176 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
highest results have been attained in the direction of securing vessels that are best 
adapted to the special work they are built to perform. If safety, speed, and special 
fitness can be obtained at a reasonable expenditure, then much maybe gained, though 
it is to be expected that local conditions will demand very dissimilar types. 
B.— SUGGESTIONS FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF STEAMERS IN THE NEW ENG 
LAND MARKET FISHERY. 
Allusion has already been made to the increase in the market fishery of the United 
States, but in no other locality is this more strikingly noticeable than in New England. 
Twenty-five or thirty years ago a few comparatively small vessels and open boats found 
employment in fishing for market on the grounds near the coast. This fishery was 
then confined largely, if not exclusively, to the winter season. At the present time 
fleets of the largest, swiftest, and best fishing schooners in the United States find em- 
ployment from early autumn till spring, and a somewhat less number throughout the 
year, in supplying the markets of the principal ports of Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, and Maine, among which Boston, Gloucester, Portsmouth, and Portland are the 
most important. 
Although many, if not the majority, of the vessels above alluded to are not of the 
most modern type, the advantage to be derived from the employment of the swiftest 
and most sea- worthy vessels has been so manifest that a constant change is now goiug 
on in the market fleet. There has been a marked improvement recently in the sail- 
ing vessels engaged in the Atlantic sea fisheries, and special attention has been given 
to the attainment of the maximum of speed, due chiefly to the requirements of the 
market fishery. 
With several eminent naval architects in the field, as designers of fishing schoon- 
ers, it is not surprising that some of the latest additions to the New England market 
fleet should be so highly specialized as to make it apparent that the limit of swift- 
ness has been pretty nearly reached in the construction of sailing vessels. Although 
the cost of building such schooners is somewhat increased in proportion to their car- 
rying capacity, the additional profit to be obtained by getting the catch to market in 
the briefest possible time has been so fully demonstrated that comparatively little is 
thought of a considerable increase in expenditure, if a vessel can be obtained which 
will outstrip all rivals. 
As has been intimated, the success in the direction of improving the speed and 
sea going qualites of the schooners has been very gratifying, and there is reason to 
suppose that the introduction of the very best sailing vessels will be rapid. Neverthe- 
less, it is a fact too well known to admit of discussion that even the swiftest sailing 
vessels may be, and often are, seriously delayed by calms and head winds. Therefore, 
when they have to operate on distant fishing grounds, their catch may frequently 
become more or less deteriorated before they reach market. The result of such delay 
and injury to the quality of the fish is that the fisherman receives less for his labor, 
and a bad influence is exerted on the trade, since the consumer gets an inferior article 
of food, which tends to lessen the demand. 
While this may not occur often enough in some localities to seriously handicap 
the fisheries, it is, nevertheless, a factor of such great importance in most regions 
that io is worthy of serious consideration, and whatever tends to decrease uncertain- 
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