Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/238

 230 FISHERIES are crowded with enterprising and industrious fishermen, and besides the net and the hook, a great variety of expedients are resorted to. In the eastern provinces cormorants are trained to catch fish, which they bring to their master, who from his boat oversees 12 or 15 birds at the same time. The great sea fisheries of the United States are mostly carried on from New England. They date from the earliest settle- ment of the country, it being probable that among the motives that led to the colonization of Massachusetts was the hope of profit from the fisheries on the coast, which Smith, Archer, Brereton, and other writers of the day repre- sented as surpassing even those of Newfound- land. Very soon after their arrival at Ply- mouth the pilgrims engaged in the fisheries. In 1624 they sent to England a ship laden with fish, and in the next year two others with fish and furs. In 1628 they were selling fish to the Dutch at New Amsterdam. About 1670 the profits of the mackerel, bass, and her- ring fisheries at Cape Cod, which appear to have been considered public property, and to have been leased for the general benefit, were granted to found a free school, which was opened in 1671. From Boston fish began to be exported as early as 1633. In 1639 the general court of Massachusetts passed an act to encourage the fisheries, which exempted fishing vessels and all property connected with them from taxes and duties for seven years, and re- lieved fishermen during the fishing season and ship builders from military duty. At the close of the 17th century the merchants of Massachu- setts exported annually about 100,000 quintals of codfish, worth $400,000, to Portugal, Spain, and Italy. In 1731 the fisheries of the colony employed 5,000 or 6,000 men. Ten years later the number of fishing vessels belonging to Massachusetts was 400, besides as many shal- lops and undecked boats. The annual produce of the cod fishery was about 230,000 quintals, of which $700,000 worth was exported. At the outbreak of the revolutionary contest the fishing towns were rich and populous. Mar- blehead was second only to Boston in popula- tion and property. In 1775, in the hope of starving New England into submission, the British parliament passed an act to deprive the colonies of the right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland. The breaking out of hostili- ties which soon followed nearly destroyed the fisheries for a time, and the fishermen of New England turned their attention principally to privateering, though many enlisted in the army. In the negotiation of the treaty of peace in 1783, the right of the Americans to a ehare in the fisheries was secured by the firm- ness of John Adams, it being agreed " that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland ; also in the gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other places ? in the sea where the inhabitants of both coun- tries used at any time heretofore to fish ; and also, that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen shall use, and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other of his Bri- tannic majesty's dominions in America." The British government, however, to check the growth of the fisheries of the United States, and to encourage those of the colonies, by an order in council of July, 1783, prohibited the importation of American fish into the British West Indies, which had been one of the best markets for the New England trade. The federal government early recognized the importance of the fisher- ies, and from time to time granted bounties for their encouragement, and imposed protective duties upon the importation of foreign-caught fish. The first act was passed in 1789, which granted a bounty of 5 cents per quintal on dried and 5 cents per barrel on pickled fish exported, in lieu of a drawback of the duties on imported salt used in the cure, and imposed a duty of 50 cents per quintal on imported fish. In 1790 the bounties were doubled. By the act of Feb. 16, 1792, the bounty on dried fish was discontinued, and a specific allowance was made to vessels employed exclusively in the cod fishery at sea for four months between the last day of February and the last day of No- vember : to vessels of between 20 and 30 tons, $1 50 per ton annually ; and to those of more than 30 tons, $2 50 per ton; but the annual allowance to any vessel was limited to $170. Three eighths of the bounty was given to the owners, and the remaining five eighths was to be divided among the fishermen. To boats of between 5 and 20 tons, $1 per ton, to be di- vided among the fishermen, was allowed an- nually, provided they had brought in 12 quin- tals of cured fish per ton during the season. The act of May 2, 1792, fixed the allowance on pickled fish at 8 cents a barrel, and in- creased the bounties on vessels 20 per cent., after Jan. 1, 1793. In 1797 an act was passed, which increased the bounty on pickled fish to 12 cents a barrel, and further raised the allow- ances to vessels 33J- per cent., after Jan. 1, 1798. An act of 1799 increased the bounty on pickled fish to 30 cents a barrel. In 1807 all bounties were abolished. The act of 1813, similar in its provisions to those mentioned above, revived the bounty, and fixed the allow- ance to vessels of from 5 to 20 tons at $1 60 per ton; to those of from 20 to 30 tons, at $2 40 ; to those of more than 30 tons, at $4 ; and on pickled fish, at 20 cents a barrel ; but no vessel was to receive over $272. The law was modified in 1819, and allowances were granted to vessels of from 5 to 30 tons of $3 50 per ton ; to those of more than 30 tons, $4 per ton, and if having a crew of 10 men, and em- ployed 3 months but less than 4 months, $3 50 per ton ; no vessel to receive more than $360. In 1846 the bounty on pickled fish was discontinued, and a drawback of the duties on