CHAPTER IV.

THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

The mackerel fishery on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall-The Lowestoft mackerel fishery-Statistics of fishery-American mackerel fishery-Mode of curing the fish.

THE mackerel (Scomber scombrus) is a much esteemed fish. The excitement on the Devon and Cornish coasts when

the shoals of this fish appear is very great. On their periodical arrivals, which is their custom in multitudes, for the purpose of feeding on a small fry very similar to whitebait, a practised eye will readily observe their manœuvres some distance from the shore, inasmuch as the moment they discover the food they love so well, their numbers and greedy propensities cause them to rush on their prey, which, endeavouring to escape from death, disturbs the water in large circles like a shower of hailstones dropping therein; indeed, we know of nothing more similar to compare it to. The moment one of these disturbed spots appears on the water, men are placed on the highest cliffs to look out, while the boats with their crews and nets prepared are launched and ready for action. The mackerel are sometimes seen at least a mile from shore, but the moment they attack the small bait, the latter fly towards the beach, till at times they approach within a hundred yards or nearer;

and the look-out man, who discovers them more readily from an eminence, shouts at the extent of his lungs, the boats are rapidly rowed around the feasting fish in a circle, the nets cast, and then being hauled towards the shore by men on land, some thousands of mackerel are enclosed in a large bag at the extremity of the net.

The demand for this fish is so great, that they are rarely to be met with in the towns in the west.

During 1869 the quantity of mackerel taken from Penzance and St. Ives by railway amounted to 71,959 pads, or 1617 tons; to May 1, 1870, the quantity conveyed from the same places amounted to 40,100 pads, or 871 tons.

The Lowestoft Mackerel Fishery.—The mackerel voyage on the east coast, even in its best days, was rarely remunerative either to owners or men; more frequently the amount realized barely paid charges for provisions, leaving nothing for wages, or wear and tear of boats and nets. The owners never expected much, and it was more to keep their men in employment, than in anticipation of profit, that this voyage was carried on for many years. In 1854 there were 20 mackerel boats out of Lowestoft ; in 1862 these had decreased to three, and their gross earnings averaged only £9 per boat.

In former years mackerel realized a large price; now the merchants have to compete with very fine fish caught off the Irish coast near Kinsale, and also with the immense numbers imported from Norway. These mackerel are packed in ice, and find a ready market amongst the manufacturing towns, as well as in London. In 1874 Yarmouth and Gorleston had a few boats engaged in this fishery for a short time in the autumn; ie., nearly four months later than the mackerel voyage of former years commenced. In 1875, 3926 long hundred (120) were caught, the average

price of the fish being 26s. per hundred; total value, £4907 10s. In 1862 and 1870 the annual take was valued at £9000.

The average number of boats engaged in this fishery may be stated at about 50.

Mackerel nets have only about 24 or 25 meshes to the yard, and are not so deep as the herring nets, but they are twice as long—a fleet of mackerel nets, such as is used by the Yarmouth boats, extending to a distance of nearly two miles and a half.

The official returns of the mackerel fishery for Ireland for 1876 showed a gross capture of 1,391,083 boxes, of six score fish each. The prices varied from 3s. to 5s. per box, the total amount realized being £110,223. The regular mackerel fishing season commences about the middle of March and ends about the last of June. During that period the lowest price obtained was 12s. per box. The average price for the total quantity taken was 16s. per box of six score.

The mackerel fishery on the French coast, taking the catch of the years 1873 and 1874, averages £140,000 in value. It is principally carried on from the ports of Boulogne, Dieppe, Fécamp, Caen, and Douarnenez. In 1867 the value of the French catch of mackerel was under £100,000.

The mackerel on the coast of Norway is, as an article of export, comparatively of modern fishery growth. The fishery is carried on along the southern coast from Christiansand to Mandel, during the three summer months of May, June, and July. The quantity exported to Great Britain in 1869 was 3,698,637 fish, valued at £18,117. The average price paid was 2s. per score. The boats' crews engaged in this fishery earned about £60 to £90 per boat.

The American Mackerel Fishery.-The spring mackerel (Scomber vernales, Mitch.) is the ordinary mackerel of commerce. The fall mackerel is considered by some naturalists a distinct species, and has been named Scomber grex. The mackerel is not a migratory fish, but draws off into deep water at the approach of winter, and returns to the shallow water near the shores at the beginning of summer, for the purpose of depositing its spawn. The mackerel fishery of Nova Scotia composes one of its largest exports. Besides the catch by the colonial fishermen, about 50,000 barrels more are taken in British waters annually by the Americans, making about 200,000 barrels in all.

On the North American coast a very extensive trade is carried on in pickled mackerel. Every little creek and day from Cape Sable to Halifax in Nova Scotia occasionally overflows with this fish, and they are taken in nets, from 100 to 600 barrels being secured at a single draught. Men, women, and children are then employed night and day in curing them. 150,000 barrels of mackerel are often exported from the port of Halifax alone, principally to the United States, valued at £300,000. In 1874, 32,000,000 pounds weight of mackerel were taken on the Canadian coasts.

There are about 60,000 tons register of American boats engaged in the mackerel fishery, chiefly from the States. of Massachusetts and Maine, and employing 10,000 men. The quantity of mackerel taken by these boats sometimes amounts to 350,000 barrels, valued at £500,000.

When an American vessel reaches a place where the fish are supposed to be plentiful, the master furls all his sails except the mainsail, brings his vessel's bow to the wind, ranges his crew at intervals along one of her sides, and, without a mackerel in sight, attempts to raise a school

by throwing over bait. The baiter stands amidships, with a bait-box outside the rail, and with a tin cup nailed to a long handle he scatters the bait on the water. If the mackerel appear, the men throw out short lines, to the hooks of which a glittering pewter jig is affixed. The fish, if they bite at all, generally bite rapidly, and are hauled in as fast as the most active man can throw out and draw in a line. As they pull them on board, the fisherman, with a jerk, throws them into a barrel standing beside him. So ravenously do they bite, that sometimes a barrelful is caught in 15 minutes by a single man. Some active young men will haul in and jerk off a fish and throw out the line for another with a single motion, and repeat the act in such rapid succession that their arms seem continually on the swing. While the school remains alongside and will take the hook, the excitement of the men, and the rushing noise of the fish in their beautiful and manifold evolutions in the water, arrest the attention of the most careless observer.

The summer mackerel fishing is carried on in two ways, with hooks and lines, and with the seine. The greater number of fishermen use the hook and line. These are the crews of those beautiful schooners to be met with everywhere in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the months of July, August, and September, and which from afar look more like a small squadron of yachts than a fleet of fishing vessels, so beautiful are their masts and sails, and so neat and clean are they kept. But on a nearer approach this is found to be an error, for on the decks of these vessels are to be seen crews of from 10 to 20 men, all occupied either in catching fish, in repairing fishing implements, or in splitting and salting fish that have been taken; and what is most striking is the order that