The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-23

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 or less num-
bers strike the Southern coast in the vlcin-
ity of Cape Henry; blythe 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 movements OF the fish In
past years, a school will arrive off Var
mouth, N. s., but whence 1t comes is bur-
led in mystery. From the size and general
character of the fish composing the school,
1t Is apparent that they do not belong TO
the great littoral schools which advance
from the South. Therefore 1t Is presumed
that they come from somewhere to the
eastward in the deep sea.
simultaneously with the appearance of
this latter school the host of Southern WIS.,
ltors, having by that time gone as far
North as Nantucket, will vanish with a
suddenness quite as mysterious as the APP
pearance of the school Off Yarmouth, only
to reappear again perhaps in the bay-in-
dented shores of Massachusetts. Thence
forward until well into the month of Au-
gust tho waters will be more or less fire.
quented by the fish.
The rowing habit of this FISH are well
known. They appear In and disappear
from certain localities ana teaVe no sign,
so that II is impossible to say with any de-
gree OF certainty that the rowing schools
which first visit the bays offNew England
are Identical with those that remain
throughout the season. OF this much we
are positive; the movements OF the fish are
practically the same now as they were dur
ing the period when the mackerel fishery
first assumed any degree of Importance,
about the year 1920.
While certain details and important data
concerning the early years of the fishery
are lacking, enough is known OF the bust
ness 10 establish the fact that between the
years 1S25-perhaps earler-and 1870 the
method of capture was largely with ''igs"
little hooks, with heavily loaded shanks
II Is known, too that for great many
years the fishery was carried on almost
exclusively by New England fishermen.
From the hamlets and fishing villages
round and about Cape Cod from 600 10
900 craft of various sizes engaged In the
capture of the fish. In those days, and
well known TO within few years, the
boats rarely went further south than Abb
secom light. Rich harvcsts of the fish
were found abreast of Sandy Hook and
about the shores of Block Island. The
darling fins of cleaning millions of the
| fish rippled the waters for miles along the
| coast One ignorant of the immensely of
the seas vast resources and the Won
derful fecundlty of the fishes therein,
would doubtless listen with incredulous
amazement IL told OF the number of fish
one OF the large schools contains. Mack
erel fishermen of less than a generation
ago describe the schools as seen by them
as being 'windrows of fish hundreds OF
yards wide and miles long" And one
school seen off Block Island IN the seven
ties was estimated TO contain upward of a
million barrels OF fish. IL Is idle to re-
mark, perhaps. that schools like these are
never seen nowadays. The mighty multi
tude coming In from the sea Is broken
up into countless small attachments long
before the fish strike the coast.
The banner year of the mackerei fishery.
all accounts agree, was the season OF 1881.
In that year the total amount OF mackerel
salted in the New England states was 43O-
900 barrels. Since then the decline has been
more or less steady. and of late years most
marked. Last year the combined landings
of salt nackerel OF the New England fleet
aggregated only IS, 1A barrels. These fig
| ures speak with marked emphasis of the
| fishery decay.