The Portland daily press., 1898-05-24
THE MACKEREL.
An Odd f ish, Mysterious but Meritori-
ouA.
(Fishing Gazette.l


market slip on Tuesday of last week, ten
days in advance Of the first cargo last
year and only five days behind the
earliest OF record. Not for years has the
outcome OF the seasons operations been so
widely discussed as now. There are rea-
sons for 1t. Of course. They are to be
found In the fact that of late years the
supply Of salt matkersl has been made
quate for the needs Of consumption.
Prices, owing to the scarcity of the fish,
have gradually risen to point above the
means of the poorer classes-the largest
con sumers Of salt mackerel-and the fish
have become . luxury, almost on the
tables Of the well-to-do.
Year after year since the season Of 1889
the year when the fishery first began to
show signs Of a decline) fishermen and
fish dealers have watched the advent of
zach season hopefully. The movements of
the hsb as they approached the coast have
been carefully observed. and signs that
In the seasons of greatest success
foreshadowed or attended the coming of
the schools have been more or less In evil
aenoe. Old fishermen who have followed
the schools up and down the ooast until
their hair has grown white as the foam
capped waves have gravsly read the riddle
Of these signs, and have fitted out their
craft and pursued the capricious fish
each season with only a
vague sort Of intuition which they can
not impart. The movements are to them
a mystery. They know something of Its
habits, whom 1t may be expected to ap.
pear OF the coast, and that is about sll.
In this respect the. fishery department is
no better OF. 1t IL known that the fish
have migration along the coast north
ward in the spring and seuthward in the
sutnmn. II is believed that their appear
shoe each year is due to the marvellous
instinct of reproduction which they pos
ssss In Common with other fishes; but
what has csused the alarming elimination
In the eizs Of the schools that annually
visit cur shores ID question on which
science sd fishermen are mute. 1t Is
not little disappointing to know that
with the nnich-Vsuhted power OF our
niretoenth century scientific knowledge
tie spparent mystery Of the mackerel has
not been solved.
This much vi do know. In the early
psrt Of March the fish IN greater or less
numbers strike the southern coast In the
vtotnity Of Cape Henry; by the middle of
April the schools reach the Capes of
Delaware, and slowly advance past
Barnegat and Sandy Hook. About the
middle Of May, according to the move
Iii arrivS ~ Ya-nxsnrtk 'oI hrst
whence 1t comes is buried in mystery.
From the size ard general character Of
the fish composing the school, IL IL ap-
parent that they do not belong to the
great littoral schools which advance from
the south. Therefore 1t is p resumed that
they come from somewhere to the east
ward In uhs deep seA. simultaneously
the host Of southern visitors, having by
that time gone as far north as Nahtu6ket,
will vanish with suddenuess quito as
as the appearance Of the
school Of Yarmouth, only to reappear
again perhaps In the bay -indented shores
Of Massachusetts. Thence forward until
we'll into the month Of August the
waters will be moro or less freq0ented by
the flsh.
Tho rowing habits Of this fish arg well
known. They appear in and disappear
from certain localities and leave no sign,
so that is IL Impossible to say with any
degree Of certainty that the rowing schools
which first visit the bays of New Eng
land are Identical with those that remain
throughout the season. OF this much we
are positive; the movements OF the fish
during the period when the mackerel
fishery FIRST assumed any degree of i'm.
portAhce, About the year 1890.
While certain details and Important
data concerning the early years Of the
fisheries are lacking; enough Is known Of
the bustneas to establish the fact that be-
tween the years 1926, perhaps earlier, and
1870 the method Of canture was largely
With 'jigs.' little hooks, with heavily
d. great many years the fishery was oar
Fled on almost exclusively by New Eng
land fishermen. From the ham1ets and
fishing villages round and about Cape
Cod from 500 TO 800 craft Of various sizes
engagsd ID the capture of the fleh. In
thoss days aud well down to within q fey
years, the bQsts rarely vent further south
fish we're found abreast Of Sandy Hook
md about the shores Of Block leland,
16A dAstint dne Of cleaning millions 81
t9e agh ,ripplsd tho waters fqr miles
along the coast. Ono ignorant Of the Inn
nensity Of the aeat vast reshnttes ana the
wonqefful fnbun61fy Of tho fishes therein
would deuPtless llstsp with ihcrednlous
dtnasenSnt II told Of the number Of fish
one 81 tie large schools contains.
Maoketel flfhermtp OF less than d genera
ton $50 despfibe tho school - sasn by
them g being Ylndfows Of d. b hundreds
OF ysfds Vide aid mites lons. And one
school s1Ap 81 Htock 1stand In the
seventies WIS estimated to coptain up,
wsrd Of 9 million barrels of ftsh. II is
tdls to remark, psrhaps, that schools like
these are never seen nowadays. The
mighty multitude coming In fr6fn the sea
Is broken up into countless small detach.
mente long before the dsh strike the
ooagt.
The hsnner year Of the mackarel
nshery, AL accounts agree, was the season
OF 1851. In that year the total am cunt OF
mackersl ssitea In the New England
states was $50, 500 barrels. Since then the
decline hes been more or less steady, and
OF LATE years most marked. Last year the
combined landing Of salt mAckerel Of the
New England deet aggregated only IS. 164
barrels These figures speak with marked
Emphasis Of the fishery decay.
A RUMOR AND A DENIAL,
Paris, May e3-According 60 despatch
received hsre today from Rome, Italy,
h6A protested AHnif1kt the blockade of