The Portland daily press., 1895-02-09
The PORTLAND PLAN.
A welI-Known Gloucester Fishermna
Criticises the Plan of Selling Mackerei
on Fisherman's Order.

Criticises the Plan of Selling Mackerei
on Eisherman's Order.
In a long letter in the Boston Herald
Cant. George M. McClain, of the schooner
Marguerite Haskins. takes strong ground
against the now almost uniform practice OIL
selling mackeral 'sin fishermans order.
and presents convincing arguments IN favor
of return to the old practice of inspecting
the fish before they are marketed.
The present system. he says, was brought
about by the fishermen, and while the FIRMS
at first were somewhat opposed. they soon
found that it worked to their advantage
and are now heartily in accord with this
method.
"As the flsh are sold out of pickle, outside
SPECTATORS from the western states Will
NOT come here as they did in years gone Ly,
but have turned their attention to import
ing inspected maokeral from Norway. ne
liz nd and the British provinces.
cat first the local dealers and few Bos-
ton commission men bought small lots and
in ii number of cases paid the 1shefinen
more than they could get if inspected and
disposed of in the old time way. lhls ap-
peared to be good bait to throw at frst,
which the fisherman now realize and are
powerless to remedy.
1.-THE selling of macke:el IN small paoKa-
ges by the local men. who purchase them
as generalized above, has been the means
of driving the spectators away, that once
came here and purchased large quantities
of these fish after they were inspected. as
they will not buy mackeral in fishermen $
order or out of pickle.
I,
ssThe fishermen are now entirely IN the
erasp of the local men. who appear scared
to buy more than few barrels at Time,
and will tell the crews there Is no trade anu
in saving this they probably tell the truth.
For bv the present operation the consumer
has often been charged an exorbltant price.
and has often paid for a poor quality OF
fish.
erbe wealthy classes are the only ones
that can afford to pay the prices asked by
tho middle men, and as they are the small
esr consumers. the demand must Also oe Inn
tied. But fail to see where the hshermen
oet anv more for their fish than they got
p;env Years ago on an average. when mack
eral were plenty. and as they cannot get
fhe benefit of g. small catch, 1t is Impossible
for them to exist in the prosecution of this
branch of the fishery.
..Tbe middle man stands between the pIo-
Queer and consumer. as the FORMER gers
nothing for his risl and the latter nothing
for his money, Since the buying out of
pickIe method has displaced the inspection
system, the fisherman has got for their nsh
only the price of the lowest grace III MS
trip. That is, supposing they be equally
divided as ones, twos and threes. speaking
Individually, l have never done as "eA
selling out of pickle as when Inspected hrst.
s.Noy there il another thing in connection
wit h this matter that is detrlmanl 10 the
fishermen and the local buyers may be held
responsible for it. That is, when the vessel
arrives with trip, the fish are generally
kent ON board until they are sold. In the
meantime, to keep the fish in good market
able condition, they should be ve1hauleu.
and repacked, but instead, the Tessei is
kent as a storehouse. and with tie macker-
al tanned in barrels without being re-
hacked. they are not in as gcoG order when
thew reach the consumer as they would nave
been had they been landed on arrival ana
been properly cared for.
ssSuch a state of affairs as just spoken OF
is of common occurances. and man of any
experience knows that mackerel don't want
to Law long sea packed as crew OF men
will seldom salt them alike. There is not
much encouragement under the present
system for a crew to take care OF their
fish when they are sold out of pickle with
out inspection.
s'To dispose of trip of mackeral Il claim
they should be inspected, which would give
the SPECTATORS a chance to what they
are buying, as was formerly the case. and
the brand and name of the inspector on the
head of the barrel would be a guarantee
that they were what he bought. 1t is
well-known fact that outside of Boston and
Gloucester dealers do not want to buy
ma C kerel unless they are first inspected. so
that they may know in what condition and
the grade they are buying.
1.-The men who catch the fish and owners
of vessels should make move tic remedy
this evil by culling their mackerel and put
ting them upon the market in proper con-
ditiop. This would be the means of specu-
Iators buying largely and shipping them to
the chief centres for distribution at reas-
enable profit. a.
Selling mackeral out of pickle may do
when only small catch IS MADE. But
should the catch be a large one where Will
buyers be found to purchase them without
inspection, that the fishermen may be re-
nu1perated for their labor. l believe the
people of this country would eat maokerel
as in wears gone by if they could eat them
as they used to and at reasonable price.
''The shippers and crews IN great meas
ure are 10 blame for the present condition