Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-09-04
The Vanishing Mackerel.

The purse seine certainly accom-
plishcd all that was expected Of it, and
even more. Tens of thousands Of
schools Of mackerel have been sur
rounded by it; the purse line has been
drawn, inclosing the fish in the MUIR
derOus trap, and millions of barrels of
mackcrel have been bailed out onto
the decks of the "seiners," as the
SchoOncrs are called
For long time these fish were GER
tainly cheap enough 70 satisfy the most
niggardly; and then the purse seine
defeated its own ends. 1t could revv-
lutioniZc the method Of catching mack
ercl. but it could not change the law
of supply and demand. The markets
were frequently gluttcd to such an cx-
tent that fresh mackerel could not be
sold at any price. Seiners would sail
into New York. Boston, or Portland
harbOr with their holds full, and their
decks covered with fine fresh mackerel
only to find that So many others had
recently arrived before them, that
there was absolutely no demand what
ever for their fish The late Eugene
G. Blackford, who was United States
Fish Commissioner. and also the larg-
est fish dealer in New York. once stat
cd to me that many times he had seen
fish peddlcrs buy wagon loads of fresh
mackrel for twenty-five cents a load,
and that hundreds of schooner loads,
in times of glutted markets, had been
dumped overheard in the lower bay be-
cause they could not be sold at any
price.
1t is interesting to note in this con-
nectiOn. that menhaden are being about
as thoroughly fished out as mackercl.
Last year the catch was 14S,S60 bar
rels; less than fifteen per cent. of the
previous year, which was 1,044,52 bar ,
relS |
While years ago when mackerel were |
plenty. the fishermen We're waging war |
against them on the sea, the coast |
farmers on the land were rendering all |
the aid possible in the warfare of ex
especially along the Maine
coast, where the coast line is much in
lented by creeks and coves, and where
there is a marked difference between
high and low tide
Schools would enter creek or
cove at high tide, and when they at
tempted to leave it, on the ebb tide.
would be unable to do so. on account
IF net that had been stretched across
the entrance. The fish would be left
high and dry, and would be taken up
with pitchfOrks and shovels. Inland
farmers would drive to the shore, from
miles distance. and return with loaded
wagons; mackerel would be fed to pigs
and even spread over the land as fer
tiizer.
MapEprp1 thnrOl1Dh1y UNDER
stood, either by fishermen or scientists
Only their movements during warm
are approximately known. In
the spring they come north or east to
spawn. Usually they are first sighted
in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras about
April. and late in the fall they disap-
pear off the Nova Scotia coast. 1t is a |
shameful fact that they are slaught-
cred mot caughD at a time when they |
are trying to spawn: and for this pur-
pose they come inshore to shoal water |
But from the time they first appear off
Hatteras till they disappear late in the |
fall, off the Canadian coast, they are
chased by the fleet seinerS
If sportsman kills a partridge dur
ing the close season, or catches a two
ounce trout before the season opens,
the fish and game wardens make it
very uncomfortable for him. But it is
different with mackerel, n fish which
occupies an important position as food
but for which wealthy sportsmen do
not fish.
In the summer Of 1904 nearly all the
mackerel | bought for the home table
We're large and fat. and nearly all were
roe fish. During the past two sum-
mers 1 found very few fair-sized mack
erel in the uptown fish stores of New
York; but there were many little ones
on sale scarcely seven or eight inches
in length. and weighing eight and ten
to the pound. They We're veritable
Magazine.