The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-02-14

These Popular Fish Are BEING Caught
in Fewer Numbers Each Sue
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Mackerel, the leading salt water fist
of the world, sold everywhere at all
times, are growing scarcer and
scarcer, while prices are mounting at
rapid rate.
Every Que eats mackerel when he can
get it. In years gone by it was regu-
Lar dish on the table of many poor fam
lilies, when there was an abundance of
the fish and low prices prevailed. In
valids and dyspeptics demanded mack
erel because of its appetizing qualities.
Others, who need not search for appe-
titles, enjoyed mackerel simply because
it was delightful fish. The day, how
ever, when the poor man can have
mackerel on his table as regular thing
is past, and this popular dish is rapidly
becoming rarity.
Wholesale dealers in the city say
that the. decrease in the catch from
year to year has been phenomenal, and
that so great has the supply fallen off
that it is now impossible to supply the
demand of the public, which is enor-
nous. The consequence of this state of
affairs is that the cost of barrel of
mackerel has risen to many times its
former figure, and many persons have
been obliged to cut 1T off from their
menu. Fifteen years ago, it is stated,
the catch on the American coast alone,
along the Massachusetts and Maine
shores and from some of the provinces.
averaged anywhere from 100000 to
100000 in season. There was then no
need to import mackerel, and dealers
here were sending shipments Of this
popular fish across the waters to the
other side. Mackerel sold in those days,
according to size, from three to eight
dollars a barrel. Only the fine, large
mackerel brought the latter price.
About 12 years ago the decrease in
supply started, and has not yet been
stopped. The catch of every season for
the last dozen years has been growing
less, until, it is said, the average catch
on the American coast for the last two
| years has been only from 10000 to So,
! 900, and the price of mackerel at pres
ent ranges from $50 to,$25 a barrel.
Since the small catch here has begun
, to make itself felt mackerel from Ire
land and Norway have commenced to
be taken in large quantities, although
even with their help the figures of
catches of former years cannot be APP
! preached. The Irish fishermen former
ly used to send their fish fresh and I'M
sailed to London for sale, but since the
demand in America they have taken to
| sailing and curing the fish and ship
| ping direct from the irish shores to
| points in the United States. The quar-
| ity of the Irish maclserel and their
methods of curing are said to be ex-
| cellent, and the fish received from
/ there are now claimed to be even bet
| ter than the New Zealand fish, and far
superior to that of the provinces. The
Irish mackerel also outclass the Nor
way mackerel in the fact that they are
better cured and have brighter color.
j, No reason for the decrease in mack
erel in American waters has been hit
upon by local fishermen or local fish
dealers. Theories have been advanced,
the most generally accepted of which
is that the falling off in the catch is due
| to the methods of fishing now prevail
ing. In the times of the great plenty of
mackerel the fishing was done with the
hook and line, but the present me thod
of catching mackerel is with the seine.
! A crew goes out in the ocean with yes
! sci and their huge seine, and makes eff
forts to capture whole schools of the
fish. The result is that fishermen now
report that the mackerel are wild and
most difficult to get around with a
seine. 1t is much harder to make q
catch now than a few years back, and
by some it is claimed the wholesale
SEEMING is thechiefreasonw why he catch
/ has SO Observation-Disclosures Sun.