DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES,

14
showed fitfully, but in small schools and very wild. In September most of the fish
taken were raised by tolling bait, and when the fish rose, the seine was shot round
both fish and vessel, making a small catch. Canadian seiners practiced this method
to some extent, and also reverted successfully at the close of the season to the old
method of hook and line.
The change in the habits of the mackerel and their almost complete extinction
in places ttiey used to frequent is undeniable; ard the investigation of the causes of
the change is most desirable as it affects one of our most valuable inshore fisheries.
The following figures present in startling intensity the decreased productiveness
of the west Atlantic mackerel fishery :—
1885. 1886. 1887. 1888.
Catch by United States seiners 330,000 80,000 78,000 40,000
Canadian catch 148,450 152,292 131,653 estimated 60,000
Total product, bris. ... 478,450 232,292 209,653 100,000
I believe this decreased productiveness to be largely due to (1) the increased
lestructiveness of the means of capture; and (2) the use of these means at improper
times. The whole treatment of our deep sea fisheries has been hitherto conducted
on the idea that the supply of fish of every kind there, was inexhaustible.
We find the inshore fisheries of the United States depleted, and the overnment
of the country undertaking at great expense, the doubtful experiment of restoring
these fisheries by the artificial propagation of cod and mackerel.
In all cases of the destruction of a species there must come a critioal point after
which the diminution will proceed with great rapidity. In regard to Canadian
mackerel we are approaching this point, and if the fishery is to be maintained pro.
tective measures of some kind must shortly be taken; but in order to discuss this
question intelligently, it is necessary to first say a few words, as to the habits of the
mackerel.
THE MACKEREL.
The mackerel is a migratory, but not an anadromo'is fish. It first appears in
the month of April off the Atlantic coast of the Southern States, and by the 25th May
has usually arrived off the Nova Scotia coast, passing into the Gulf early in Iune.
They remain off our coast till November, when they again return to deep water.
Two theories are held to account for the appearances presented by the mackerel.
The one held generally by the United States authorities on the subject is that the
movement is a total migration of the whole body ofthe mackerel from south to north,
with a return migration in the fall. The other theory is that put forth by Professor
Rind, that the migratory appearance is to be accounted for by the successive arrival
on our coasts of fresh schools of fish, coming in later to the north, their arrival
being regulated by the amelioration of the marine climate due to the advance of the
seasons. He further held that each school had its particular summer habitat to which
it returned annually to perform the functions of reproduction and that its winter
abde was in deep water immediately contiguous to its summer haunt. He also
regarded it as probable, that this fish hibernated during the winter months.
I think that the true interpretation of the o served conditions lies between the
two contentions. The total migration theory is almost untenable, as failing to account
for the large area over which the fish are found during the summer season, but that
a certain amount of migration does take place, no one who has watched the mackerel
when first arriving on our shores will deny; all fishermen agree that the schools are
travelling east in the spring along the Nova Scotia shore. The later spawning of
the northern mackerel is another argument against the total migration theory. It
seems probable, however, that the great body of the fish leave the Gulf of St. Law.
renco late in the fall, their arrival on the north.east coast of Cape Breton in October,
being a well marked feature of the season's fishing, but I have received no evidence
which leads me to believe that these fish retire to tbe south of Cape Hatt9ras. It