The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-05-22
HERRING FISHERIES.
How They are Carried on on the
Coast of Labrador.

be an open season, late IN April, or at
any rate early in May. The inhabit-
ants begin to fish for them with nets
and seines as soon as the ice in the
bays has broken sufficiently to allow,
while they continue the operation till
sometime in June, usually little ear
lier than the middle of the month,
when the fish, having deposited their
spawn in shallow water, return to the
deep water again. These fish are cali
ed "spring herring" They are poor
and thin, and caught in the very mid
die of the spawning season, cannot but
affect future fishing in the same waters.
These fish are of very poor quality
and are generally sailed down for the
dogs to eat in the winter months, when
a suitable provision must be made or
they will starve.
In the fall, however, the fishing is of
a much different quality. The 'fall
herring" appear on the coast about the
middle of August, and remain about
six weeks. They are in excellent con-
dition and very fat, and equal even to
Scotch herring of the best quality.
These fish appear in vast bodies, and
cover the water often for miles They
Sablon almost as far as Northwest riv-
er. Sometimes the fish remain 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 ga
seine set by Nova Scotia fishermen af-
ter being five days in the water drawn
out with eight hundred barrels of her
rings"
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 depositing 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
| suddenly and only appear again after
the lapse of years, as suddenly as they
disappeared.
Although herring are captured with
| nets and seines, much as other fish are,
| vet there is a process known as ''weir-
| fishing which differs essentially.
| Weir-fshing is conducted as follows:
| Young fir trees are driven into the soft
| mud or sand at ebb tide so thickly that
| their branches interlace each other
When full tide sets in and brings the
| fish, they are caught in the mass of
| branches which the brush or weir pre-
SCENTS, and the retreating tide leaves
| them stranded and at the mercy of the
fishermen, who soon collect and salt
them down in barrels furnished for the
purpose by some trader, who purchas-
es the fish at a stipulated price. The
usual herring nets are 80 fathoms or
$50 feet long by so feet deep, and good
fishing fills from TO u barrels day.
Seines are generally 100 to $50 faith
| oms long and about 10 deep, while the
'ketch' is according to the size of the
school.
With regard to the curing of these
fish it is well asserted by Mr. Town
send that ''of all mercantile fish her
ring is the most delicate and tender,
and is therefore the most liable to dam
age from the air and heat after they are
out OF the water. Herring ought to be
scaled, washed, and in pickle as soon
as possible after they are out OF the
I water; not moment ought to be lost
! that can be avoided. The flesh, being
j SO delicate and tender, not only Injuries
| quickly by exposure, but is much less
| liable to take the salt. On the other
| hand, if the herring get into pickle in
a 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 man
ner of curing herring is thus described:
The fish are scaled by being washed in
bushel baskets with square bottom,
| open like coarse sieve, the men stand
ing in water up to their 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 by hand; quantity used is half
a bushel of salt to two barrels and a
| half of fish, which are Il tub full. They
lie in salt twenty-four hours, and are
| then washed in fresh water to prevent
their becoming ''salt 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 near
er than eight feet
Rock maple is used in smoking; when
1t cannot be procured ash is used,
being considered next best The pro-
cess OF smoking usually occupies two
weeks, and 1t requires the whole time
OF one person TO watch the fire and at
tend 10 the smoking, in which much
Judgment and great care are required.
The smoke is usually made up at night
fall, 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 the greatest care is taken,
at all times, to keep down heat, and 10
render the smoke-house as cool as pos
sible, by numerous windows and open
ings. After being smoked the fish are
packed in boxes of the established
size; these are eighteen inches long ten
inches wide, and eight inches deep,
measured on the inside; and there
should be twelve rods, or twenty-four
dozen, of fish in a box of prime her.
ring. If the fish are large and of the
best quality it requires some pressure
TO get this number into box The
Digby herring are in some instances
cured in pickle, unsmoked, and packed
in half-barrels. Packed in barrels.
each barrel is supposed to weigh pa
pounds-COr. Springfield Republican.
SORE NECK AND BREASTS
on horses are healed the quickest by
Hinrichs' Equine Healing Lotion. Sold