432 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
inodilicatious have been made in its construction since that time. The follow ing is 
a description : 
The mackerel pocket is a large rectangular net hag, usually 36 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 30 feet 
deep, with 2-inch mesh, hung to IJ-inch rope. On the portion of the rope next to the vessel wooden 
floats are strung for the purpose of securing the edge of the pocket to the rail of the vessel, this edge 
being fastened over the rail and between it and a hoard held in position by wooden pins. The outer 
corners of the pocket are supported by ropes running through blocks attached to outriggers 4 inches 
in diameter, by means of which the outer edge of the pocket ihay be elevated or depressed. To the 
outer edge of the pocket is attached a rope bridle, the ends of which are fastened about 9 feet from 
each outrigger. A thimble is attached to the middle of this bridle, and when the mackerel have been 
turned into the pocket the fore and after staysail halyards are bent into the thimble and the outer 
edge of the 230cket thus supported and the outriggers relieved from considerable strain. In getting 
the fish into the pocket the latter is slacked down to the surface of the water and the outer edge is 
fastened to the cork rope of the seine. By gathering the twine of the seine, beginning at the side 
farthest from the pocket, the fish are readily turned into the pocket, and the edge of the latter is then 
raised above the surface, of the water. 
Unfortunately the fishermen have found little use for these pockets during the 
last six years, the catch of mackerel being so small that they can be readily cared for 
before any of them spoil. The fish are removed from the pocket in quantities ranging 
from 25 to 100 barrels at a time. If the weather be warm and moderate the quantity 
removed at a time is small, but when the air is cool or the water rough or when 
dogfish are abundant the quantity is very much larger. 
For dressing the fish, the crew is divided into working gangs of three men each, 
one of whom splits and the other two, known as ‘‘gibbers,” gill and eviscei'ate the 
fish. Each gang of men is provided with a splitting board from 0 to 10 inches wide 
and with two wooden trays about 3 feet square and 6 inches deep, which are generally 
supported on the tops of barrels. Some crews, especially in the hand-line fishery, have 
only two men in each splitting gang, the splitter or some one else getting the barrels, 
filling them with water, and otherwise aiding the gibber. The splitter with his left 
hand, which is usually covered with a cotton mitten for protection as well as to prevent 
the fish from slipping, takes the fish round the center of the body, with the tail toward 
him, and splits it down the back on the left side of the backbone from the head to the 
tail, so that it will lie open and flat after the viscera have been removed, the knife being 
held by the fingers and guided by the thumb sliding along the upper side of the fish. 
On splitting each fish he tosses it to the tray of the gibber, who, with hands 
covered with gloves to protect them against the bones, opens the fish with a jerk, 
causing it to break lengthwise along the lower end of the ribs if it is fat, thus making 
a crease on each side. He removes the viscera and gills and throws the fish, open and 
face down, into a barrel partly filled with clean salt water, in which the blood is soaked 
from the fish, whence they are called “wash barrels.” There the fish remain until the 
splitting is finished, which may be 6 or 8 hours or even longer after the first fish have 
been split. Then the deck is cleaned up and the men proceed to salting. 
A good splitter can handle from 2,000 to 3,500 mackerel per hour, and under 
favorable circumstances 200 barrels of mackerel can be cared for by a crew of 12 or 15 
men without difficulty before any of them spoil. Sometimes, when a large haul has 
been made, the crew may work steadily for 24 or even 36 hours in succession, losing- 
only the brief time given to meals. By practice they can split and dress the fish as 
well at night as during the day. 
If the men have time they “plow” or ream the fish, making a cut in the abdominal 
cavity on each side near the backbone, in imitation of the natural cracks or breaks 
