The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-01
Herring PiSherieS.
The herring of which there

waters along the coast or labrador, If ii
oe an open season, late in April, or at
auy rate early in May. The inhabitants
begin to fish for them with nets and
| ,eines as soon as the ice in the bays has
broken sufficiently to allow. while they
clntinLe the operation till some time in
June, usually little earlier than the
middle of the month, when the fish,
having deposited their spawn in shall
low water. return to the deep water
again. These fish are called "Spring
herring They are poor and thin. and
caught in the very middleof the spawn
| ing season, can not but affect future
fishing in these same waters. These
j h are of very poor quality and are
generally sailed down for the dogs to
eat in the winter months, when a suit
| able provision must be made for them
or they will starve. In the fall, how
ever, the fishing is of a much different
quality. The fall herring" appear on
the coast about the middle of August,
and remain about ixweeks. They are
in excellent condition and very fat. and
equal even to Scotch herring of the best
/ quality. The fish appear in vast bodies
They occur all along the coast from
Blanc Sablom almost as far as North.
west River Sometimes the fish re-
main into October; when they do these
latter fish are generally unusually fine,
and Pierre Forth, in his report of the
fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
states that they are nearly always taken
with a seine, and that he has himself
seen "a seine set by Nova Scotia fisher
men after having been five days in the
water, drawn out with eight hundred
barrels of herrin U.s."
The largest fish are caught within
the above named district, while the
..spring herring" are now rarely taken
| except in some localities in NewfOund
land. 1t cannot be stated positively,
but it is generally supposed that these
spring fish, after depoSting their spawn
on the Newfoundland coast, are the
same which afterward appear fat and
large on the Labrador coast. Although
the migratiOns of the herring are not
perfectly understood, it is supposed that
local and atmospheric changes enter
largely into the causes for which the
fish will leave part of the coast sud
denly and only appear again after the
lapse of years as suddenly as they dis
appeared.
Although herring are captured with
nets anu SeineS, much as other fish are,
vet there is process known as weir
iishing' which differs essentially.
Weir-lishing is conducted as follows:
Young tir trees are driven into the soft
mud or sand at ebb tide so thickly that
their branches interlace each other.
When full tides set in and brings the
fish, they are caught in the mass of
branches which the brush or weir pre-
sents, and the retreating tide leaves
them stranded and ut the mercy of the
fisherman, who soon collect and salt
them down in barrels furnished for the
purpose by some trader who purchases
the fish at stipulated price. The
usual herring nets are generally thirty
fathomS or $50 feet long by thirty feet
de ,p, and good fishing fills from six to
twelve barrels day, or rather at each
haul, which is generally once a day.
Seines are generally 100 to $50 fathoms
long. and about ten feet deep, while the
'ketch'' is according to the size of the
school.
With regard to the curing of these
fish, it is we'll asserted by Mr.. Towp-
send that ''of all the mercantile fi<h
herring is the most delicate and tender,
and is therefore the most liable to dam
age from the air and heat after they ale
out of the water. Herring ought TO lie
scaled, washed and in pickle as soon Is
possible after they are out of the wa
ter; not a moment ought to be lost tn st
can be avoided The flesh being 20
delicate and tender, not only iniDres
quickly by exposure, but is much less
liable to take the salt. On the other
hand, if the herring get into pickle in
clean state before they have been any
time exposed they take the salt quicker
and therefore preserve much better the
natural quality and taste of the fish
On the Labrador coast the herring are
generally simply packed in brine in
barrels and sent at once to the Quebec
markets.
In Mr.. Perley's Report of the Fish
cries in the Bay of Fundy," the MN.
ner of curing herring is thus described;
The fish are scaled by being washed in
bushel baskets with square bottom,
open like a coarse sieve. the man stand
ing in the water up to his knees. The
best fish have very few scales, and only
half bushel of them are taken in the
basket at once; they are then sailed in
large tubs, the salt being stirred through
them by hand; quantity used is half
bushel of salt TO two barrels and half
of fish, which are tub full. They lie
in salt twenty-fOur hours and are then
washed in fresh water to prevent their
becoming "sait-burnt, after which they
are strung on rods, with their heads all
one way, and then hung up in the
smoke-hOuSe. In Clements the smoke
houses are usually thirty feet square.
with fourteen feet posts and high roof;
no fish hang nearer the fire than seven
feet, but the most careful curers do not
hang them nearer than eight feet. Rock
maple is used in smoking; when it can
not be procured ash is used, being con-
sidered next best. The process of
smoking usually occupies eight weeks,
and it requires the VIII DE time of one
person to watch the fire and attend to
the smoking, in which much Judgment
and great ca e are required. The smoke
is usually made up at nightfall, unless
the weather is warm and wet, during
which time no fires are made. In fine
weather the smoke houses are thrown
open during the day to cool, and this
greatest care is taken at all times to
keep down heat, and to render the
smoke house as cool as possible, by nu-
merous windows and openings. After
being smoked the fish are packed in
boxes of the established size; these are
eighteen inches long, ten inches wide
aud eight inches deep, meas ired on the