Show mackerel fishery the whole amount of tonnage employed 1 in the cod and fisheries of the U united ni states for the year en ending ding I 1 the of september 1834 was 1430 of which tons belong to the mackerel fishery of this ae aggregate agate amount tons were owned in massachusetts in maine 1623 in new hampshire and in rhode island the vessels vessels employed average from forty to fifty ton tons each and are found to have hav amounted in 1835 to about in massachusetts and from to in the three other states each vessel has fin an average of about oine nine persons of all ages ager making about for massachusetts and say 3 for maine new hampshire and rhode island independently of the profit on their labor obtained by these persons we have to consider that accruing on the construction and fitting out of the vessels the manufacture of the barrels the commerce on the salt consumed the transportation of the fish coastwise wise and all the subsidiary branches of industry connected with these its main departments of course the advantageous influence of this business on the condition of those pta ces where it is chiefly pursued is very apparent its relation to other employments of a similar description may be inmei inferred from the fact that of ninety nine schooners ners built in in massachusetts in the year 1834 seventy three were in the five collection districts most largely engaged in this fishery tho unproductive in some seasons it has on the whole added greatly to the resources and eco economic prosperity erity of the communities e engaged n in its prosecution and the mode in which the business is ig cm conducted ducted renders it invaluable as a school of maritime enter enterprise prise and nautical industry some of the vessels employed in the fishery are owned by merchants or others who employ them in it during three or four months of the season and in the coast coasting ina trade or some other business the residue of the year but the greater part of the ves vee seu bel cra am nomad by tho th or by them m in n connection tion with merchants I 1 or mechanics it is no uncommon thing for several heads of families who have sons of the age of 61 nine years and upwards to take a vessel vet wel sad and man it from their families and divide the proceeds among themselves and ELS as very young boys are thus capable of being useful in this pursuit it is a great nursery of seamen for the navy and mere merchant hant service service the crews wre are sometimes engaged 0 on n shares receiving one half the fish after they are salted at other times they are hired on con wages A bety common method is for the skipper and abd one or more of the crew to take the vessel and hire the other hands and pay to the owner as charter a fourth part of the proceeds after deducting salt barrels butts and some other sap supplies plies by these means the profits and incidental aid 1 vantages of the business are made to diffuse themselves widely videly and thoroughly amon among 9 the middling and poorer classes without being accumulated to any considerable extent in the hands of capitalists |