Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-03-20
THE COLCHESTER FISHERIES.

A recent letter from Gloucester, Mass, to the
Boston Transcript says: "The fisheries for the
present year have commenced in good earnest, and
they will be prosecuted with great vigor and en-
ergy the coming season. The fleet of vessels will
be larger than ever before; forty fishing firms
here will fit out from three hundred to four hun
bred vessels. Nearly every firm has added new
vessel and these schooners surpass those ever en-
ployed before. The branch of fisheries for cod
fish seems now to engross the attention Of all our
firms. Once, the great reliance was on the catch
of mackerel on the coast, on Georges Banks and
at the Bay Of st. Lawrence, but now it has dwin-
died down to comparative insignifcance, so much
so that last year the whole product of the mack
erel fisheries was but one-tenth part Of the aggre-
gate amount Various causes assigned for
this decline, among them the almost univer-
sal use of 'seines 1t is almost impossible for fish
ermen to take mackerel now in the old fashioned
way, with the hook and line; and the seinng is
so precarious and uncertain that many firms are
about ready to give up the mackerel fishery en-
tirely. The Bay st. Lawrence mackerel fishery
was once the sole reliance for the Gloucester fleet
in the Fall Of the year, but now not more than ff-
ty or sixty vessels are sent annually to those wa
tiers from this port. A few years ago less than
in the Grand and Western Bank tisheries-now
from one to two hundred. The catch of Goldfish
at Gloucester was not considered of much &C
count; now it engrOsses the attention OF all the
firms The halibut fisheries are also very impor-
tapt pursuit, and arc e4tactipg more and more at
tention every year. Many OF the finest and larg-
est schooners belonging to this port and also the
smartest SHIPPERS are employed the whole year
in this business, and also the greatest stocks are
made. The vessels are fitted for fresh and salt
trips If the former, the halibut when taken are
placed in the ice-houses fitted up in the vessels
and sold fresh arrival; if the latter, the fish are
'ditched' and sailed in the holds and brought in
and sold for smoking. The annual product of the
Gloucester fisheries is nearly four millions OF dol
lars. In the disastrous times that we have had
for two years and more, the City Of Gloucester
has sustained herself wonderfully. Hardly fail
ure has occurred in the fishing business.
Her four national banks have nearly one million
dollars capital and her savings bank VI 100000
more. But Gloucesters losses by sea exceed that
of any other community in the United States.
Widows and orphane here abound Since 1880,
hundreds of vessels have sailed from Gloucester
harbor never to return again. But still, when we
think of 400 vessels sailing from this port manned
by upwards of five thousand men, the percentage
Of loss is perhaps not more than we might expect,
considering the hazards necessarily attending the
business These men are but few Of them now
natives of Gloucester; they represent nearly every
nationality on earth. No losses of companions
and friends deter them from going to the same
treacherous waters and shoals, but often more
crews present themselves for employment than are
wanted"