Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-02-14
HARVEST OF THE NETS.
Magnitude of the MaCk8reI Fisheries en- the
Coast OF the Atlantic.

Oeep-Sed nSherteS has been subject OF
grave discussion by those who are
most interested in fish from scientific.
economical and commercial points of
view. The general public has not,
probably, taken any particular inter
est in the subject. as it is too remote
| to excite popular interest, yet many
citizens can recall the time, not
many years ago. when fresh
mackerel was three times as plentiful
and as cheap as they have been re-
Gently. The question of the crippled
! condition of our mackercl and
! other deep-sea fisheries is far from
remote subject to fish dealers and to
| the hardy fishermen who brave the
! dangers of the deep IN order to earn
| livelihood for the support of their fam
| lilies. and it is a subject that should in
terest, at least TO some extent, every
| loyal citizen OF the United
States. The American fisheries are
among the leading industries of the
| United States, The product is a sta
pie food, delicious and nourishing, and
under ordinary and proper conditions
| all kinds of deep-sea fish should be
! sold at price that would easily place
! them within the reach of all classes.
a great many men are employed iB
catching and handling fish, more in
number than find employment IN
many other leading industries, and
| they are of a class ttat with difficulty
adapt themselves to other vocations;
and for these reasons alone, if for no
others, orr fisheries are prominent as
d national industry.
Eugene G. Blackboard speaking on
| the present condition of the fisheries,
said: For a number of years deep
sea fisheries have been in an ex-
tremely uncertain condition as regards
their future. The catch of macl1erel
| has varied from year to year, chang
ing from an average catch to one that
was pitifully small, and then again,
| as in 1884. jumping up to the enormous
catch of 100000 barrels. There appears
no reason why mackerel should not be
as plenty along our Atlantic coast as
anywhere else in the world, and
at one time. not very far distant.
they probably were. But it is diff
ferent now. The annual catches
have decreased: fishermen have been
forced into other branches of their
calling, or out OF the fishing entirely.
and there are very many towns along
our eastern coast, especially in Maine,
that have so seriously felt the effect
of the condition of affairs as to have
been practically depopulated. More
than this, the United States has of late
years been forced to import maclerel
! extensively from foreign countries.
and thousands OF good American dol
lars have been sent to Canada, to Nor
way and to Ireland IN purchase of
! fish that should be as plentiful along
our coast as anywhere in the world.
The causes to which this remark
a bic decrease Of macherel is attributed
are many and varied, according to the
different views taken of the subject.
Some attribute it to the purse net,
some to the traps and pounds, and
! others argue that the fish have
! for a time at least taken another
course and resorted to other waters.
| As far as [ have been able to observe
| the subject of the plenty and scarcity
OF mackerel IN our waters is unaccount-
able. By referring to the Stats
ties of the national mackereI catch.
compiled annually since 1915, it is
| found that there have been both
periods of plenty and periods of I'M
usual scarcity, and for these remark
able variances no satisfactory reason
can be ascribed.
In January, 1887, a national law
was passed prohibiting the catching of
mackerel in United States waters be-
| tween Jan. 1 and June l. Up to
| this time mackerel had been caught as
early as April, while they were
passing along the coast. This
| law was considered by many
to be wise piece of legislation,
! but what was the result? The fish be-
gan to move northward and eastward
early in the spring as usual, and
when the open season began they
were so far to the eastward that ali
| but the tail end of the procession, SO
| to speak, were in Canadian waters and
! out Of the reach of American fisher
men. The Canadian fishermen were
not slow in taking advantage Of
the situation, and the result was
that quantities of what were in a sense
American mackerel were expressed
to New York and other cities from
Canadian ports, and were retailed at
double and treble the price consumers
could have bought them had they been
caught by.American fishermen. During
! the five years of oppression as many
termed the period during which the
/ law was in force, mackerel was ex-
! tremely scarce in our waters. The
| law expired by limitation last Jan
|
uary, and the result of it's having be-
come dead letter is interesting BY
referring to the annual reports of the
entire national catch of No / mackerel
/ it is found that for four years, as an
example, the catch was as follows:
{ 1854 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 200 OOG ba rra1e
1s65. 10000 barrels
1857 % 00O barrels
1891 1000 barrels
$50 far up to date this year the total
catch has been only 10000 barrels, and
| the season is now practically over. 1t
is seen that during the one wear
| freedom, as some term the period
since the law became obsolete. the
maclSerel catch has not even ap-
| proximated what it might reason
ably be expected to amount to. 1t
! appears that about every kind of legis
lation has been tried and none has re
suited IN improving the condition OF
the mackerel fisheries. During the
five years just passed under the law
previously described the public were