The Arkansas banner., 1844-12-04
AMERICAN- FISHERIES


 The following statistics of this import9 mt branch of American commerce will be accep- table 10 all readers who take all interest in the rse and progress of the great sources of national wealth and greatness
 And first as to the mackerel fishery in Massachusetts. The quantity inspected was:
 In ls04, 8,0793 bar In l8i9, I05,43S bar.
 ls9a' isg5 l9'9934 9S93 '' 1880, soa,462
 1913, 47,2f0
 The quantity of fish caught and smoked dried in the United States in I840 was 773.- 947 qnintals of ll2 pounds weight each, and of pickled fish 472, ,359J barrels.
 The quantity of fish caught and smoked and dried ia Massachusetts in 1840 was 389,- 7l5 quintals, and of picbled fish I24,755 barrels.
 The fish caught and smoked and dried in Maine in l840 was 279, l5G quintals, and of pickled fish 4,07l barrels.
 The fish caught and smoked and dried in New Hampshire in 1840 was 28.257 eain- tals, and of pickled fish l,7149 barrels.
 Maekerel are caught with line and hook; a writer in the North American Review, in No. 120, page 73, says:
 SWe have heard more than one fisherman say that he had caught sixty mackereI i'll minutei Certain 1t Is, that some active young men will haul in and jerk off fish and throw out the line for another with single motion, and repeat the act in so rapid succession tbat their arms seem to be continually on the sWmgn
 Maclerel are caught off the coast of Nova Scotia with the seine net, and eight hundred barrels have been caught by one seine at a single haul
 The Newfoundland fishery was commenced Ill l504 by vessels from Biscay, Bfetagne, and N ormandy, i'll France. It's increase was rapid. In 15l7 it employed 50 vessels of different European nations; in 1877 the num- Der was 350 Bancroft says that in 1578 s.four hundred vessels came annually from Portugal, Spain, France, and England" In 1903 there were 200 vessels engaged in it, and, including the shoresmen or curers, 10000 men.
 In eonnexion with this subject, the herring fishery. though not exclusively an American fishery, furnishes the following statements:
 ''lt Is said by writers of authority tkat ill l560 the Dutch employed 1000 vessels in the herring fishery; that the number in 1860 was 1,500, and that in 1920 it was 2,000. These estimates are regarded, however, as eXtrayagant But what shall be said of that of Sir Walter Raleigh, who fixed the annual value of the fishery at ten millions sterling, or of De Witt, who said that every fifth per son earned his subsistence by it? Yet such statements were believed at the time they were made, and their correctness Is eontended for now" North American Reeiew, No. l20, ?. S2.
 WHALE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
 The imports of these fisheries into the United States, for the year 1S43, are thus slated in the Boston Daily Advertiser
 '.Ships and barls l93, brigs 28, schooners l3; making total tonnage of 67,593 tons. These vessels brought in l65,744 barrels of sperm oil, 205,S61 barrels of whale oil, and l,908,046 pounds of bone."
 The exports of spermaceti and whale oil and whale bone for the nine months ending the Both day of June, l843, was in value Sl,372, ,023, and S243,308 in spernaceti can dies. The lianse Towns and Holland are
  takes nearly all the sperm exported.
 The first regular attempt to engage in the whaling business in this country was about the year 1872; the English, French, and Dutch were before that time largely engaged in it. In 1872 the town of Nantucket formed CO., partnership with James Iassar for carrying on the traffic, which was done by means of boats from the shore. the whales then being numerous in the neighborhood of the island. The first sperm whale was taken l7l2 by Christopher Hussey, Nantucket whaleman, who was blown off shore while cruising for 'trigM WhaleS.n From this commencement the business increased, and in l7l5 Nantucket had six vessels of thirty to forty tons burden engaged in this business, yielding about 5000 per annum. From this small beginning the traffic has grown to its present paramount importance among the various branches of American industry.
 Mr. Grinnel, member of Congress from New Bedford, stated during the last session that our whaling fleet now consists of 650 ships, Sc, tonnaging 100000 tons, which cost at the time of sailing S20,000,000, and are manned by l7,500 officers and seamen, one-hal 0l whom are green HdadS when the vessels sail. The value of the annual import of oil and whale-bone in a crude state is S7,000,000; when manufactured it is inereas- ed in value to S8,000,000 or S9,000,000. Taking the entire amount of exports at S2,- 100000, there will be from six to seven mill lions n value 10 be consumed at home.
 Governor Briggs, in his inaugural speech 4l. C,.I hot chuseIts has S12,0oo, ,ooo and l6.o00 men en-