San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-07-12
FISHING OVERCOME.
A BUSINESS IN WHICH PROFITS
GO TO THE MlDDLEMEN.

New Workers pay lully TWICE. DIS hiuCh IS
they should for their fish. For cod, the
king fish, they pay even more than this.
At first glance this fish subject may not
seem specially interesting, and yet there IS
no denying the fact that it touches SYM
pathetic chord IN many breasts.
The cod especially is the leader in both
astronomical and economic classes. Not
withstanding his popularity, the venture
some but poor fisherman who braves the
perils of the ocean in order to capture cod
and haddock receives on an average less
than two cents pound for his catch.
At this price the fish are landed in some
city on the New England coast within ten
hours travel of New York, and when they
arrive here they are sold to the consumer at
from ten to twenty cents pound. The
consumer is not only obliged to pay twice
what he should pay for his fish, but he re-
ceives for his money very inferior article.
Talk about your coal trusts, iron trusts.
railroad trusts ard other trusts galore
they are not to be mentioned in the same
breath with the unnamed but nevertheless
existing fish trust
In the fish trade no land has to be bought,
but little capital is needed, and no seed has
to be planted nor soil titled in order to pro
duce a satisfactory crop.
Whatever swims in the sea is free to all
who care to capture it; it is natural hunt
ing ground for all; but all this is not con.
sidered by the middlemen.
In addition to the fact that cod and had.
dock are stale and high in price in New
York city, our economic fisheries are being
slowly but surely eXterminated.
1t is but question of time, and short
time at that, when the New England coast
will lose its reputation, for the fish are be-
ing rapidly driven away.
This is due to American grasp and ava
rice and proyerbial shortsightedness. The
people who control the fishing vessels
are not satisfied with ordinary gain, and
the result is that our American fish
cries will soon be but memory of the
past unless prompt measures are adopted
for their protection.
Mackerel have up to within few years
been more plenty on our coasts than any
other part of the world. But decade ago
they fairly swarmed along the New Eng.
land coast. They swan up the coves and
creeks at high tide and were caught not
only in nets, but with forks, shovels and
pitchforks, and even with the hands
Country people came from miles around
for supply and departed for home with
wagons full.
More were caught in this barbarous
method than could be used. They were
fed to the pigs and cattle and were even
used for fertiliZing. In those days all
made money, and mackerel were within
the reach of everybody. Good prices were
made by the fishermen; mackerel were
eaten by the laborer as well as by the ma
bob, and our fisheries prospered.
But the middlemen stepped in. The yes
sci owners were not getting rich fast
enough. They were making big returns
for the amount invested, but this did not
satisfy them. They must make more
money and make it faster.
SO some enterprising genius introduced
the mackerel seine. TWAS great scheme
FOR could not 100 mackerel be caught in il
where but one could be caught by means
of either the jig or drag net? The mack
erel seine or seine net was practically al
long and deep net that was so cast as to
completely surround a school of mackerel.
Then the bottoms were gathered in taut
and the fish were captured. The seine was
great, and schooners caught as many mack
erel at one cast as they formerly did with
the drag net or by means of the jig in TWEEN.
" times the amount of time. Schooners
capable of holding but 200 barrels often
caught 300 at a single cast of their seine,
and then the largest and latest were sin
gled out and the rest were thrown over.
board in dead or dying condition. The
''seiners," as the sChOOners were called
sailed to port with their holds full and
their decks covered with fine, fresh mack
erel, only to find other schOoners which
had enjoyed similar good luck in ahead Of
them, and the market in such a glutted
condition that the fish could not be dis
posed of at any price.
Eugene Blackford, ex-president of the
New York state fish commission, said &c
the writer:
II have seen the time when a huckste1
could get his cart filled with fine No !
mackerel for twenty-five cents, and have
seen scores of schooners sail out of port &c
dump their cargo of mackerel overheard
because they could not sell the fish at any
price"
OF course such a nearsighted method Oh
fishing could not continue long. 1t must
of necessity have its effect. 1t has had its
effect beyond the average conception.
Mackerel are no longer known as they
were along our coasts and in our cities
The ''jig' is practically thing of the past
the dragger is obsolete, and the seinerS
make but a very precarious living. Mack
erel no longer frequent our coasts as they
used to, for they have been scared. Thei
schools have become scattered, and when
mackerel school is once broken up it sci
dom comes together again.
In 1880 the vessels engaged in the mack
erel catch that sailed out of the port o
Gloucester caught 500, 600 barrels of mack
erel, and nine years later the nationa
catch-the catch of our whole country
was but $4,000 barrels.
-Four years ago we began to impor
mackeral from foreign countries, AM
within a few years over 100000 goo