Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-07-21
ICELAND FISHERIES.

AOutiouCS SuCH dulIldlS as SuDSlSU
thereon, yet the seas around it, and
the lakes and rivers within 1t, TEEN
with fish of various kinds. The fish
cries for salmon, cod, herring, sharks,
and whales are prosecuted with much
vigor, though with varying success.
Unfortunately, however, for the pros
perity of the island, those engaged
in these fisheries are not natives, but
mostly strangers. For instance, the
French cod fishery around the Ice
lam coast is very extensive, and is
carried on in large schooners and
chossesmorees, which receive bounty
flom their Government on all fish
proved to be caught there. A fine
nursery is also thus encouraged for
the training of seamen. Many Eng
lish and Shetland smacks are likewise
SO engaged.
While the native Icelanders were
until 1864 compelled to fish in small
open boats, they are now liberated
from the thralldom in which they were
held under the monopolies granted to
the trading Companies of Danes by
the Danish Government, and have
got one or two decked vessels; but
this branch of their industry will take
some time to develop. They have,
however, the shark fishing and sal
mon-fishing in their own hands; but
the former is not very remunerative,
and they are nnder obligation to
strangers for the disposal of the lat
ter, and so cannot by any means get
the full advantage of the markets.
The whale fishing, while worth prose-
cutting, was in the hands of the Amer
leans; but they nearly extirpated the
"black' whale along the coast ten or
twelve years ago, and the other va
rieties are not worth the trouble of
capturing. soma. iei5a
The Distinguishing has always been
in the hands of the Norwegians and,
strange to say, although so much
used and so much valued as an arti-
Gle of food by all nations in the north
of Europe. the herring never has
been, and IS not now an article of
food with the Icelander. The only.
plausible reason which can be adj
duced for this, is the Icelander's OBJ
| jectioL to salt-due to the fear of
scurvy. All the preserved provisions
are cured fresh either by drying or
smoking, or picked by souring; but
herring cannot be cured without salt,
on account of the quantity of oil they
contain.
| AS is we'll known, the herring has
/ frequent and erratie migrations from
and to different parts of the same
coast; sometimes leaving the coast
of a country altogether for period,
as was the case a good many years
ago on the Norwegian fjords.
Some such event may indeed have
been the primary cause of Norwegians
| going to fish in Icelandic waters,
though the exact period when they
began to dos cannot be exactly fixed.
There they could fish in the same
manner as in their own fjords for
as stated to the writer by Captain
Otto Wathne-engaged in the Iceland
fishery on his own Accountability
! (the Norwegians) will catch the fish
if they come up to their very doors
asking to be caught; but they have
not the enterprise of your Scotch
fishermen, to go far out to sea in
search of them at great risk in all
weathers." And yet they are hardy
sailors. " .oi 54t
| The herrlngs are all canght in the
fjords, none in the open sea. The
Norwegian ships that come to Iceland
are generally schooners, having the
necessary complement of salt and
barrels on board. After their arrival,
they are partially dismantled and laid
| up at anchor, having first landed the
curing materials at their various sta
tions. These stations are mere
wooden sheds built on the shore, and
partly projecting into the water, with
a platform or jetty on the side next
to the sea for discharging the fishing
boats. They are always situated
where deep water comes close in shore,
so that vessels may be loaded by a
gangway from the jetty and still be
afoat, the rise and fall of the tide in
the north and east being only three
feet.
1
| The fishing-boats brought from
Norway are smaller than those in our
coasts, but larger than those of the
Icelanders and are fitted with mast,
| spritsail, and jib, all very light, as
they are not expected to meet very
heavy weather. The net IS in one
| piece-a seine-net-with which the
herrings are swept toward the shore.
Should it contain more than the
boats can carry, the ends of the net
are anchored ashore, and the boats
are loaded with as much as they can
carry from within by bag-nets on the
end of long poles the remainder of
the fish remain safely inclosed in the
net all alive for days until they are
wanted, or the contents exhausted.
The nets are of various sixes-from
twenty fathoms long by five fathoms
deep, to hundred and fifty fathoms
long by twenty fathoms deep, and
are in use according to the depth of
water at the shore to be fished. The
| nots oro only of half inch mesh. and