Evening journal., 1898-08-01
MYsrnRaous MAcKnREI..

cargo last year and only five days be
hind the earliest catch on record. Not
for years has the outcome OF the sea-
sons operations been so widely dis
cussed as now There are reason for
it, of course. They are to be found in
the fact that OF late years the supply OF
salt mackerel has been inadequate for
the needs OF consumption. Prices, ow-
ing to the scarcity OF FISH, have gradn- |
ally risen to a point above the means
OF the poorer classes-the largest con-
sumers OF salt mackerel-and the fish
have become a 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 shown signs Of a decline) fish
ermen and fish dealers have watched
the advent Of each season. hopefully
The movements of the fish ais they APP
preached the coast have been carefully
observed, and signs that in the seasons
OF greatest success foreshadOwed or at
tended the coming Of the schools have
been more or less I'M evidence. Old
fishermen who have followed the
schools up and down the coast until
their hair has grown white as the
foam capped waves have gravely read
the riddle of these signs and have fit-
ted out their craft and pursued the
capriciOus fish throughout each season
with only a vague sort of intuition
which they cannot impart. Its move
ments are to them mystery. They
know something of it's habits, when It
may be expected to appear of the
coast, and, that is about all
In this respect the fishery depart
men is no better off, It is known that
the fish have migration along the
coast northward In the Spring
and southward in the Au-
tumn It is believed that
their appearance each year is due to
the marvellous instinct Of reproduction
which they possess in common with
other fishes; but what has caused the
alarming diminution in the size OF the
schools that annually visit our shores
is a question ON which science and fish
ermenI are mute. It is not a little dis
appointing to know that with the much
vaunted power of our nineteenth cen
tury scientific knowledge the apparent
mystery OF the mackerel has not been
solved.
This much we do know. In the early
part Of March, the fish in greater OF
Hess numbers strike the Southern coast
in the vicinity OF Cape Henry; by the
middle OF April the school reach the
lcapes OF Delaware, and slowly advancs
past Barnegat and Sandy Hook. Ahout
the middle Of Mlay, according to th'
movements of the fish in past years,
ischool will arrive off Yarmouth, N. S.
tbut whence it comes is buried in mys
Fiery. From the size and general char
Facter OF the fish composing the school
It is apparent that they do not be.ong
TO the great nttoral schools which ad.
vance from the South. Therefore, It Is
presumed that they come from some
lwhere to the eastward in the deep sea
simultaneously with the appearance
of this latter school the host Of south
ern visitors, having by that time gon'
as far north as Nantucket, will van.
ish with a suddenness quite as mysteri
ous as the appearance of the schoo
off Yarmouth, only to reappear again
lperhaps in the bay-indented shores o
Massachusetts. Thenceforward unit
well into the month of August th'
waters will be more or less frequente,
by the fish.
The rowing habits OF this fish an
well-known. They appear in and dis
appear from certain localities an'
leave no sign, so that it is impossible {,
say with any degree OF certainty tha
the rowing schools which first visit tn
tjays of New England are identica
0AAlA lAlOet llltiL AtlllillA AAlOut1AOul Ll
eason. OF this much we are positive
the movements Of the fish are practi
c ally the same now ais they were dur
Rng the period when the mackerel fish
cry first assumed amy degree OF i'm
!, portance. about the year 1920.
While certain details and importan
data concerning the early years Of IN
= Fishery are lacking, enough is know
, 'of the business to Establish the fac
that batween the years S25-perhap
earlier-and 1870 the method of cap
ture was largely with "jijgs"-litta
, hooks, with heavily loaded shanlns. /
l is known, too, that for a great man.
years the fishery was carried on a,
most exclusively by New England fish
, ermen. From the hamlets and fishin
villages round and about Cape Co
from 600 TO 900 craft of various size
engaged in the capture of the fish. 4
those days, and well down to within
: few years, the boats rarerly went fur
! ther south than Absecon light. Ric
{ lharvests of the fish were found abreae