The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-09-22
Fisheries Mt Cancale.

The fishing feet of Cancale, both fol
dredging oysters and catching fish.
numoers more than 200 lugger-ribbed
craft of small tonnage. These boats are
owned partly by single individuals,
partly by their crews, who have dubbed
together for cOpartnership. Their
tackle and gear cost as much as the
boats and sails; the nets. which are
CHI ely made at Nantes, being the great
item of expense. The seine is never
used; the trawl, which is fitted with a
huge head-bagor receptacle. beng the
sort OF snare generally adopted. Each
boat has functionary called IN s.
{ ess:" that is, q woman who has con-
tracted, under certain con ,itions, for
the sale OF the take of the craft. The
crew have, therefore, nothing to do
with the disposal of the fish. The pro-
duce of the sale effec ed by the '.mis-
tress" is generally divided into five
parts-two to the owner or owners of
the boa, one to the skipper and two to
the crew, the woman having pre- sious-
ly deducted her legitimate profits.
The life of q "Cancalais, % as
these fishermen dub themselves, is
one even more rite with danger
than that of others, of their calling.
The Bay of Mont St Michel is one of
the most perilOus seas in the world.
Equinoctial tides'rise in it to the height
of fifty feet, and ordinary tides to thir-
ty-five feet. The distance between high
and low water marks is more than six
miles in some places. and the rapidity
OF the currents, especially on stormy
day, maelstrom-like. Quicksands, too,
are numerous. and boat shoaled on
one of them during ebb-tide has little
chance of its crew being saved; as re-
CARDS itself, none. In calm weather
the boats fish in the shallowest waters,
their keels occasionally heeling in the
mud; and here they take soles, turbot,
doree, brill and skate in cons derable
quantities. Government forb DIS fishing
within m; ie of the shore; but SO soon
as night sets in and screens the fisher
men and Their fleets from the look outs
of the steam gunboat at Granville and
the coast-guard sailing schooner at
Cancale, the boats are run with n the
prescribed limits. and the forbidden
fruit is tasted. Oysters are allowed
to be taken only on certain days at
certain times of the year, strict watch
being kept by the two vessels above
mentioned, from which signals are
made when dredging is to common 9
and to cease. F shing proper. how
eve-, goes on all the year, the only re-
striction, with the exception of the
fixed distance from shore, as already
mentioned, being that of mailage, or
size of the meshes of the nets. Meshes
wider by a fraction of an inch only,
having been ordered by the Govern
ment to be used and their use continued
for few years, brought the population
of Cancale to the verge of starvation,
fishes that were entangled before es :ap-
ing now. In fact, so momentous
question is this one of maiage among
a class of individuals who earn their
living from the depths OF the sea that
candidates for State or municipal offices
invariably promise the electors to OBJ
tain for them the privilege of smaller
meshes for the fishing nets, that prom
Use, whether carried out or not, 10 ne
the only safe '.card" for securing sue
cess. Mailage is the bug-bear of Cam
calais. -French Paper.