The Portland daily press., 1899-06-30

Within thsl past week the mackersl
which have been caught OIL Names coast
in larger numbers than for many years
past have been driven of by ths dog fish
which are said to be very numerous. A
PRESS reporter was talking with the
captain Of fishing schooner who has
been engaged In the mackersl business
oil this coast for many years. He said
hat the dog fish are more numerous now
than ever befors in hissrecollection and
that they are constantly increasing In
numbers. on Ssguin island on TUESDAY
he said that as far as he could see the
water was broken by the fms of dog fish
who fwers so ravenous that che end Of a
trawl line whsn thrown overheard for
minute brought up.a dog fish on every
hook These fish are useless. though
their livers are sometimes used for oil,
though 1t does not pay TO catch them for
this phrposes = sA
Mackerel are being caught in large
quantities of the Massachusetts, shores
Recently over 1000 barrels were landed
at Boston and sold tor s2.7b. They have
not been as cheap as this for many years.
The fishermen say that the maokerel are
increasing every year and they are in
hopes that the business viii again become
profitable within few years. These fish
are now caught by drag nets. The law
prohibits the seining OF maokerel within
three miles of this shore, though some
seines operate outside Of this limit Oh the
coast but not with great success.
Mackerel were being caught In great
numbers of Maine's coast up TO 10 years
ago when the bottom dropped out of the
business and ruined many men who had
their property invested In mackerel ves-
sells. One man who lived in South Port
land lost over $4,000 in four years whe n
this fish became scarce. he employed
over 200 men to pack maokerel and these
were thrown out Of employment AT
that time Long wharf was 80 crowded
with macksrel sChooners sll the time
that 1t was impossible. for boat to get
into the dock, and all had big fares of
these fish. 1t was avery profitable busi.
moss for Portland and there were great
many men engaged In 1t with thousands
of dollars capital.
The mackerel appear of Cape Hatteras
about the first OF April now and every
year fleet starts out to catch them as
soon as they make their appearance. This
southern fishing feet is'made up almost
wholly of New England fishermen and
some years they are very successful and
make big sums of money and then they
drift about for weeks without making a
cent. All of the seining is done at night
and on the darkest of nights at that.
The water off Hatteras is very phosphor
.escent and the schools, of mackerel can be
seen from the masthead of the fishing
schooner by the white spots they make
In the water. In the blackest Of nights
the man at the masthead Keeps his eyes
open for these phosphorescent spots. AS
soon as ne sights one he shouts out to the
men on deck and several boats start out
for the spot. When they get near 1t the
big seine. sometimes $50 feet long or
more. is dropped into the water and the
school is circled. Then the bottom of
the net is drawn together and great
many barrels taken, II the fishermen
have good luck.
zone time" fisherman was telling
yesterday, I'VE left Gloucester before the
first of April with aibig. fleet of schooners.
They went down over the Shoals and
we kept outside for Hatteras. We had
not reached the.usual fishing grounds but
man was kept at the masthead. 1t
was terrific night black az ink and any
one but fisherman would have been
Hatteras. Suddenly the man at the,
masthead sang out that he had seen n
school of mackerel and away went the
boats. We caught them and got $50 bar
reis, turned about and started for New
York. When we were going into New
York we met the other fishermen COM
ing out past Sandy Hook. They thought
IL was strange that We were going into
port and could not believe that we had
made catch and got back as quickly
as we did.
"Another time we set out seins ten
times between darkness and dawn but
didn't get q fish. We would get the seine
around the school but before we could
draw the pocket, sNoop they would GO
right down through the bottom of the
net. This happened ten times and Ii was
a week or more before we caught fish
though we saw plenty of them. The
mackerel fishermen follow the fish north
and the seiners catch good many of
theiisin the Bay of Fundya
Sup in the bay one years We couldn Il
see a mackerel but there were plenty OF
them there. You know that sometimes
the mackerel are schooling in plain
sight on the surface and then they are
down deep and can't be seen. Why 1t is
that they do this don't know nor no one
else. They are most peculiar fish and
no one understands their habits. Well
this year we could see little white spots
down in the blue water and would set
our seins around these spots and capture
hundreds of barrels at time. One day
We had fine luck and the next day the