currituck Light, North Carolina. All the fish caught or seen were 
swimming north several miles an hour. After the last set, 3 miles southeast of 
Currituck Light, the vessel steamed 20 miles farther south and fell in with a large 
body of bluefish, which had apparently driven the menhaden back. A week later, 
in the same region, all the menhaden met with were moving north along the coast 
at the rate of 1 to 3 miles per hour, while between Currituck and Bodie Island lights 
large schools of bluefish were found which had evidently intercepted the migrating 
menhaden and caused them to reverse their course. Bluefish were practically absent 
from the schools of menhaden; in the 6 seine-hauls made in this section on November 
16 and 23, only 2 bluefish were taken with 140,500 menhaden; 84 squeteague, however, 
mostly of small size, were caught. 
Size and fatness of menhaden . — On the size and fatness of the fish depends, to a 
considerable degree, the financial success of the industry. Some years, during the 
greater part of the season, especially in the more southern waters, the fish are very 
lean and yield practically no oil. In the Chesapeake a million fish have frequently 
been known to produce less than a barrel of oil; in July, 1893, the steamer I. V. Veasey 
caught 2,000 barrels of menhaden (equivalent to about 700,000 fish) which yielded 
only G gallons of oil. The fish taken on the New England coast always average larger 
and fatter than those obtained elsewhere. The menhaden caught by the steamer J. IV. 
Hawkins on the Maine and Massachusetts coasts in June, July, and August were from 
10 to 12 inches long, averaging 11 inches. The quantity of oil produced was from 8 to 
12 gallons per 1,000 fish, though menhaden taken in Boston Harbor in August yielded 
14£ gallons per 1,000, and those caught about September 1 produced 1G to 18 gallons. 
The menhaden caught on the coasts of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware 
were from 6 to 12 inches long, the average prior to October being rather under 9 
inches, while in October and November the average was 101 or 11 inches. At times 
in July the schools were made up of menhaden showing an unusually large variation 
in size, some hauls consisting of fish as small as 6 inches and as large as 12 inches, 
with every gradation between those limits. The remarkable body of menhaden in 
Delaware Bay in August and September consisted of small fish. No fish over 10 
inches long were taken, and the average size was probably not over 8 inches. These 
fish were almost invariably smaller than those caught at the same time outside the 
bay and seemed to the fishermen to be an entirely different lot from those taken in 
the adjacent ocean. 
The menhaden on the coasts of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina in October 
and November were mostly from 9 to 12 inches long and were quite fat, making about 
10 gallons of oil per 1,000, but those obtained in the Chesapeake at the same time 
continued to run small (6 J to 8 inches, on an average) ; some schools had fully half 
the fish 12 inches long, and toward the end of the season the fish averaged 11 inches. 
The fish obtained in the Chesapeake during the spring and summer are usually 
of small size, and it is reported that since 1890 the average size of the fish in the bay 
has been smaller than prior to that time. In 1S94 the menhaden obtained during the 
spring and summer by the J. TV. Hawkins ranged from 44 to 11 inches in length, the 
average being G to 8 inches; these produced under 2 gallons of oil per 1,000. 
