Another fishery subsisting at Lowestoft, is that called the mackarel fair. The principal advantages which the merchants receive from this fishery, is that of employing the fishermen, and keeping them at home for the herring season, more than any emolument to themselves; as the benefits which they receive are very inadequate to the expense of fitting out the vessels, the dangers they are liable to from the sea, and in time of war from the enemy.
The mackarel season begins about the middle of May, and continues to the end of June. The number of boats annually employed at Lowestoft in this fishery are about 23; and the money arising from the sale of the fish caught by these boats, amount upon an average to about £2,309. At the beginning of this season (as in the herring season) the boats sail into the north-east, in order to meet the fish at the beginning of their annual revolution around the British Isles. The mackarel being naturally a slothful fish, never rises to the surface of the water in any large quantities in calm weather, so that the success of the voyage almost entirely depends upon a blustering, stormy season, which rouses the fish from the lower parts of the ocean, and brings them within reach of the fishing nets. The quantity caught at the beginning of the season is generally small; afterwards it so far increases, that 500 or 1,800 fish will be caught by one boat in a night, if the weather be turbulent; otherwise, if it be calm and serene, the quantity is inconsiderable. As the mackarel is never salted, but requires an immediate consumption, the boats employed in catching them are under the necessity of returning every day to their respective towns, to deliver the fish which they caught in the preceding night; but when the quantity of fish is small, the weather calm, or the wind contrary, they will sometimes continue upon the fishing ground a second night.
An ACCOUNT of the MACKAREL FISHERY at LOWESTOFT, from 1770 to 1785 inclusive; containing the number of boats employed each year, and the annual amount of the money arising from the sale of the fish.
| Year. | Boats. | £ | s. | d. |
| 1770 | 26 | 2401 | 2 | 2½ |
| 1771 | 26 | 3080 | 15 | 6½ |
| 1772 | 33 | 3179 | 5 | 1 |
| 1773 | 36 | 3374 | 15 | 6 |
| 1774 | 35 | 2012 | 13 | 0 |
| 1775 | 32 | 2441 | 5 | 2 |
| 1776 | 30 | 1595 | 17 | 8½ |
| 1777 | 20 | 1698 | 15 | 0 |
| 1778 | 21 | 1295 | 19 | 1½ |
| 1779 | 21 | 1618 | 4 | 6 |
| 1780 | 20 | 1559 | 3 | 10 |
In 1781, sixteen boats averaged £173 15s. 3½d. per boat.
In 1782, sixteen boats averaged £136 1s. 2d. per boat.
In 1783, sixteen boats averaged £189 1s. per boat.
In 1784, twenty boats averaged £119 5s. 11½d. per boat.
In 1785, twenty boats averaged £249 8s. 8½d. per boat. (Supposed to be the greatest mackarel season ever known at Lowestoft).
In 1786, twenty-four boats averaged £146 7s. 9½d. per boat.