Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-09-12
MOST USEFUL OF FISHES
THE GOLDFISH INDUSTRY IN NEW
FoUNDLAND.
How the Fishermen Capture This
Royal Fish and What They Do to
Get Him Ready for Market.

Royal Fish and What They Do Il
Get Him Ready for Market.
The cod is king wherever he lives. HI
is a swift, fierce, powerful fish. or al
the commercial fishes he is incomparabl,
the most useful. No part of him is
without function in the serving of man
His head, bones, and intestines are used
in the manufacture of rich fertilizine
compost. Isinglass is made from hi'
swimming bladder. The roe is exported
as bait for the French sardine fishery,
The liver is famous for the great curative
oil that is extracted from it, and the rest
of the cod is pure flesh. His home in
the waters of the Northern and Western
Atlantic extends over about $50, 00O
square miles and along coast-line from
Labrador to Cape Hatteras, which in all
its sinuosities is about $500 miles long,
Of this vast hunt over 200, 900 square
miles in area and over 5000 miles in
lateral extent appertain to the British
possessions. The temperature of the
waters within which he keeps himself
does not greatly vary from 39 degrees
to AZ.
So soon as the caplin flash their silvery
scales in the sunlight about the coasts
the fishermen become active. This
generally occurs as the month of June
opens. The caplin pronounce it cape
lin) is one of the most beautiful little
fishes in the sea. 1t is six or seven
inches long and most delicate of flavor.
1t come in uncountable myriads, with the
cod in swift and greedy pursuit. The
fishermen begin their work by catching
the. caplin, for the run lasts only about a
week, and in that time enough must be
caught for bait to last until the squid
arrive. The catch is enormous. So
plentiful are the fab, and SO easily taken
by seining, that great surplus beyond
the needs of the fishermen accumulates.
No method has yet been found of pre-
serving the caplin, and all this surplus,
amounting to thousands of barrels, is
used as fertilizer. 1t seems shameful
that this exquisite little fish should be-
put to such base purposes.
Being now well stocked with bait, the
fishing harvest begins. The banking
feet hurries out to sea, and the smaller
boats, little two -masted schooners of
from twenty to forty tons burden, go and
come at dawn and nightfall to their fish
ing grounds just off the coast. Various
devices are usel for catching the fish,
many of them injurious and wasteful. The
hook k-and- line is used along the shores
extensively, and this is the least destruc-
tive and also the least remunerative in
strument. The seine, the cod-net, the
cod trap and the bultow are generally
employed. Except the bultow, these are
all nets, variously constructed. They
have gradually done so much harm to the
shore fisheries that laws have had to be
passed regulating the size of the mesh.
In many of the bays and harbors where
few years since cod were plentiful scarce
ly fish can now be taken, and serious
concern is felt lest the shore fisheries have
declined beyond hope of replenishment.
This fear has led to the estab-
lishment by the Newfoundland Govern
ment of Fisheries Commission, which
has been busily experimenting with cod
The superintendent of the
hatchery is distinguished Norwegian,
and his intelligent and suggestive work
has been of great service to the Commits
sion and to the colony. He has probably
solved the problems of cod-hatching, and
a revival of the shore fisheries is conf
IDENTIFY anticipated. On the banks the
bultow is almost exclusively used in
catching the fish. 1t is simply multi
plication of the hook-and-line. Several
hundred hooks, each attached to fine
hempen line, are suspended at intervals
upon series of long, stout lines. Each
hook is baited. There are sometimes
twenty rows of these hooks, all well
fastened, each row connected with the
others, and the whole contrivance Sc
cured against the bank currents by stanch
They are overhauled every
So soon as the fsherman's boat is we'll
laden he makes for his "stage." This is
a covered platform of fir-poles, project
ing over the water and held up by other
and heavier poles. Stages and ''flakes,"
which are uncovered platforms where the
cod are laid out to dry, line the water
front of every fishing village. The fish
are tossed with "pew"-a two -pronged
pitchfork-from the bottom of the boat
to the outer floor of the stage. There
they are passed, one by one, through a
little window in the stage. The ''cut-
throat" seizes them as they come in. He
is human being, selected for this work
because of his expertness with the knife.
He is armed with long, sharp, pointed
blade. He makes three swift and dexter
Gus cuts. One sewers the cord connect
ing the gill-covering with the body. The
second Sits the abdomen clear to the
vent. The third lays the head open to
the base of the skull. All this is done so
quickly that watchers eyes are quite un-
able to analyze the cutthroat's mo-
tions. He slides the fish now to the
'header," who extracts the liver,
wrenches off the head and removes the
viscera and cuts out the tongue and the
Sounds" or air bladder. Everything
is carefully preserved, for everything in