News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-11-29
MYSTERIOUS FISH.
The AIbatrOss's Cruise of Investigation
Between New York and Hattcras.

1nS AiDutfObS'S rHiSC Ol IHFSst4ShtlSA
! Between New York aud Hatteras.
The United States Fish Commission
steamer Abatross is now on another trip
/ for investigating the habits of those fish
indigenous to American waters. She
VIII cruise from 100 to 200 miles off
shore, and between the latitudes of
Cape Hatteras and New York, paying
special attention to mackerel. This
vessel was launched last December, and
was built and fitted especially for this
important work. Her plans and the de-
tails other special rrangements were sent
to the International Exhibition of Fish
cries, lately held in London, and at
tracted much attentions there among
numerous scientific men VITO are inter
ested i'll the important subject Of ''Fish-
cries, How to Preserve Them" !" etc. Her
hull is of iron, and her .e-,garrzal speed ten
to eleven knots an hour; |and such is the
efficiency of her appliances that on her
last trip she was enabled to "trow !'-or
drag net-at greater depth than was
ever done before by any other vessel.
She made drag in deep water, three
and half nautical miles below the sur
face, and brought up much of that was
interest to naturalists. The mackereI
fisheries are important industries to our
people, and the AIbatross will pay
special attention on this trip to an in
vestigation which it is hoped may prove
to be of some practical benefit to the
country.
What becomes of the mackereI in the
winter and whence do they come in the
early spring are moot questions. Could |
these queries be answered satisfactorily
it is thought by some people that the
mackerel fishing could be conducted in |
the winter season and thereby prove |
more profitable to those engaged in it.
Lieutenant Schroeder, executive officer
Of the AlbatrOss, in conversation with q |
reporter, said mackereI were a gregarious
fish and had no liking for warm water,
and whether, when the surface water be-
came too cold for them, they dove under
the warm band Of the Gulf Stream down
to the bottom, or whether they remained
at or near the cold wall nOrth'ard of the
Stream were queries the solution of
which would be Of great value. In pur-
suance Of such investigation he said it
was important to trace the fish as late
in the fall and as early in the spring as
possible. Mackerel, too, he said are
never seen south of Hatteras, but the
distance north of this latitude to which
they may possibly go is, as yet, unset
tied. The Albatross will pay attention
also to the habits of the succulent shad.
The migrations of which are as little un-
ierstcCl as those Of mackerel.
One of the oldest fishermen now alive
md one, too, who hes paid special at
ention for years to the mackerel fisher
es on this coast, is Captain George
Janvrin, of Fulton Market, New York.
He said to the reporter:
mo ever cttngI.2S~. saw u mack
rel at any time of the year below the
attitude of Hatteras. I have known
hem TO be caught around Cape Cod as
ate as January, and as early as the 1st I
Of March, in fifty fathoms Of water, off
Jape Henry. I have caught them,"
said he, Gin the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
off Gaspe Head, in November. They
nave been caught also (ot the largest
lind) in Salmon River, Labrador, when
ishermen have been seining for cod
ish, in the fall and winter of every
7ear. Twenty-Five years ago I caught
hem as early as the middle of April in
he Gulf OF Canso, and in the Bay of {
Jhaleur, as carly as the 25th of May,
md got them every day afterward.
Vessels run through schools of them {
often between here and Hatteras and l
)ut Of the fishing season. My theory q
S that the mackereI are partial to n GER +
ain temperature of water, and as the
surface water gets cold they go down
leeper and off shore until they reach l
he bottom or very near there. 6
"The mackerel caught early in the t
season are very poor or thin, and often {
nave suckers attached to their sides. {
These suckers are similar to Iampher ]
eel and live i'll the mud. [ think this I
shows that in the winter months mack {
9reI go very near the bottom and off {
;oundings, but not south of the Gulf '
Stream. Maekerel deposit their spawn
II the spring and seek shoaI water, or a I
ocality where other fish are scarce, to
10 it. They spawn around the rocks of t
Nova Scotia as well as ON our coast, and
'ne never or seldom sees spawn in a fish
after July. Did the weather permit, I
old Gloucester fishermen /
lgree with me-that mackerel could be
caught all the year round somewhere ]
lorth Of Hatteras, but, of course, at
7arying distances off Shore"
Black Furs.