The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-30

of herring fishing prevailed with curious re-
suits from 1856 to $780, Fishermen went to |
sea to .scatch the bounty rather than the
fish," It was paid on tonnage of vessels in
stead of upon behring's landed. Ia 1913 this
R Fonp fifty OF
paid was upwards of 9l59. This being dis
continued, from 1909 to 1915 the government
paid two shillings per barrel of cured her.
rings and, altogether, four shillings, eight
pence, if exported. Government bounties
ceased in 1880. Government branding,
and in 1859 a branding fee of four pence q
barrel was fixed, which still continues in
force. In way the bounty system is still
continued as a concession to the fishermen.
but in a totally different form. The gov
eminent paid its bounty both to the vessel
curer on cured herrings. Under the
bounty system as retained by the
trade. the bounty is now exclusively paid
by the curer to the fisherman before he
puts net in the sea. This "t-ade bounty
reached it's height in 1884. when. on the
per ..cran" Of behring's landed. This
trade bounty" now greatly reduced, is
paid to the crew, or rather, to the owner
Of the boat, before fishing begins, and
forms mild sort of lottery: Thus. if the
bargain is 81 per Gran and EGO bounty, and
curer IS 32 shillings per Gran. If 200
Grams landed the price is reduced to Is
shillings per Gran. Again, all behring's over
a complement of, say. 200 or 25O Grams will
be delivered under the II rate, and those
delivered after nine o'clock at night of the
day they are taken are still cheaper to the
curer.
In the early part of the century Scottish
behring's were chiefly exported to Ireland.
and to the West lndias as food for slaves.
But since 1886 continental Europe, es-
pecially Germany and Russia, has been the
for which statistics are procurable, the pro
duct was upwards of 80. 600 barrels; for the
ten years ending in 1S47 there were AIS. 99S
barrels cured: for the twenty years closing
with 1887 there were l. 1lO.958 barrels cured;
while the tremendous increase in the indus
try is shown by the fact that in 1888 there
we're cured on the east coast 81, CAB barrels,
of which 734, go barrels were sent to the
continent; while on the west coast the
yearly catch averages 10000; giving total
product for 1883 OF at least 100, 600 barrels,
exclusive Of the behring's used fresh in fish.
fresh to Scottish and English markets,
which amount annually to 10000 .scrans;''
and it should be borne in mind that the
Gran measure il equal to 37x imperial gal
Ions. It is still the standard of measure,
although seldom used as a utensil for
ing importance of the herring fisheries may
be gained from the fact that the total
value of the herring. white shell and
salmon fisheries of Scotland in 1886 was
e2,550, 77S, of which behring's represented
81, 46O,9Sl.
The boats in use at the middle of the
present century were about "a feet of keel,
| unlocked and carried p hemp nets, 20
yards long, seven yards deep, with 80
meshes after years use. The boats built
within the past five years are from 4S to IS
feet of keel. They are decked and carry an
average drift of 50 cotton nets, each
90 yards long and II yards deep,
with about IS lneshes to the yard
after q years use. There are three classes;
Firth boats, straight in stem and stern, IS
feet of keel and 57l5 feet extreme length
above; the Skafic boats, fiddle shaped''
bow and sloped stern, with 81 feet keel and
! o. feet length above; and the Zulu boats,
with straight bow and sloped stern. with g
feet keel and 81 feet length above. The
general rig is luR-sail, jib and jiQger. A
large number are unabridged, the latter
being in common use here in Shetland, for
its convenience in lacking mp the narrow
woes or bays. A boat Of 50 feet keel, Firth
build, with sailing gear included. will cost
about 1900. the fishing gear costing from
$50 to ESQ, requiring an outlay of al
least E476. before equipment for herring
1878 that there were over 1000 boats en-
gagged in the Scotch herring hsherieA These
carried meta nearly 1900 miles long sufh
| cient to cover q superficial area of 4
square miles. The number Of boats en-.
ployed, in 1883. in Scotland in the her
ring ana othe4 90 AsheFiaR numbered
J u, 9O4. with tonnage Of III, 462 ton& O.